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1/48 Gulf Tornado - Revell


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Troubled times here at Quack Towers. :fraidnot:

The drawbridge is once more raised against the Villagers who stand sullen and staring with flaming torches and pitchforks, mumbling about the Evil Doctor and his wicked experiments. Their complaint this time seems to relate to the Doctor stealing a maiden from their midst and keeping her against the will of the Elders.

"But she quite likes me!" I argue. "We've been married now for 32 years and have two wonderful children!"

They finally shuffle morosely away mumbling threats about returning with Hoisin Sauce.

Seems to happen every year on our Wedding Anniversary.

Looks like I'll be kept indoors for a bit longer - just as well I have a new Project to amuse me........................no not the one involving filling the moat with genetically modified Piranhas - sure, it kept the villagers away but sometimes a Project can turn round and bite you on the bum - literally. :yikes:

 

No, this one involves an attempt to mash a perfectly decent kit into something that can just about stand on it's own undercarriage and look vaguely respectable - from a distance.

 

I've been wanting to have a go at the Revell 1/48 Tornado, and fashioning it into something like a Gulf War GR.1 (carrying Alarms just to be slightly different), but I've put it off until now because the build looks far from straight-forward. Still - "don't learn if you don't push your boundaries, eh?" or at least that was my usual defence at most of my Medical disciplinary hearings! :facepalm:

 

So - I managed to smuggle this past the mob of suspicious Villagers....

51145659467_7d720f4b8c_b.jpg02 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

....................ever hopeful that all the bits will be there to build a Panavia Back-catalogue GR.1 circa Gulf War 1.

 

And I also managed to acquire some extras........

51147120139_992584bf70_b.jpg03 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

It's actually quite hard these days to find new Gulf War decals - at least from my usual sources. I ordered Kits World decals including markings for Alarm Belle - only a few Tornados were wired for Alarm carriage.

When the decals arrived they were simply horrible - really thick, to the point of being lumpy and unusable. A polite email was sent to Hannants (one of my many suppliers of untraceable body parts modelling stuff) who immediately forwarded my photo to Kits World, and I was in possession of a lovely new pristine set within 24 hours of my original email - brilliant customer service all round chaps!

 

For references, I have the Gulf Air War Debrief book, and (even better) Ian Black's photo journal books from the period.

51147120389_cf8aac6cea_b.jpg01 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Moulding generally look pretty good. I'll be using the Eduard Look set for main panels - this doesn't include side panels so I'll need to be content with painting and perhaps using the kit decals.

51146335241_ce4cc40bfe_b.jpg04 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

I decided not to use aftermarket wheel bays as they do not seem to be very visible and I've had trouble in the past trying to fettle too much resin into near-invisible areas. Once the kit is complete I'll not be looking under there much anyway.

 

Problem identified with the main underside part - looks like an over-enthusiastic ejection pin!!!!!

51146335106_2bac197179_b.jpg05 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

And it goes all the way through!

51147445980_13b3a2e425_b.jpg06 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

.........to the other side!!!!!😬

51147119874_c4e4fd9b65_b.jpg07 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

So, in an attempt to fix this, a circle of plastic card has been cut to provide a base for filling the hole before sanding smooth - hopefully.

And a couple of token extra boxes added to the nose wheel bay.

51145659177_f4f8dd62ab_b.jpg08 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

CMK resin seats look good - the set comes with a PE harness fret.

51147120024_b51501304f_b.jpg09 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Managed to identify a suitable spine part (2 alternatives in the Revell kit) which shows the appropriate antenna panel - just needed to open up the pilot holes for the twin blade aerials, and sand off the circular raised GPS(??) aerial (done).

51146559743_4e938c0f1d_b.jpg10 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

And that's it for now - nearly ready to prime stuff.....

51147119814_81105fe617_b.jpg11 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Now it's time to go......it's starting to get dark and I'd better switch the lights off and stay very quiet. :shutup:

 

Feel free to offer up tips, advice etc. 

Thanks in advance......

 

 

Keep safe y'all.

Keep calm and mangle some plastic!

:dunce:

 

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1 hour ago, Jabba said:

The main thing is do lots of trial fits and just take things on the slower side.

