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1/48 Tornado F3


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I was going to do the 1/48 Italeri Hunter next, I even splashed out on Xtradecals to do a 79 sqn one, but for some reason I just wasn't feeling it for my next kit. After much deliberation amongst the stash in the loft, this Tornado F3 appealed. Possibly because it'll be a break from grey/green camo and blu-tack snakes! Plus I need something fairly simple before I go to Taiwan for three weeks.

 

So, out of the stash and into the light. Being another ebay bargain, it looks like the fuselage halves come from two different kits! I did offer them up though and they appear to fit well, so it should be ok. There are three sides of tail fins in the kit too! Plus I have two from the GR1 kit in the spares bag. 

 

Any words of advice from those who've made this?

 

I'm assuming the kit is quite old and will need all sorts of filling and extras to make it accurate, we'll see as I progress. One thing I will be doing is trying to find some cheap decals as I'm not a fan of the kit options. I don't do special colour schemes, or anonymous ones with no squadron markings at all. Might see if I can find 23 sqn decals.

 

If anybody would like the fancy Italian Tiger Meet decals let me know and I'll post them to you free of charge.

 

IMG49241556092654.jpg

 

IMG49251556092655.jpg

 

IMG49261556092652.jpg

 

 

 

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Interesting. Having just fought through most of the Revell one, to see the entire fuselage length in two mouldings seems to indicate deep joy, provided they fit. Takes Revell 6 mouldings to achieve that (with difficulty). Look forward to your progress reports.

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7 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Any words of advice from those who've made this?

Don't ;) 

Joking aside, I helped my son build one years ago and although he was happy I seemed to remember nothing fitted as it should and there were gaps all over the place which were quickly and roughly filled as he wanted to paint it, but that's all part of the game :) 

I've got the 1/48 Revell F3 that I'm doing in 56 squadron decals, so I'm not sure what decals are with that but you're welcome to them FOC if you need them (apart from the stencils etc that I'll be using for mine) but you have those on your sheet anyway.

I'll have a look when I get in

 

Ian

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Looking on Scalemates both the kit options are special anniversary schemes with painted tails for 111 and 23 squadron anniversaries, there are no

normal squadron markings included as options by the looks of it 🤔

Will have a check in the box when I get in though

 

Ian

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Thanks Ian, I appreciate the thought! A lot of manufacturers seems to include special markings now don't they, I guess because they're so colourful. I always prefer the standard line jets that you see in the wild, same with photos too. All down to taste isn't it! No worries though, thanks for looking.

 

I did see Xtradecal do normal markings for 5 & 11 but they've sold out! Might have to leave her as a blank canvas til I can find some.

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Wow. Was it normal in those days to get a kit in such different shades of plastic? I don't remember anything like that from my yoof.

 

Anyway, I'm sure you'll make it greater than the sum of its parts as usual, Riot. Looking forward to seeing it.

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Oh man. The legendary Airfix F.3. I bought one off eBay years ago, opened the box, looked at the contents, looked at them again, kept the decals and threw the rest away. I’m going to use part of the decals to build a Revell F.3 as a 229 OCU F.2 ADV.

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I had looked at a few of these and the other Tornado ADV options before getting the Revell kit.  I will be interested to see how this scrubs up.  Looking forward to updates

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I'll have a look about as I'm pretty sure I have some nice F.3 ones that I'm not going to use.

 

111 with a black tail & spine.

25 with a silver tail stripe.

11 with a grey tail.

41 from the FJWOEU

 

I'll get some pics if you are interested.

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Thanks for the interest chaps. I remember the Airfix GR1 needed quite a bit of work to get looking reasonable (by my standards, it's all relative!) so I'm expecting this to be similar. 

 

I think the different colours of the plastic is down to a previous owner replacing one of the sprues. Reminds me of the old Matchbox three-colour specials - just needs a green sprue for the missiles and fuel tanks!

 

First job was getting the Martin Bakers looking ok. The usual masking tape seat belts plus thin wire bent over on the sides of the headrests to represent, er some tube things the real ones had up there.

 

IMG49471556137864.jpg

 

Filled and sanded the tailplanes.

 

IMG49481556137864.jpg

 

Cockpit coming together ok.

 

IMG49491556138989.jpg

 

 

Edited by Lord Riot
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1 minute ago, At Sea said:

I'll have a look about as I'm pretty sure I have some nice F.3 ones that I'm not going to use.

 

111 with a black tail & spine.

25 with a silver tail stripe.

11 with a grey tail.

41 from the FJWOEU

 

I'll get some pics if you are interested.

 

Thank you @At Sea, I'd be interested in the grey tail 11 sqn, if you'll never need them.

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40 minutes ago, Nocoolname said:

Oh man. The legendary Airfix F.3. I bought one off eBay years ago, opened the box, looked at the contents, looked at them again, kept the decals and threw the rest away. I’m going to use part of the decals to build a Revell F.3 as a 229 OCU F.2 ADV.

Same here, The main problem with the kit is Airfix tried to make a GR 1 into a F.3 on the cheap and it does not fit.  However, David if you have enough filler and determination you can still make a 11 Sqn machine, just leave off the bird decal, I was on the Squadron when it was painted on, it was for a kids TV art program. I remember thinking at the time it looked naff.

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I've fitted the two fuselage halves together as best as I can. The seams will need a lot of sanding though, the top half being slightly wider than the bottom. Tried to squeeze them to fit as much as possible.

 

Of course that awful, weak tailplane design failed straight away so I'll just glue them to the side later. Not sure why Airfix thought 1mm of glue each side would be strong enough to let them move freely while keeping them straight. 

 

IMG49501556188384.jpg

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The intakes are a poor fit, mostly because the upper fuselage isn't from the original kit, so there's a lip at the back that sticks out a bit. I hacked out a small recess to fit around it which luckily is now hidden. The inner walls of the intakes are quite fiddly too, hard to fit them flush. 

 

I'll need to do a bit of cutting and sanding then filling around the joins. 

 

IMG19041556203902.jpg

 

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You keep making kits that I look at in my stash and cowardly put them back, you make all them into a good job, I need to build up some confidence and have a tackle at one I think, your builds with these kits has been quite reassuring, keep up the good work, following with interest

 

Darren

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Build it!!

It can definitely be done, there is a recent one in the "finished" section , I did it some years ago....

Definitely not a Tamiya Tomcat for ease of build.....

 

I added some aftermarket to it... so even more challenging ;)

 

Not sure what you mean with lip, but the upper rear of the intakes does not sit flush withthe fuselage... there is a step!

 

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@exdraken yes the lip is on the inside of the intake bulkhead, facing forward, so hidden from view, but it stopped them fitting properly horizontally.

 

That step is still there too, as on the real thing, although not such a huge gap as the kit would intend, as I filed down the inner part. Accounting for scale the step would have been about 30cm high otherwise!

 

Thanks @dashellis, go for it with your oldies in the stash! I only make them because I'm not willing to pay over £30 for a kit, so I try and pick up all the old bargains! 

 

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Loving watching this. 

 

I built one for a work colleague who had flown one (his wife had found am decals for an aircraft with his name on it). 

 

Not my usual modelling fare and it fought me most of the way so I took ages to finish it.  I was - eventually - happy to hand it over.  One memory was placing lots of little no step decals around the periphery.

 

Looking forward to seeing it properly mastered!

 

Regards

 

Martin

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Thanks Martin! I'm not sure about properly mastered but I'll try my best to make it look something like an F3! 

 

There does seem to be an issue with the fit on most of the parts doesn't there, not sure how old this kit is.

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