Old school Tornado!

[Bell209]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:31 AM, bar side said:

No if I remember rightly they seem to be upside down!  Think I took the locating tabs off to get them to fit

Me, too, IIRC

[Lord Riot]

After a long and fantastic weekend I’m back on the Tornado. This is where it’s up to at the moment, main airframe painted and a few bits added.

 

 

The flaps are almost a mini kit in themselves! I think I’ve sussed them, despite the rather vague instructions. I filed down the locator pins and cut off 1mm of the inner underside flap to make them fit properly though. 
 

 

All the silver panels hand painted. The masking left a slightly blurry edge to the camo pattern.

 

[Biggles87]

Coming to this late (as usual) but already gathered a few tips from this and the one from @Dr. Quack  in case I eventually build mine.

 

John

PS: Big improvement on the seat strappery.

[nigelshipp]

Depending on how accurate you want it, I'll mention the nose cone join line isn't the real join line and requires filling and sanding for accuracy. Search the forums for Tornado nose to find an illustration

Also this kit doesn't contain the glass portion of the RAF nose LMRTS pod, make from scratch sprue or buy a whole replacement

Edited August 27, 2021 by nigelshipp

[Lord Riot]

It’s interesting about the radome as to me it actually looks quite accurate, but I’m obviously missing something. It isn’t a straight line up, which seems to be quite realistic to me, how much is it out by? 
 

I think there’s a real risk I’d make it look a bit messy trying to rectify it whereas if I leave it as it is I’m not sure it’s that noticeable. Is it?

 

Regarding the LRMTS, luckily I had a spare one from an Airfix Tornado, with clear leading edge, so I’m using that.

[Dr. Quack]

I'm told that the radome actually extends to the next panel line ie the next one nearer the cockpit. This means extra work on the seam where the kit part joins. I'd be happy to be corrected on this, I mean REALLY happy as it'll make my build much easier!

Q

[nigelshipp]

It is the next line back, but its personal choice, some people just live with it

[Lord Riot]

Slow progress as we were on holiday last week, I highly recommend Gidleigh Park Hotel in Devon!
 

Just a small update, painted on the silver panels under the rear fuselage around what look like vents. I’ve hit a kind of impasse now, not sure whether to apply some of the stencils and decals before gluing on all the flaps, slats, wheels, etc or get a few more bits glued on first. I’m thinking there’s less risk of knocking bits off if I decal now.

 

[Lord Riot]

I made a thin plate from plastic card for the two fuselage weapons pylons, painted gunmetal then black decals added to look like the attachment points. 
 

 

Started work on the stores. Standard 80’s fit of underwing fuel tanks, with empty missile pylons, and ECM and BOZ pods under the outer pylons. I’m assuming these were all the same dark green as the aircraft, with the tanks the same green/grey?

 

I felt it would be easier to add some of the stencils before gluing on the flaps, etc.

 

[Lord Riot]

Flaps finally fitted!
 

[Lord Riot]

Looking like a Tornado now with the big tailplanes fitted.

 

[darthspud]

Wish you'd hollered, I have those fuselage pylons along with a spare canopy and cockpit windscreen and the masks for them too.

[darthspud]

Got spare boz pod, fuel tanks too.

[BillF67]

24 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Looking like a Tornado now with the big tailplanes fitted.

 

TAILPLANES??? TAILPLANES?? Tailerons, please😱

[Lord Riot]

2 hours ago, darthspud said:

Wish you'd hollered, I have those fuselage pylons along with a spare canopy and cockpit windscreen and the masks for them too.

Thanks! Depending on how my canopy painting goes I may yet be hollering! 

[Lord Riot]

Getting on with things now; wheels, nose and windscreen fitted. I used superglue for the windscreen and kept it pressed down firmly for a minute or so because there was a gap otherwise, normal glue wasn’t strong enough.

 

 

In the end I bottled out of adjusting the nose join, I think I would have made a hash of it especially after already painting the camo, so I just sprayed the radome satin black and used the kit join. I’d never know if it hadn’t been pointed out and it looks ok to me!

I hand painted the matt black anti-glare panel after fitting the canopy. I needed to use a thin line of putty to fill the gap between the nose and forward canopy.

 

 

I added a couple of extra little instruments on the shroud, and remembered to glue the HUD in place before adding the windscreen. There’s a small pebble inside the radome as the nose weight.

 

 

Any feedback or comments welcome.

 

 

[Deano353]

The tornado looked the best in the grey/green wrap around camo in my opinion looks great 

[Lord Riot]

I’ve now got the flaps and slats glued in place. They make those narrow wings look much broader, must have generated a lot of extra lift in real life?
 

 

 

Although the Xtradecals are very good, they do seem to slide off if touched, how do I seal them on without damaging them or the paint?
 

 

[Lord Riot]

I decided to go with the spoilers up, albeit only slightly. I know it’s not realistic for an aircraft sat on the line, but I do prefer my models to have everything hanging out where possible. Airbrakes will be up too.

 

 

Bang seats added. Although in general I think this is a very well engineered kit, I don’t think the seats are as good as they could be. If you have this in the stash I’d be tempted to get aftermarket ones, I will do for my next one. I made the black tubes either side of the headrest myself from bent wire, and added my usual masking tape straps, the kit ones don’t look great at all.

 

 

Silver with dirt wash for the thrust reverser doors, and gunmetal mixed with varying amounts of tyre black for the nozzles. 
 

The tailerons ( @BillF67) are designed to swivel, but I found the small attachments far too loose and they just hung down at almost Phantom angle, so I ended up having to glue them to the fuselage side, which was a bit disappointing. It may be my fault rather than the kit though, but not sure how I could have made the attachments less wobbly.

 

 

[Lord Riot]

Luckily I had a spare LRMTS window as this kit didn’t include one. I thought I’d try and jazz up the interior a bit with the lamp, which I made myself from various bits. A sprue off cut glued into the hollow main protrusion to support the lamp, then a piece of plastic card as backing, and finally an unused clear part from this kit which was a perfect fit …

 

 

Lamp fitted. It looks like the interior is very pale grey.
 

 

And window painted, then LRMTS head all sealed up.

 

[Bell209]

18 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

It may be my fault rather than the kit though, but not sure how I could have made the attachments less wobbly.

Nope, they were wobbly for me, too. I just glued them at the required angle on mine.

[Lord Riot]

Anonymous Tornado. 
 

The stencils took ages to apply, and surprisingly for Xtradecal they seem very silvery and prone to peeling off, especially if touched. Not sure what I can do about it as I read that decal seal makes the paint glossy. Anyway, as long as I don’t hold it by any decals it looks ok!
 

 

 

 

Just the squadron markings and serials to add now, before all the little aerials and then the open canopy and underwing stores.

 

[Graham Boak]

Transfers will usually go silvery and fail to hold if they are applied to a matt surface.  The rough surface means that air is trapped around the low points in the paint film and the transfers can only attach to the high pints.  This is why models are best painted with glossy paints, or at least satin ones, or the model covered in gloss varnish.  The transfers are then applied to a smooth surface with no (or a minimum) of trapped air and a maximum of adhesion.  The various decal solvents will help to bend the transfer over irregularities and assist adhesion.  They can be used to remove silvering by pricking holes in the transfer and then adding the solvent.  The desired surface finish, glossy, satin or matt, is then achieved by a final coat of varnish.