Revell 1/72 Black Thunder Tornado

[kiseca]

I've always admired the Tornado. I think it's one of the prettiest jets. Some tease it for its huge tail but I've always thought it is beautifully proportioned. With its wings swept back, hungry intakes leaning into the slipstream and shallow glasshouse tucked down low in the fuselage, it looks mean, purposeful, sleek and fast. Then there's its low level performance. At one point it was the fastest aircraft in the world at low level, for all I know it still is. Then there's that brilliant terrain following radar that allows it to hug the countryside at high speed on autopilot. In the Gulf, TFR led low level sorties turned out to be less effective (or more risky) than hoped, but regardless of how irrelevant that capability may be in modern air warfare, it's still impressive what they can make a plane do.

 

I have a thing for aircraft in unusual liveries so an all-black Tornado with some bright sweeping graphics on it is right up my street. This one will be built wheels up, wings back to be displayed in flight, as sleek as it gets. I'll make a display stand for it and have also purchased a turbine blade from an RB199 engine to display with it. I was at first thinking of making a stand out of the turbine blade but I think it will look better on a pair of exhaust mounted perspex tubes and with the blade displayed separately on the base.

 

Anyway first impressions of the kit are very Revell in my experience: I'm very impressed with how much detail is moulded into the parts. There are rivets and sunken panels everywhere, and some wonderfully crisp, tight edges just where they should be, like on the intakes. Surprising then how much flash there is in the mouldings. I'm expecting at some point to find some part that just doesn't fit with its mate, I'm just not sure what that will be yet. Also surprised at that number of parts for 1/72. The cockpit assembly is 15 pieces if you exclude the wheel well that's added to it before it's sealed in the fuselage, for example. So far everything has gone together well at least.

 

On to the pictures. Here's the box art:

 

 

I haven't done much on the aircraft. So far I've only assembled the front fuselage. I gave the cockpit some definition but it's going to be closed up so I didn't focus a lot on the detail. Still need to clean up the joins.

 

 

And that's it for progress. Next step is assembling and painting the wings and pylons.

 

Here's the turbine blade. It's easier to find a cleaner looking, and larger, fan or compressor blade for an RB199 but I wanted a turbine blade because they have a lot of intricate detail, with all the channels cut into them I believe to help with cooling. I might try tidy this up a little but there won't be much I can do to change its appearance short of getting it plated - which I worry may hide the holes. They are ceramic coated so aren't going to polish up to a nice shine but I can possibly at least get some of the soot staining reduced. I've got plenty of time before I need that done anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

[kiseca]

Wings with their pylons were assembled this weekend. Not a big challenge there. The pylons have little C-shaped clips that go on the inside of the lower surface of the wing, while a mushroom shaped shaft on top of the pylon goes through a hole in the wing. The C-clip then wraps around the shaft, securing the pylon to the wing while allowing it to rotate to be manually aligned with the wing's sweep angle. I should have taken photos but didn't. I'll post some later of the instructions.

 

Anyway I was worried about the C-clips becoming detached inside the wing, which would allow the pylon to fall off. They don't clip in very securely and if they fall off once the aircraft is assembled it would be a disaster as I'd have to separate the top and bottom body halfs first in order to be able to separate the wing halfs and get to the clip. Both operations would risk damage to the body and wing. The alternative would be to glue the pylon to the wing, which would mean I'd lose the option to change the wing sweep should I ever want to.

 

So I glued the c-clips to the wing half, trying my best not to get glue through to the pylon shaft itself, thus leaving the pylon free to rotate. Hopefully this means the clip is secure.

 

I am now stuck with a painting dilemna. The wings sweep, which means either the front or the back is partially obscured within the body at any time. This makes painting a challenge so it makes sense to paint the wings before assembling the fuselage. However, I want to paint the rest of the fuselage after assembly (the wings will at this point be in place because of the sweep mechanism) so that I can smooth any joins out before painting them. There are a lot of joins on the fuselage because the vertical stabiliser is separate, the elevons are separate, the cockpit is a separate section, the intakes are separate..... I think there's going to be a bunch of tidying up involved before I can paint all that lot!

 

The problem comes in with the wings.... they are mostly black, but the inner surfaces, the parts that will always be partially obscured in the fuselage, are grey.... and Revell provided decals for the grey bits. Handy because that patch of colour has a complex pattern,  these look like they will be much easier added to the wing before they are assembled into the fuselage, but then how will I mask them when painting the fuselage without pulling the decals back off?

