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1:48 Revell Tornado F3 - 56 Sqn Display Jet 2000, RAF Coningsby


Kallisti

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I know I 'm a bit late to the part and there is only 2 weeks to go so there is a chance I might not finish in time, but I want to give this a ago.

I've had the Revell kit for  while and saw the Xtradecal set for 56 Sqn and thought Wow! So here goes:

 

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Here are the kit decals alongside the Xtradecal ones

 

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and here is the obligatory sprue shot

 

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So I guess I'd better not waste any more time and get on with it!!!

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You have your work cut out for you, there are a number of Revell 1/48 Tornadoes being built that started at the beginning of the group build that are still some way off completion as the builders struggle with various fit issues.

 

Good luck!

 

AW

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Great to have you aboard. There are quite a few variations for the construction sequence in use on here now so you can choose your own way. I woud suggest you can save a lot of time by fitting the flaps and slats in the retracted 'up' position. If you crack on and focus on the main airframe you can still make the finish line.

 

Colin

 

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That was my plan. Spent most of yesterday building and got a lot done, I'll post the pics I took later - I forgot to take some at some crucial stages, but the cockpit is looking decent for an OOB build I reckon! I plan on having the canopy closed so you won't be able to see quite so much inside, I'm more interested in the overall look of the aircraft.

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A promised, here are some photos of the progress!

 

First the cockpit and intakes were put together

 

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I've used the decals provided by the kit which don't completely match the mouldings underneath but it at least gives the impression of surface relief and I'm not expecting the cockpit to be viewed as a work of art :) The seats are OOB and I've painted the seatbelts and at this point they were not very well refined.

 

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The instrument panels were put into the cockpit but the seats left out for now. After the decals were settled with Micro sol and dry, I gave them a coat of Tamiya flat clear varnish to even the sheen out. The sides of the fuselage were added, keeping the rear section carefully aligned as it had a tendency to fold in on itself. Next I assembled the wings, making sure to keep the underwing store pivots clear of glue. These where then fitted to the fuselage.


I used the assebly order others have used and assembled the fuselage top and airbrakes as one piece then attached this to the fuselage at which point I remembered to take photos again

 

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Then it was a case of fitting the intakes - this is where I think a lot of alignment and fit issues occur and it took a bit of whittling plastic to get the intake joints to fit slush, even still it required a few blobs of filler

 

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as did the nose!

 

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The engine exhausts have been partly assebled and partly painted ready to go on

 

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and since these pics were taken they've been fitted to the fuselage as well. The intake filler has been sanded and looks much better, but some of the filler needs a bit longer to dry out so has been left overnight. I'm using Mr Surfacer 500 on this but I also used Revell Plasto on the earlier havy joint filling.

 

More to come...

 

 

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Continual progress day by day, tail and elevons on, wing coming together

 

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The spots of filler on the side above is filling some sink marks.  I've had a slight problem with the flaps as they came off the sprue, the thin edges got damaged as the sprue gates were cut so they've needed a bit of filling.

 

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These need sanding down and attached, which hopefully will happen today. One thing I have realised while taking these photos is I forgot to put any weight in the nose! doh! schoolboy error!!!!!

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On 11/26/2020 at 2:14 PM, Kallisti said:

One thing I have realised while taking these photos is I forgot to put any weight in the nose! doh! schoolboy error!!!!!

 

I have to ask, but do actually need any nose weight?  I'm building a completely different kit, but my GR shows no sign of tail sitting.  Others will know better than me ;)

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16 minutes ago, CliffB said:

 

I have to ask, but do actually need any nose weight?  I'm building a completely different kit, but my GR shows no sign of tail sitting.  Others will know better than me ;)

I don't put the full amount in, 25g usually does it, but I've never experimented with nothing...

 

 

...if wings forward, could ballast the nose of the drop tanks?

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Well this morning I took the plunge and drilled a 4mm hole in the nose just behind the joint on the flat area in front of the nose wheel. I then cut a 4mm plug in some 1.5mm thick plastic card using my hole puncher:

 

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I then squirted a generous dollop of Glue n glaze into the hole and then dropped a goodly number of 'lead' shot pellets into the hole and glue. Giving it a bit of a shake settled the pellets into the glue so that turning it up the right way nothing rattles. Testing the centre of gravity, its now well in front of the rear wheels so its now a nose sitter, even with the wings fully back!

 

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I'll leave the hole open for a couple of days to let the glue dry then I'll seal it up and tidy up the joint.

 

Proper job!

Edited by Kallisti
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a quick update to show that progress has been happening - I've got to the decaling stage with the main job being getting the massive tail decals in place. 

This was not helped by the decals not completely stretching to the rear of the cocpit so I had to try to come up with a paint mix that matched the red on the decal. That took quite a bit of time, but I think its close enough. 

 

This evening I plan on doing the rest of the decals...

 

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Thursday evening is our weekly model club get-together on zoom that is a current substitute for meeting at the pub. This week I was productive and spent most of the evening applying decals! Then yesterday it got a protective clear coat over the decals and this morning it got a panel line wash, foloowed up later by the first batch of weathering, namely adding the reverse thruster soot from the engines to the tail/

 

The canopy has now been added and re-masked in preparation for the matt varnish that it will be getting a little later once everything is dried out.

 

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In the meantime, the undercarriage bits and bobs have been painted and are in their own weathering stages

 

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I do believe I have every chance of completing this by tomorrow evening!

 

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...and wwe made it! Varnish got applied this morning and the final touches of adding the transparencies to the wingtips, tail and intakes done earlier. Gave it a couple of hours for the vanish to dry more before taking photos. I've recently discovered the joy of Alclad Flat varnish which I reckon is the dogs whatsits!

 

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I'll add these to the gallery as well! That was a bit of a hectic rush at the end!

 

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