Thanks - slow is my default pace since retirement.

 

1 hour ago, Plasticbasher said:

When it comes to the airframe assembly (especially the intakes) all I can advise is Test fit, test fit again, rewrite the instructions and take your time! It is a great kit once you get past the engineering

Thanks - testing times ahead then.

 

34 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

I have one of these, and as I’ve also heard that it’s not the easiest of builds I’ll be looking for tips if you don’t mind.

Good luck.

 

John

No problem - I'll probably manage to fall into all sorts of traps, and helpfully show you how not to do it!

 

Thanks all.

Q

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  • 3 weeks later...

Chapter 2

In which very little happens

 

So, what's been happening at Quack Towers?? :think:

Precious little to be honest - doing a bit of research on Alarm-bearing Tornados, and getting distracted by the wonders of the webby-net / netty-web / wetty-neb thing.

 

Managed to prime some bits...... seats are now sprayed Dark Sea Grey and cockpit is MSG - I think it'll need to change as it really doesn't remotely resemble the Eduard coloured instrument panels - need to experiment a bit more to get a better match, and forget about true accuracy. Seats ready for a bit of detail painting.

51186753332_f1d89758d3_b.jpg12 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Ordnance bits are from Eduard - I'll be mounting 2 Alarm under-fuselage, and 2 underwing AIM9Ms - these are the Brassin Eduard bits washed and hanging out to dry. Lovely castings - ready to be hacked about and mishandled by my good self.

51187451536_b3d428f591_b.jpg13 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Web research has probably raised more questions than provided answers, so I'll list my intended build features and hope that the Britmodeller Hive Mind will point out any errors / misassumptions or other twitticisms.

Plan is for A Pink GR1 Alarm Belle ZD746, on the ground, power off, canopy raised.

Intake ramps fully raised.

Wings swept forward.

Flaps raised / slats retracted.

RF probe retracted (though there are plenty pics of them with probes extended on the ground, I'm not finding any aftermarket extended versions)

Airbrakes closed.

Underwing Hindenberger 2250l tanks / Skyshadow and BOZ-107

Underwing AIM9M x 2

Underfuselage Alarm x 2

Tailplane angles at rest appear to be neutral - can anybody confirm or correct me?

 

And finally, a cockpit question.........

This pic by Julien in the walkaround section shows a black covering on the rear cockpit bulkhead of a GR.4 - can anybody confirm if this was also present on the GR.1 ????

51187451321_3836aabca5_b.jpg14 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

And finally (again), has anybody got tips on scratching the corrugated hose connection between the demist pipe on the seat headbox and the cockpit sidewalls. I've tried coiling wire around another bit of wire but it ends up looking scrappy and unrealistic.

 

And finally, take care everybody

Cautious hugs from Quack (now that we're allowed) :grouphug:

 

Keep calm and mangle some plastic.

:dunce:

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On 4/29/2021 at 4:04 PM, Dr. Quack said:

I ordered Kits World decals including markings for Alarm Belle - only a few Tornados were wired for Alarm carriage.

When the decals arrived they were simply horrible - really thick, to the point of being lumpy and unusable.

 

I had exactly the same issue recently with a Kits World decal sheet for a 1/48 P-47. It looked to me almost as if the decals had been printed the same way that their '3D' instrument panels are produced - your description of 'thick, lumpy and unusable' fits exactly. Like you, I got a replacement sheet - while an improvement on the first one, it still wasn't anything like as good as the other Kits World decal sheets in my stash.

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Thanks @exdraken. From my reading the sequence given in the Revell instructions is the only one to avoid!

 

Thanks @hopkp. Not just me then. Sadly there really isn't a lot of choice for Granby scheme decals currently, and I wasn't lucky enough to get an Eduard Desert Babe boxing - I understand their decals were excellent. 

 

Thanks for your interest and input.

Q

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For the hoses might I suggest fuse wire with sewing twine wrapped around it. I’ve not tried it in 1/48 but I’ve used it for oxygen hose in 1/32. If the twine is slightly ‘ hairy ‘ as some are, you can coat it in PVA and smooth it with a finger.