 

I might use the decals to make a masking template and paint the grey sections on instead. I need to dry fit the lot together first though and see what's going to look like the best solution. Maybe it's possible to add the decals after assembly if the gaps are bit enough.

 

Anyway those are adventures for later. Pictures will follow as I try solve all that.

[Hook]

1 hour ago, kiseca said:

how will I mask them when painting the fuselage without pulling the decals back off?

 

Paint the grey, trace the decal shape on masking take?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

[kiseca]

2 hours ago, Hook said:

 

Paint the grey, trace the decal shape on masking take?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

Seems like the best idea. I have a terribly pedantic streak that often makes me very reluctant to deviate from a plan or instructions, and in this case compels me to use the decals just because they are there 🤪 It makes choices like this feel like a disproportionately important decision.

 

Painting it seems the best solution and would give a better looking result than the decals anyway. 

[kiseca]

Wow, was it October the last time I updated this thread? I know I said I build slowly but it looks like I've been pushing it to extremes.

 

Anyway I do actually have an update, and it hasn't all been plain sailing, so progress really has been slow. Here's what's happened:

 

Firstly, I did indeed paint the wings, including the grey area near the pivots. I then installed them in the fuselage, which allowed me to join the whole fuselage together. This is where I hit my first two major problems. Firstly, I've managed to break off the two swivelling pylons from one of the wings. Those two were always a bit stiff and I've pretty quickly sheared the plastic lugs on both of them, rotating them out of the way. Either that side just wasn't a good fit, or my decision to glue the retaining C-clips to the lugs has worked against me and some of the glue sealed the join to the wing itself. Either way, it means I'm going to have to glue the pylons in place and will not be able to change the wing sweep on display. I always thought Tornados looked best with wings at full sweep anyway so I wasn't expecting to use that option much, but I guess now the choice of sweep angle, once I make it, is permanent.

 

The second headache came once I tried to assemble the fuselage section with the wings in. They don't all fit together well. With the wings fully forward, there is clearance but as I sweep the wings back it fouls against the fuselage sections and forces them apart. The fuselage join is such that it splits the wing gloves into upper and lower halves, and with the wings fully back these are forced apart so there's a gap.

This took a lot of sanding and grinding to get the right clearances, and now everything is snug with the wings fully swept, but very loose with them fully forward. Meanwhile, all the work I'd done to solve this had scraped and sanded grey paint off the wings so I had to redo those areas before I could assemble.

 

It was really difficult to see where it was fouling because you have to close the fuselage to test, and the parts that are fouling are inside and hidden from view, so it was very frustrating working that down. In the end I had to sand down the wing surfaces themselves - on the areas hidden from view at least, so no detail lost, but I've sanded the gloves, the mounting plates, and even the curtains that seal the fuselage to get the whole thing to fit together without gaps on the wing gloves when fully swept.

 

Anyway, fuselage, cockpit section,wings, elevons and vertical stabilizer are all assembled now. In this picture the nosecone is not secured in place yet. That will be a different colour to the rest of the fuselage so I will paint that separately before attaching it. The plastic is black, so it's hard to tell in this photo, but the wings are painted while the fuselage is not.

 

 

 

On this second photo it's also clear that the grey parts on the wings aren't aligned with eachother, so I'm going to have to touch those up too. 

 

On the previous photo, if you look closely at the windscreen area you'll see there's a missing bit of clear plastic on the port side. I noticed it on the piece early on, but then forgot about it and only noticed it again when I assembled the darn thing. That was the next problem to be solved. I filled it with Perfect Putty, trying my best not to get too much actually inside the cockpit, where it would be impossible to reach and would look like a white mushroom. It's all masked off already but hopefully I don't see any interior problems once I take the masking off, otherwise the windscreen will have to come off so I can sort it out. Here's the fix....

 

 

The next challenge was the fin. It doesn't fit square on the fuselage. The bottom edge of one side sits a bit lower than the other, so it doesn't stand vertically. Stupidly, instead of thinking to file it down to level, I glued it on and held it vertical with the intention of filling the gap on one side. I thought I'd done this well but later I noticed the fin is one or two degrees off vertical. Unfortunately, because I knew one side wasn't making good contact with the fuselage, I'd used a lot of cement to make sure it stayed in place, and it's not coming off now without damaging something, so it will have to stay as it is. It's only noticeable when seen head on but I'll always know it's there 🙁

 

It looks a bit out on one of the above shots but that's exaggerated because the camera isn't directly above the aircraft, so it looks worse there.

