Storm Warning! Thunder, Lightning, Tornado and Typhoon! RAF QRA in 1/32 - Lightning F6, Phantom FGR.2, Tornado F3, Typhoon FGR.4

[WV908]

 

 

 

 

So... Lightning, Spey Phantom, Tornado F3. Not easy aircraft to model in 1/32 by any stretch 

 

My choices of kits for this are the Echelon vac form Lightning F6, the Tamiya F-4J Phantom and the Revell Tornado GR.1 with heritage conversion.

 

I wasn't going to post WIP's for these as I'm a serial starter, but @Anthony in NZ requested I do a WIP of the FGR.2 so I thought, why not put them together in one insanity fueled series of builds. There may also be a Typhoon FGR4 added to this at some point. I do have the kit but it might be a bit too much to add to this thread. 

 

So, onto the subjects - the Lightning is an easy one; I've seen the LPG Lightings do a few full reheat runs and XR728 is my favourite of the pair.

 

For the Phantom it's going to be a lot of work doing this conversion so instead of a standard scheme it's going to be XV408 in the 92 squadron blue special scheme. 

 

The Tornado is going to be ZE340 - the first F3 I photographed and a former 56sqn bird. She'll be done in Firebirds colours one side and the current 43sqn the other side.

 

If I add the Typhoon (Revell Kit) it will be ZK353 in the 29sqn 100th anniversary scheme.

 

I'm hoping to update the thread with progress photos and aircraft histories in the coming week. 

 

Cheers,

  WV908

Edited May 3, 2021 by WV908
03/05/21 - 1/32 Typhoon now added!

[Hook]

Ooooo. Consider my chair pulled up, guv'nor!

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

Oh yessss!

now I’m a happy bunny 😎👍

Iain

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

[Back in the Saddle]

I'm grabbing popcorn for this one too!

[Tornado 01]

Grabbed a chair for this one

[Alan P]

Wow. Any one of those projects would be daunting on their own, but all three... 👊😎 respect!

 

I'll be aboard for the long haul also, happy to offer any assistance with the Tornado if you need it.

 

Alan

[Anthony in NZ]

Well done Julian!  I am keen to follow along especially for the Phantom, you have my full support in any help I can offer

 

Cheers Anthony

[WV908]

1 hour ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Well done Julian!

Eh? Long day haha?

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement so far everyone - I do intended to see these through and it might give me a bit of a push to carry on with the HK Lanc WIP too - that stalled when I realised how bad the kit cockpit is, but that is going to be a walk in the park compared to the mods on the Phantom.

 

One thing I am unsure about with these kits is do I put the money in for aftermarket cockpits, exhausts and gear bays? It's a significant sum for all of those so I may just go for the cockpits. 

 

Cheers,

  WV908 / Joe

 

[Alan P]

I would recommend you fork out for the cockpits Joe. They're going to be quite noticeable on the displayed builds. The Tamiya is older generation and could do with a facelift, unless you want to use the kit as a base for the FGR.2-specific bits; the F3 needs the Avionix conversion (even that needs some additional work) as the Heritage set is very simple & only gives you the nav's shelf and TV TABS; and the aftermarket cockpits for Trumpeter all fit the Echelon with a bit of persuasion.

 

As for the other bits...Tamiya's nozzles are well documented by @Anthony in NZ , you might want to replace the white metal parts of the Echelon, but the Revell Tornado nozzles are worth sticking with due to the additional complications of the Heritage rear fuselage extension.

 

Gear wells are a luxury for me, but if you don't mind PE, the Flightpath set for the Lightning will make up for a lot of the shortfalls in the wheelwells, but as with all aftermarket parts, the choice is yours!

 

Cheers and good luck with these builds

Alan

[WV908]

Hi @Alan P Thanks, funnily enough it was the Phantom cockpit I was most unsure about getting. The Tornado cockpit certainly will be helpful and looking at the Echelon kit the cockpit for that is a must so I'll be going for the Lightning cockpit as a certainty. I want to have a better look at the Tamiya Phantom cockpit before I put the money down on that one. 

