Italeri 1/32 Tornado GR4

[wallyinoz]

The Bullcreek Aviation Museum has been donated a retired RAF Tornado GR4 which should arrive in March this year. Two Italeri kits were purchased by the museum to model the donated subject.. I took on one of the kits and after about  7 - 8 weeks of work this is the result. It would be nice to keep it. The stand is an Airfix example that came with 1/24 kits or the 1/72 Concorde kit, the model is nicely balanced on the ball joint and is positionable. So this is not my usual subject or scale, though I also did a 1/32 Hunter for the museum last year. No more model building for me this year, I am off to the UK in March.

[Mick Drover]

That's pretty good for something that isn't your usual subject/scale Wally. It came up a treat.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited January 17, 2022 by Mick Drover

[wallyinoz]

4 minutes ago, Mick Drover said:

That's pretty good for something that isn't your usual subject/scale Wally. It came up a treat.

 

Cheers,

Mick

just realised I gotta glue on the nose probe and paint the refuelling probe head and gun muzzle! so not finished yet lol

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Yes the lack of the nose probe did stick out a bit but the model itself is very well done indeed.

Thanks for posting

Colin

[F-32]

Beautiful work!

[billn53]

Nice!!!

[RMCS]

Lovely 

[exdraken]

Great Tornado in flight!

 

Looks rather dynamic! Superb painting!

[SirDrinksalot]

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but how do you guys get the panel lines to stand out like that, it looks amazing.

[wallyinoz]

21 minutes ago, SirDrinksalot said:

Not sure if this is the place to ask, but how do you guys get the panel lines to stand out like that, it looks amazing.

G'day Cobber!

Glad you like it. To be honest I dont do this panel line weathering stuff very often, I do not have much experience with it. I generally dislike over - accentuation of panel lines. Most of my models are civil and generally clean. This big bird was an unusual project for me and looking at the reference material it was often a pretty grubby bird. Because it is generally montone..just grey and very little in the way of coloured decals etc a clean jet would look pretty boring so I experimented with techniques I have read about in various modelling forums. Essentially this was my workflow:

- primer, grey Tamiya fine or Mr Surfacer 1000 rattlecans

- airbrush dark grey along panel lines

- airbrush the top coat colour making sure not to go too heavy and obliterate the dark grey underneath (i think they call this "pre-shading")

- after the topcoat, a clear coat then do the decalling

when all the decalling has dried i mix up a medium grey / brown colour from artist oil paint tubes (I dont use black..the effect is way too stark for liking).. though on this model I did not use oil paint!. I mixed up a thin wash colour from artists acrylic paint tubes and covered the model with..very bloody scary after all that work! it looks like crap, make sure the lines are filled. Let it dry a little then start wiping back with soft damp cloth in direction of airflow, keep wiping until you are happy  rewash and repeat if too much was cleaned off. The technique for oil is the same though instead of water dampened cloth use a bit of turpentine..not too much!.

this preshading and panel line accentuation can be a fiery topic, everyone has their own opinion and take on it ..for me I like subtlety.. this is much heavier than I usually do but I am happy with it in this scale it seems not over the top. The thrust reverser soot on the fin was an airbrush dark grey brown mixture of my own concoction, I did it before the fin was attached to the model so if I buggered it up it would be easier to fix. One thing that is worth mentioning. for this build I used Mr Colour lacquer... the first time I have used it..fantastically good and the coat is bullet proof.

[SirDrinksalot]

23 minutes ago, wallyinoz said:

G'day Cobber!

Glad you like it. To be honest I dont do this panel line weathering stuff very often, I do not have much experience with it. I generally dislike over - accentuation of panel lines. Most of my models are civil and generally clean. This big bird was an unusual project for me and looking at the reference material it was often a pretty grubby bird. Because it is generally montone..just grey and very little in the way of coloured decals etc a clean jet would look pretty boring so I experimented with techniques I have read about in various modelling forums. Essentially this was my workflow:

- primer, grey Tamiya fine or Mr Surfacer 1000 rattlecans

- airbrush dark grey along panel lines

- airbrush the top coat colour making sure not to go too heavy and obliterate the dark grey underneath (i think they call this "pre-shading")

- after the topcoat, a clear coat then do the decalling

when all the decalling has dried i mix up a medium grey / brown colour from artist oil paint tubes (I dont use black..the effect is way too stark for liking).. though on this model I did not use oil paint!. I mixed up a thin wash colour from artists acrylic paint tubes and covered the model with..very bloody scary after all that work! it looks like crap, make sure the lines are filled. Let it dry a little then start wiping back with soft damp cloth in direction of airflow, keep wiping until you are happy  rewash and repeat if too much was cleaned off. The technique for oil is the same though instead of water dampened cloth use a bit of turpentine..not too much!.

this preshading and panel line accentuation can be a fiery topic, everyone has their own opinion and take on it ..for me I like subtlety.. this is much heavier than I usually do but I am happy with it in this scale it seems not over the top. The thrust reverser soot on the fin was an airbrush dark grey brown mixture of my own concoction, I did it before the fin was attached to the model so if I buggered it up it would be easier to fix. One thing that is worth mentioning. for this build I used Mr Colour lacquer... the first time I have used it..fantastically good and the coat is bullet proof.

Thanks Cobber!

 

I have a Desert Storm GR1 up next, maybe, and I need that thrust reverser soot and similar, without any other weathering I think it will look too perfect. Im not into airbrushing yet so may do a few more other models until I build my skills and gear up, I really want to do that baby justice.

 

Im Newcastle NSW, will have to update my profile.

 

Thanks for the explanation and I love how it looks on your model.

[Collin]

That is a terrific looking display model. How was the build itself? Go together well?  Does the kit come with gear doors closed for in-flight?  
 

Cheers

Collin

[wallyinoz]

1 minute ago, Collin said:

That is a terrific looking display model. How was the build itself? Go together well?  Does the kit come with gear doors closed for in-flight?  
 

Cheers

Collin

hello colin,

thanks for the kind remarks. the model went together reasonably well, building the  rear fuselage assembly and air intakes was like building a box edge to edge, but it was engineered well enough to work out.  i defy the average modellers ability to get the thrust reversing photoetch to fit within the assembly, but I am less than average. There are flaps and gear up options in the kit as well auxiliary blow in doors etc there was a minor fit issue with the main gear doors that needs a bit of fettling or filling ..i dont know if it was as a result of a misalignment of my build or whether its an engineering thing, but really not a big deal. The weapons / stores / tanks are not perfect, you have to deal with seams. 8.5 out of 10 is where I score it. I cant think of any other model I have built that was any better