 

By this time I must say I was getting ready to abandon this one. Too many annoying problems and the kit, while having excellent detail, has a lot of fitting problems and the general quality is just annoying me. The parts also need a lot of cleaning up and there is a lot of flash. I chose to continue the build, I think it will look OK in the end and I haven't evern abandoned a model before, and hopefully from here on out, with just the decals, weapons and engine cans to trip me up,  it doesn't have many more opportunities to throw curveballs at me. Here's one example of the flash, on which if I recall is one of the nose gear doors.

 

 

Speaking of gear doors, there's another challenge on this model. I am building it gear up to display in flight, and the doors just don't fit well in the bays. The main gear doors have needed a lot of filler, and the nose gear doors, particularly the one at the back of the bay, has no locating ridge or pins to line it up on, so it just sinks into the hole. I cut off a piece of sprue, glued it to the inside of the door and then cut and sanded it down until it was just the right height to sit on the base of the wheel well and hold the door up at just the right height. I realise now I should have taken photos of that too but I didn't really think of it at the time! Sorry 😬

 

Anyway, it's now sitting in primer, ready for the coat of gloss black... but before I get to that, the join at the base of the fin, which I had filled, still looks a bit too big so I'll be putting more putty there first.

 

The wings are all masked up on this shot, right down to the root.

 

 

 

 

 So that's where the Tornado is so far. Hopefully this weekend I have an opportunity to put the black coat on and have more pictures for you then! Thanks for watching

[socjo1]

Hi, I build Revell's (Eduard's Desert Babes edition) Tonka too and have much the same impressions. At first glance beautifull detailed model but really beast for fitting, and parts preparing. I just fully drowned with rescribong panel lines and so on. Anyway, I'm hard-determined to finish it as it is fantastic construction and plane and looks awesome in pink. Anyway, I wish you luck with your model!

Regards, Michał

[kiseca]

Another month, another tiny update.

 

The aircraft has its black coat and the detail colours have been added. There's a metal plate, looks like a heat shield, at the base of the fin that on most aircraft looks a burnt metallic colour, but on the Black Thunder bird is gloss black along with the rest of the aircraft. I chose to paint it the standard colour (or at least my best effort at it). It's not accurate but it adds a little bit of detail to an otherwise monochrome paintjob. The colour is a mix of Humbrol enamel gunmetal and copper... roughly 2 drops to 3ish ratio...

 

The radome is also black but labelled as matt. On the paintings and pictures it looks a little lighter than the rest of the aircraft. To try capture that I mixed Tamiya matt black and Tamiya dark iron in approx ratio 3:1. On its own it just looks black, but against the fuselage the contrast is clear.

 

On its own:

 

 

 

Balanced against the fuselage.. the metal heat shield on the fin is also visible in this shot:

 

 

I've also balanced the grey on the wings and touched up a few areas that needed it. I also painted the silver / grey plates that create a circle above the tailerons, but then later discovered there are decals for those, so I'll be switching that to black and then apply the decals. They are more accurate than my masking.

 

I also wasn't happy with the colour of the wing root seals. It looked too light, particularly against the black, so I dry brushed a darker shade over the top of those to both darken them and add some texture. They look better but I might add a wash or something to them too to tone them down a little further.

 

I realise I should have applied the refueling probe before painting the fuselage, if I went by the instructions. However, that online build I had read had the probe in place but commented that it's a mistake as the actual aircraft never wore one. I've checked photos and indeed it did exist at least for sometime without the probe. the lines are cleaner without it so I'll happily leave those parts on the sprue and not even need to make an excuse of artistic license. Bonus!

 

I've also made a start on the decals. The big long stripes went on first on fuselage and wings, because both have decals that lie on them and I need these to set well before putting the next layer on. Some trimming still needed here, and most of the devals still need to get applied, but it has already brightened up the jet and started to bring it to life. they sit better than they look on the wing in this image but I'll still be giving them another coat or two of microsol to get them to settle nicely. However, they aren't as gloss as the paint so I expect that change in finish visible from the decal to the wing isn't going to be resolved until it gets its final varnish. I'll use a satin finish for the final coat - the gloss black is too shiny in its natural state.

 

The fuselage stripes looked too long to manage so I took a cue from an online build I had read on this model, and cut them into 3 pieces (starboard) and then 2 pieces (port) when I found the 3 pieces a hell of a job to juggle into place.

