Marcello Rosa Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 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). 55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in a shed Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 3 hours ago, Marcello Rosa said: I am happy that the colour of the model look at least plausible. Very plausable indeed, thats a very fine looking Tornado. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Congratulations on a beautiful model well done 👏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfinished project Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Great looking Tornado one of the RAF’s greatest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 2 hours ago, Pete in a shed said: Very plausable indeed, thats a very fine looking Tornado. Pete In my humble opinion, every model collection needs a desert pink jet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 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. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Perfect then! Lighting conditions in photos, even more so with photos of models, artifical vs. Natural lighting is really complicated to assess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 That looks great, nicely done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 That looks really good, great job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 That's a great replica. All the better for not being overdone. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steben Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 (edited) 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 November 18, 2021 by Steben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 A very well done Tornado. The crystal clear canopy really caught my eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 6 minutes ago, SAT69 said: A very well done Tornado. The crystal clear canopy really caught my eye. Just used several applications of car polish (Meguiar's Scratch X). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted November 22, 2021 Author Share Posted November 22, 2021 (edited) 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! Edited November 22, 2021 by Marcello Rosa reformat text 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOxley Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 One nice Tornado…! Suitably dirty to boot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 5 hours ago, Marcello Rosa said: Here is is, Bertie, after a final matt coat. I hope this will look better now! Perfect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomLover Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Wonderful tonka! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted December 25, 2021 Author Share Posted December 25, 2021 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now