 

Gear wells are not much of a necessity for me - completely unnoticeable on the Phantom unless I stick it on a mirrored surface and not too obvious on the Lighting (apparently they are a pig to fit anyway) and I'll be happy just doing a layered representation in plastic of the upper gear wells. The Tornado may be an issue, though I suspect the gear doors and the drop tanks will hide them, even in 1/32. 

 

The Tornado is a funny one with nozzles as the rear fuselage extension piece just does not fit at all, so I might be binning that that off and creating a new extension out of plastic. If I went for aftermarket nozzles on this then I could build the extension up around them and Italeri will release an F3 just as I've finished it haha. 

 

I'm gonna guess that the Flightpath Lightning set I need is the OOP one that goes for silly money?

Unsure about the nozzles on this as I feel the vacform ones will be easier to paint.

 

I do have a set of 3D printed Spey cans for the Phantom but they turned out to be underscale. I have figured out how to modify them to make them useable but a friend of @Anthony in NZ is drawing up some new ones and intake ramps which I'm hoping to get a set of. 

 

I would like to do these in 'action poses' - F3 going vertical, Lightning pulling it's gear up straight off the deck and '408 doing this https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PVah6K9ayuc/WQt4QHA7whI/AAAAAAAAZ5M/j0-hDKrnZ6oUXGK4CWBGOhUvU3juSXSHwCLcB/s640/XV408takeoff.jpg

 

But... I'm hopeless with pilot figures and wouldn't know where to start with doing anything accurate. I'd lose all that cockpit detail too and wouldn't be able to pose the canopies open.

 

Lastly for now, I've stopped deliberating and I've ordered the Lightning cockpit whilst writing this out

 

Cheers,

WV908

 

[Alan P]

2 hours ago, WV908 said:

The Tornado is a funny one with nozzles as the rear fuselage extension piece just does not fit at all, so I might be binning that that off and creating a new extension out of plastic.

Good plans overall, it's a shame the plug doesn't fit...the set I'm using was okay, but did need milliput to fair it all in and get the right shape to blend in with the reverser buckets assembly. Sounds like your plan would work though.

[WV908]

@Alan P Just given your Tornado thread another read and I've decided against the avionix cockpit due to the undersized seats, the GR.1 style elements and the fact I'm building an F.3T so the mid cockpit section with TV displays is all wrong for me.

 

I'll either just get a pair of seats and mod the kit cockpit, or go full hog and buy the Aires GR.1 set to modify. What are your thoughts?

 

Cheers,

  WV908

 

Edit: as an aside on your observations about the F3 conversion nose cone, I did a scaled up measurement from the Revell 1/48 F3 and it took the entire radar connecting ring thing (err, anyone know the technical term for this?) from the kit added to the nose to make it the correct length. It doesn't even remotely help the angle though haha.

 

[Anthony in NZ]

10 hours ago, WV908 said:

Eh? Long day haha?

LOL, probably more like a late night!  Sorry Joe

 

Of course you can have access to the bits I am doing, just still in 'tweak' mode right now, that's what this community is about buddy

 

Cheers Anthony

[Alan P]

1 hour ago, WV908 said:

@Alan P I'm building an F.3T so the mid cockpit section with TV displays is all wrong for me. I'll either just get a pair of seats and mod the kit cockpit, or go full hog and buy the Aires GR.1 set to modify. What are your thoughts?

If you have to modify it anyway, you might as well get the Aires pit. You could use the Heritage mid cockpit section as a basis for the T-bird layout?

 

Re the nose, I used an offcut from one of my unused zombie Tornado kits to extend the nose and correct the angle.

 

As regards the final look of the thing, it's all about where you draw the line for the actual radome vs the extended nose section of the fuselage.

 

I'll post an update later which might cast some light on what I mean.

[WV908]

1 hour ago, Anthony in NZ said:

LOL, probably more like a late night!  Sorry Joe

 

Of course you can have access to the bits I am doing, just still in 'tweak' mode right now, that's what this community is about buddy

 

Cheers Anthony

 

No worries at all haha, we all do it

 

Looking forward to seeing the finished articles, but what more tweaking is there to do? I think if any more was done to the burner cans you could actually stuck them on the back of a mini Spey haha

20 minutes ago, Alan P said:

If you have to modify it anyway, you might as well get the Aires pit. You could use the Heritage mid cockpit section as a basis for the T-bird layout?