HTH.

 

John

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14 hours ago, SallysDad said:

I will learn a few things here.

:cwl: :rofl2:

 

Oh, wait...........you're serious :shocked:

 

26 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

For the hoses might I suggest fuse wire with sewing twine wrapped around it. I’ve not tried it in 1/48 but I’ve used it for oxygen hose in 1/32. If the twine is slightly ‘ hairy ‘ as some are, you can coat it in PVA and smooth it with a finger.

HTH.

 

John

 

Of course :facepalm: - sewing twine!!! I was worried about the hairy effect but the PVA should sort that!

Brilliant - thanks!

 

 

Hey, Sally's Dad - we're learning stuff you 'n' me.

 

Thanks everybody. I'll try to get another progress report before Christmas - I'm currently trying every paint in my collection to try to match the Eduard panels - probably looking at a trial-and-error-bespoke mix

 

:dunce:

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  • 1 month later...

Chapter 3

In which Quack Seeks to Inspire the Next Generation

 

Quack sits in his study, comfortable in his favourite battered old chair, and gazes fondly at his two nephews. He has kindly agreed to child-mind the pair - "agreed" of course meaning that their parents had arrived, dropped them at the door then driven away, extremely fast, with mumblings of "Can't stop", something indistinct about "England in the Final," and "Hurry dear, pubs open."

Quack mused for a while, pondering how best to entertain a pair of X-Box obsessed youngsters, and still trying hard to remember their names.

Finally, his face lights up.

"I've a treat for you young 'uns," says Quack. "Sit nicely and I'll tell you all about the progress on my Tornado. Are you sitting comfortably?"

Nephew #1 grunts.

"I'm only sittin' ere cos you've stapled my trousers to the floor!"

"Good lad," says Quack. "Can't you keep still Nephew Two?"

"But Uncle Quack, I really need a wee!"

Quack frowns, and makes a mental note to improve the security measures protecting his beer stash.

 

 

 

Right young 'uns, I've made a bit of progress since you visited last.

First, I've found a colour that vaguely matches the Eduard Look cockpit base colour. It's a Light Grey FS36495 (I think) so really not strictly accurate for a Tornado, but it more or less matches the Eduard colour.

51287544786_17098b7aa7_b.jpg16 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Then I've made a start on the ordnance - 2x AIM9Ms and 2x Alarm missiles which will be mounted under the fuselage. These are all Eduard Brassin resin & etch sets which are slightly fiddly but actually go together quite easily.

Seats are starting to get a bit of paint.

51286794112_64e0443926_b.jpg18 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Cockpit roughly painted and mounted in place.

51288555770_350b1cb15f_b.jpg19 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

I've been trying hard to find a way of reproducing the demist hoses which run between the ejection seat headbox and cockpit sidewalls - I tried using sewing thread following @Biggles87's excellent suggestion - unfortunately our thread seems too large a diameter and the result looked out of scale. Latest trial is to use fine fuse wire wrapped in even finer wire stripped from an old computer monitor cable. Not perfect but I think it'll do.

51288260804_b949854a14_b.jpg20 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Next step was to start assembling the mid-fuselage. the intake trunking piece incorporates several bulkheads which secure onto the flat fuselage underbody.

Most build threads I've read suggest difficulty getting the various parts to align properly near the intakes, so I only glued the 2 rear bulkheads and left the other components unglued. The undercarriage bays are in place but as yet unglued. I'd hoped that this would give me plenty of flexibility to get a good alignment when it comes to constructing the intakes.

51287544131_aa2b71d75e_b.jpg22 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

51288555625_896d742dee_b.jpg23 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

So much for theory and careful planning!

When it came to dry fitting the fuselage sides, it was apparent that there would be a large step at the rear of the fuselage, so something was way out of place already!

51287544071_6c0bcb1066_b.jpg24 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

The problem was the intake assembly which is too far forward, and so stopping the fuselage side from aligning.

51288555235_6ccef35f73_b.jpg25 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Luckily the intake trunking is only glued at 2 point at this stage so it could be eased out and realigned. The locating grooves where the bulkheads seat are actually quite broad and allow a lot of unwanted movement. Older and wiser, well older anyway, its' time to try that again!

