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Revell 1/72 Tornado GR1 to GR4 using Airfix bits - will this work?


CharlieNZ

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I am far from an expert on Tornadoes, and I've found in my stash the Airfix GR.4/GR.4A kit. This has some pretty old looking parts for the majority of the airframe, and what is clearly a couple of sprues of newer parts to add on to make the GR4/4A version.

 

From everything I have read, the Revell GR1 is by far the best option for a Tornado in 1/72, so my question is... Is it a viable option to use the newer Airfix parts to convert the Revell GR1 to a GR4?

 

Is there any advice anyone can offer on things to look out for if I go down this route?

 

Are there are any other changes I'd need to make to the Revell kit, besides adding the various parts from the Airfix kit?

 

The other option is to simply build the Revell kit as is, possibly as an Op Granby aircraft, but I'd quite like to convert it to a GR4 and use a Model Alliance Op Telic decal sheet I seem to have acquired years ago and forgot all about.

 

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Sorry no advice but I'm pretty sure I've read on BM that that's a way to go. Certainly was what I was intending to do. I've just built the Airfix kit as a GR1 for a bit of fun and a mojo restorer after a couple of builds landed on the shelf of doom, and it is an old kit. I've stockpiled the newer sprues to add to a Revell Tornado. Think the blade aerials on the spine of the GR1 were ditched during one of the upgrades. I'm sure one of the forums learned members will advise in more depth and accuracy.    

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On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 3:00 AM, CharlieNZ said:

Well I'll give it a go, using the newer parts from the Airfix kit to convert the Revell kit to a GR4.

 

Hopefully it will be correct.

 

Hiya.

 

Haven't been using Britmodeller forums for like a couple of years. This is my first posting since I kind of come back here.  :-)

 

Anyway.  Model kits are flexible, thus there is no "hopefully it will be correct" about using parts from one manufacturer on a kit made by another manufacturer, you can have a go regardless. It is not like "Can I install my Windows on an Apple computer?" or "Can I pour petrol in my diesel car?" because with some skills, you could make it possible to put some Airfix parts on a Revell kit. Experienced modellers have been doing that sort of years and years, it's called "kit bashing"

 

But if it is not about using parts from one kit on another kit that you are worried about, if you meant hopefully you could turn your Revell into a proper and correct GR4 using the Airfix parts. Well, in that case, if it went wrong, and the Revell kit do not look like a proper GR4, you could always go for the What If? option, by saying "What if the GR4 looked a bit different?" or a "What would it look like if it was a GR5?"

 

Just have a go and enjoy your love for your hobby, don't worry about if it is correct or not. Just do your best, it is not like someone is going to judge you if the Revell don't look like a proper GR4. What matters is your enjoyment of doing something out of the box.

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On 2/24/2019 at 9:48 AM, Vicarage Vee said:

Doing the GR4 upgrade gives you the option of doing a 'first and last' pair of builds because the Airfix can be a prototype and the Revell a last-of-line GR4. 

To make a proto from the GR. 4 kit, the airframe will need a bit of backdating (apart from the final four or so), notably eliminating the tailplane leading edge extensions and the fillet at the lower rear of the fin.

Those GR.4 parts left me decidedly unimpressed when the kit came out.

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Aside from an upgrade cockpit the main external differences are

 

the extra pod on the nose

the gps disc on the spine 

the elimination of one of the cannons.

 

If you can live with the cockpit panels being slightly different just go for it and these changes cover GR4's until 2015

 

Although the twin blade aerials werent used with the GR4 gps upgrade they were left in place until around 2015. Aircraft after this had the aerials removed and TCAS bulges on the spine and under the nose. late aircraft working on operations with ground forces had an extra aerial under the fuselage at the back

 

The only other change you'd want to consider is an accuracy one as although Revells gr1 kit is the kit to use the nose is far too pointy. Nice resin ones (braz models) are available and when coupled with a metal pitot really set it off

Edited by nigelshipp
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Thanks nigelshipp, very handy info regarding the aerials.

 

I had heard the nose wasn't the best, I've seen one by S.B.S Models which includes the pitot as well. I'm not sure if you know anything about this one and how it stacks up accuracy wise?

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you're after the lumps and bumps to convert a GR1 to a GR4 (or even a GR4A), getting the Freightdog 1/72 Panavia Tornado GR.4/4A conversion set is likely to be a sight cheaper than obtaining a donor Airfix kit. It's even tailored to the Revell kit. Freightdog also has some very nice things under wings for the GR4.

The GR4 has some changes in the cockpit wrt the GR1, but unless you build with an open canopy you're hardly likely to see much of them.

I could readily make a bulk buy of SBS noses!

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On 3/19/2019 at 11:41 PM, Steve Coombs said:

If you're after the lumps and bumps to convert a GR1 to a GR4 (or even a GR4A), getting the Freightdog 1/72 Panavia Tornado GR.4/4A conversion set is likely to be a sight cheaper than obtaining a donor Airfix kit. It's even tailored to the Revell kit. Freightdog also has some very nice things under wings for the GR4.

The GR4 has some changes in the cockpit wrt the GR1, but unless you build with an open canopy you're hardly likely to see much of them.

I could readily make a bulk buy of SBS noses!

I've already got the Airfix kit, it's been in the stash for some years after I picked it up on sale at a toy shop. I'm keen to put it to good use.

 

I've got a Nose and a Pitot on the way from Hannants.

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