 

Re the nose, I used an offcut from one of my unused zombie Tornado kits to extend the nose and correct the angle.

 

As regards the final look of the thing, it's all about where you draw the line for the actual radome vs the extended nose section of the fuselage.

 

I'll post an update later which might cast some light on what I mean.

 

Yeah I'd definitely make use of what heritage provides and graft it to the Aires cockpit - just need to remember what was actually supplied with the conversion haha.

 

I'll wait to see what you post before I butcher the Revell Tonka any further

 

Cheers,

 WV908 

[Troffa]

Well this is going to be an epic build thread, count me in!   

 

The technical term for the ring section of the F3 between the fuselage (Zone 19?) and the Radome is the "Maxi-Skirt" - Open the radome and it locks 90 degrees Starboard, Open the maxi-skirt and it locks 90 Degrees starboard, and the radome is now pointing aft down the starboard side of the Jet. Happy days! 

 

Cheers, Troffa

 

 

[WV908]

Cheers @Troffa

 

Thanks for info - so yes it's the maxi-skirt from the Revell kit that attaches onto the radome from the Heritage conversion to achieve the right length but there is still a lot of fettling needed to achieve the right angle. 

 

The radome in my kit wasn't even circular 🙄

 

Cheers,

  WV908

[Alan P]

33 minutes ago, WV908 said:

The radome in my kit wasn't even circular 🙄

No, it isn't! More work...

I posted what might be helpful info on my build thread, Tagged you so you can find the post 👍

[DeepSea]

Watching this with great interest

[Anthony in NZ]

2 hours ago, WV908 said:

Looking forward to seeing the finished articles, but what more tweaking is there to do? I think if any more was done to the burner cans you could actually stuck them on the back of a mini Spey haha

Oh just little minor things. Yes you are so correct, those others cans practically fit inside these new ones!

[WV908]

7 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Oh just little minor things. Yes you are so correct, those others cans practically fit inside these new ones!

 

Sorry was half asleep when I wrote that haha - I meant to say you could almost stick it on the back of a mini Spey and light it up

 

Cheers,

WV908

[WV908]

For the first build update we'll have a look at XV408 so far. I've started with moving the underwing (auxiliary air intake?) doors. I know these are supposed to be a little larger on Spey Phantoms but this aircraft is not going to be on a mirror base and there's enough work as there is in this conversion so I've elected to move what was already supplied.

 

Now, I suspect there probably is a better way of doing this, but this was my approach to the problem. As it's an FGR.2 I've also filled in the catapult hook recesses;

 

 

 

I've only actually fitted in the modified piece this evening, held in by three tabs - one fore and two as waist gunners. Once they are set I'll tweak the fit to the belly and shim the gaps with plastic card.

 

Other work so far is the first saw cut in the fuselage. I have a two year old who has a reasonable bed time, so my modelling time is once he's asleep - naturally sawing plastic at 9pm with a sleeping child not very far away is frowned upon by her indoors so sawing is limited to weekends. I'll make the other three cuts required in the upper fuselage then and plan out the cuts on the lower fuselage. With this in mind I've spent a good chunk of this evening removing BDR panels. 

 

 

There will be a slight stall on certain mods to both the Tornado and Phantom as I'm waiting for the new jet pipes and afterburners for the 'Toom and I have very kindly been offered a surplus radome and afterburner section from the old Revell F.2 - I am aware that the fuselage on this kit is not wide enough but I'd much rather widen a plastic rear section than bulk up a resin one and if the radome fits well enough I may try and hinge it and make a Foxhunter radar. This, obviously I cannot do with the resin radome as it is solid. 

 

For now though, I'll leave you all with a first glimpse at the Lightning fuselage halves;

 

 

Cheers,

  WV908

[Anthony in NZ]

Lovely start on your Toom, I can’t believe that I didn’t spot your update sooner. 
 

I am looking forward to seeing and helping where I can on the Toom. Loving the fact you are building an FGR.2.  I will sort those decals out for you and get them posted to you sometime.

 

Great start and clean work, looking forward to your next update 

 

Cheers. Anthony 

[Alan P]

Quote

If the radome fits well enough I may try and hinge it and make a Foxhunter radar. This, obviously I cannot do with the resin radome as it is solid.

 

 

I like this idea! Hope it works.