51287543951_b03a638d41_b.jpg26 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

51287543856_ddab99c80b_b.jpg27 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

While we're working on the fuselage sides, I note from other builds that the exhaust port in front of the port U/C bay is an odd shape and should be more square.

51288555545_a472aa67b6_b.jpg28 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

So it gest mangled a bit - still to be smoothed out properly.

51288260654_a44d3bd63e_b.jpg29 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

The fuselage sides are now glued - hoping that things are in a good position - I'm a bit anxious as I know that slight alignment errors have knock-on effects through the build and it may all end in disaster.

Again the forward components have not been glued - hoping to give myself a bit of wiggle room when aligning the awkward intake parts.

51288555080_d030204656_b.jpg31 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

From underneath it can be seen that there is still no glue up for'ard - there is plenty of movement and spring in the parts which I expect I'll need later.

51288260174_ddc631c9be_b.jpg32 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

Finally - the forward fuselage is together. Getting the parts well aligned is quite tricky. There is quite a bit of subtle flash on most parts and every mating surface needs sanded and dry fitted before committing to glue.

51298093208_e37f16c5ba_b.jpg33 by Niall Robertson, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

"There now young 'uns," sighs Quack, "Wasn't that interesting, eh?"

 

"Awwww bless ............... they've fallen asleep...."

 

 

Keep calm and mangle plastic.

:dunce:

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You seem to have a lot of remedial work to do to get a reasonable fit. Thanks Revell.

It's all going swimmingly as far as I can see and looking good.

I do hope the Revell instructions are better than they are for the 1/72 GR1 that I used to make my GR4 as they were awful.

There will be lots and lots of flash to deal with but I have no doubts that you will conquer this with ease.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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On 5/18/2021 at 11:35 AM, Dr. Quack said:

has anybody got tips on scratching the corrugated hose connection between the demist pipe on the seat headbox and the cockpit sidewalls.

You might try rolling a piece of solder  that is the correct diameter in scale over something that has ridges on  it- the solder is soft enough that it should take up the impression of the ridged surface, (Won't need  much, and you can enhance the corrugations by dry-brushing.) and then you can bend the piece to the desired shape.

Mike

 

BTW- the corrugations on the inner face of the jaws of the clamps you are using, or the inner face of the jaws of a pair of slip-joint pliers looks like they would work to make the corrugations on a piece of solder to make your hoses.

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Thanks Mike @72modeler, that sounds like a great plan. If my current hoses end up looking rubbish I'll get some solder.

1 hour ago, AliGauld said:

It's all going swimmingly as far as I can see and looking good.

I do hope the Revell instructions are better than they are for the 1/72 GR1 that I used to make my GR4 as they were awful.

Thank you kindly Ali. I'm using the instructions but virtually nothing is being built in the Revell sequence.

 

Thanks for looking folks.

Grateful Quack.

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Nice Tonka.  I did a Revell F3 a while back so this does look familiar.  I was amazed at the time by the amount of internal structure & detail.  Keep up the good work!

By the way I did manage to see the kit cover jet on the farewell tour over Honnington.  Would like to build the Star tail Tonka, or the camo one.  Although I think she went tech on the day I saw them

 

Y8Ueq0A.jpg

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On 5/19/2021 at 12:35 AM, Dr. Quack said:

And finally (again), has anybody got tips on scratching the corrugated hose connection between the demist pipe on the seat headbox and the cockpit sidewalls. I've tried coiling wire around another bit of wire but it ends up looking scrappy and unrealistic.

When I did mine, I used lead wire, painted salmon pink and didn't bother about corrugations. At this scale, I doubt you will really notice it.BJmIZh6.jpg?1

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With a bit of cajoling and perseverance this makes into a lovely kit. I made the gulf war commemorative aircraft. I had to test fit more than any limited run I’ve made though!

 

I shall be following with interest. 
 

Ash

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You could use guitar string for the hoses, the thicker ones have corrugation/ridges. Needs a bit of persuasion though! My local guitar shop kindly gave me a load for free. Nice work on your Tonka so far.

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