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Tornado GR1 "Armoured Charmer", Op Granby, 1991


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Here is my completed Italeri kit of the Tornado GR1 in desert livery. No aftermarket items; built out of the box, with a few "upgrades" made from items I had around the house and garage. One of the upgrades was to the undercarriage bays, which were pretty bare as provided in the kit. Pipes, cables and boxes were made from hobby wire and evergreen strips. I also added the parachute risers to the ejection seats, using Evergreen strips. The biggest problem with this kit, which is the lack of representation of the pneumatic seals for the swing wings, was  circumvented by carving the appropriate shapes on the fuselage, and adding appropriately sized pieces of...you guessed it, evergreen strips.

 

I found this kit quite enjoyable. For a budget price, you get a no-frills, reasonably correctly shaped Tornado, with potential to add improvements if you wish to do so. The panel lines are recessed, the fit between parts is OK (nothing that can't be fixed with standard filler and sanding...), and there is no flash worth mentioning.

 

The amount of weathering suffered by planes during the first Gulf War represented a double-edged sword. In one hand, it was quite liberating. The paint tended to erode quickly, and the ground crews sometimes had to touch up with what they had, so most planes ended up with a mishmash of "desert pink" (ARTF - Alkali Removable Temporary Finish), sand, and light brownish colours (e.g. Leyland's "eggshell"). This means that small fixes with the paintbrush, and small variations in colour, look acceptable in the model. On the other hand, the amount of weathering was truly off the scale, creating the expectation that your model will look very bleached in some parts, and very sooty in others. It is very easy to overdo this, and end up with something that looks nothing like a real Tornado.

 

After experimenting with several colours, I ended up with main layers of AK Desert Sand (RC032), topped with sprays of very diluted Tamiya XF-59 (desert yellow) and XF-57 (buff), to add some variation. I used any of the above colours for paintbrush touch-ups when necessary. I am happy that the colour of the model look at least plausible. The weathering...I chose to under-do, rather than risk overdoing it. I think it looks suitably grubby, but it could be argued that more soot and dirt would be justified.

 

For more photos and notes about the construction, check my web site (address in the signature panel below).

 

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very nice work!

 

great weathering in my opinion! definitely not underdone! ;)

 

regarding colors, a bit brown but that maybe the photos! the color is called dessert pink, the pink aspects though show more or less, depending on lighting conditions!

 

 

if you want a high thrills Tornado, get the Revell one, you definitely have to work your way around the instructions, not following them, but then you get a rather detailed model out of the box.

 

the Italeri one is thought to be at least relatively easy to build!

 

:thumbsup:

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22 minutes ago, exdraken said:

regarding colors, a bit brown but that maybe the photos! the color is called dessert pink, the pink aspects though show more or less, depending on lighting conditions!

I found photographing this model more challenging than usual exactly because of this - depending on the lighting, the colour in the photos varied from yellow to pink to brown. Many of the photos never looked "right" to my eyes. You can see this in the larger collection: in some of the photos the colour looks like the real thing, in others it doesn't.

 

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1 hour ago, Bertie Psmith said:

I think that came out very well. It isn't as grubby as some I've seen but that's because it was early in the detachment when the paint was still fresh, right?

 

I must say that the desert pink paint was absolutely matt though.

OK, this is helpful advice. I can definitely mask the canopy and give it a matt finish. At the moment I opted for satin, but this was "playing safe", not knowing the reality. Will find some time to do this 

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22 hours ago, Marcello Rosa said:

 in some of the photos the colour looks like the real thing, in others it doesn't.

 

Applies to pictures of the real thing as well 🤣 So you did quite well.

Edited by Steben
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On 18/11/2021 at 21:05, Bertie Psmith said:

I think that came out very well. It isn't as grubby as some I've seen but that's because it was early in the detachment when the paint was still fresh, right?

 

I must say that the desert pink paint was absolutely matt though.

Here is is, Bertie, after a final matt coat. I hope this will look better now!

 

 

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Edited by Marcello Rosa
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  • 1 month later...
On 22/11/2021 at 17:59, Bertie Psmith said:

Perfect!

Dear Bertie and all friends

Following the useful feedback I did my best to adjust the colour a bit, including the flat coat. New images and a build report now live on https://www.marcellorosa.com/1-48italeritornadogr1

I hope you will like it

And happy Christmas to all!

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