 

 

I've made a start on the ordnance. That needs prepping and painting, and some assembly still to do as well, then it's ready. Then, decals, a couple more touchups, the varnish, and it's done. Apart from the base. I'm in two minds.... the quality of the model has led me to consider whether to spend time on a good base for this one or just have it on display in the background. I have Revell's 1/48 ADV which I could base mount instead. The exhaust cans are very shallow and I don't know that it will sit well if mounted on perspex tube by its cans. I could cut the interior detail off but then that means the model can only ever be displayed on the tubes. If they don't work out....

 

Anyway I'll see how the model turns out then make my decision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[F-32]

Looking good!

[kiseca]

There has been progress on this. Decals on the aircraft are complete. There are still decals outstanding for the ordnance and pylons.

 

I've applied a top coat of Vallejo satin varnish from a spraycan. The fuselage is now complete apart from pitot tubes and sensors, and the exhaust cans which I still need to paint. Happily, the varnish seems to have toned down all the shine differences I was getting between the decals and paintjob. I was worried I'd end up with a silvering effect. This has mostly now gone, however it is still noticeable in some areas on the wing where clear decal covers surface detail like the spoilers and access hatches. The clear area on the wing decals is the full area within the boundary formed by the red stripes. If I were to do the build again, I'd remove that clear area before applying the decals. I had tried to get them to completely settle with Microsol but it hasn't been completely successful.

 

I've also applied a topcoat to the weapons, electronic pods and Sidewinders. I've used gloss black, as I did on the fuselage. I got a much smoother finish this time, but I have no idea what I did differently. Anyway.. they are now ready for their own decals, after which they and the pylons can be assembled to the aircraft and it will be complete. EDIT: Oh, and there's a little bit of much I need to polish off the cockpit as well. I think it's residual sticky stuff from the masking tape (I hope!)

 

EDIT 2: One mistake I realise I've made is the Luftwaffe cross should be on the port wing only. I've put one on each wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by kiseca

[kiseca]

All the tanks and pods and missiles are now painted and decalled. Paints are same as body: Humbrol gloss black enamel (Humbrol 21) with Vallejo satin varnish spray over the top.

 

 

Exhaust assembly is all painted and complete, all with Vallejo Metal Colour paints. I used Jet Exhaust for the nozzle tips, Gunmetal Grey for the cans (with interior detail), and semi matt aluminium with a touch of copper mixed in it. I must say that mix didn't really come out like I'd hoped, it just looks silver unless it catches the light at just the right angle when it takes on a vaguely rusty hue.

 

Once painted, I used Tamiya weathering powder to tone down the silver. The powders are easy enough to apply and get an interesting looking end result, but they are powder.... they don't set, and will just rub off if handled, so need to be sealed with a top coat. Then, you have to be careful with that top coat too... if you put it on too wet at first it just lifts the powder up, and it then gathers into little puddles of colour.. I used the Vallejo semi matt for the top coat.

 

I was finding it hard to get the lighting right for these pictures. Either too much light, washing out the colour, or too little light. Hopefully with the sun we're getting lately, the model will be ready soon for some natural light photos which will bring them out better.

 

 

 

 

You can see in that last photo I'm about halfway through adding the ordnance. The Sidewinder rails are really tricky. They sit on at an angle and the locating points are very shallow so they just slide around while trying to hold them in place. The one pylon that had broken off was a bit easier, but trying to get that one to sit nicely on the pylon that's on the wing was really difficult. Should have the rest glued on tonight. Then, it's just a few little details around the aircraft to do. Some small intakes, instrument tubes and pitots incl. the one on the radome. There's a plate I overlooked that needs to go between the exhaust nozzles, and the navigation lights on the tips of the wings. Then it's all done, apart from the display stand which I might tackle at some point in the future. I think this one's just going to hang from the ceiling.

[kiseca]

..... Aaaaand I'm calling this one done. Weapons are on. Most of the little aerials and pitot tubes and whatever are on. The nosecone instrument tube has been reattached three times already despite it being the last thing I added to the model, so it's time to get this one to safety somewhere I can't touch it.

 

It's not been the easiest ride and there are a couple of things I need to do before it joins some compatriots patrolling my the ceiling in my home office / man cave / room-with-my-stuff-in. Firstly, I think I need to colour the nav lights on the wingtips - will check instructions. Second, I forgot to add the splitter plate that sits between the two exhausts. It's painted and ready, just need to glue it. Then, it goes in flight to play with the Rafale, Stuka, Beaufighter and Concorde already up there on patrol.

 

Thanks to all for your comments, feedback and encouragement during this build. That's what makes sharing these journeys on Britmodeller worthwhile. I hope you've enjoyed the build thread, and for those interested, the RFI thread is here: