1/48th Italeri Tornado F3 - 2nd ever online build . . .

[PaulR]

Evening chaps,

with reference to an earlier thread, here are the initial set of piccies for my 2nd ever online build. I have to admit to a certain amount of smugness; I managed to snag a couple of Italeri F3s on Ebay recently, but luckily my wife suspects nothing . . .

Anyway, here are the obligatory box shots . . .

. . . plus the aftermarket porn, namely Paragon fin correction, afterburner cans, wheels, slats and flaps, wing pylons, Aeroclub ejector seats, turned brass pitots (more of this later), Eduard P/E and the Xtradecal sheet for 23 sqn. I was humming and hahing about doing in the 111 sqn Flagship circa 2005, but in the end the 23 sqn marks won out - I just think the red and blue suits the grey schemed F3 very well. The other thing is that I have been reading alot about air ops over Bosnia, including 23 sqn's work during 1993/4, just before they were disbanded as a Tornado unit. Various pictures show them equipped with Phimat pods (which I will scratch build using an Amraam missile body - almost identical length and diameter, funnily enough) and a mixture of grey/green and desert pink tanks. These Bosnia Tornados also had various RAM applied to the leading edges of wings and fins, so should make for interesting painting! I may not actually use all of the aftermarket; I might save the flaps and slats set for the second kit, which will be done in those 111 sqn marks mentioned earlier!

I couldn't resist having a little bit of play with the aftermarket stuff, so tried out the metal pitot on the nose cone. Absolutely fantastic effect, so much so I may be forced to get more. . . by the by, I don't tend to build in a 'logical'manner; I tend to do things like wheels, tanks, missiles etc first, as these are the bits that are a faff, and end up not getting done otherwise.

Anyway, more updates as and when. I think some other chaps said they might start their F3s at the same time, so as to swap tips and ideas; if we can do this without breaking any rules or upsetting the mods, it would be great to see!

More anon

Paul

ps here's a link to a picture of what I am planning do. It's not the exact aircraft, but you get the idea . . .

Edited January 17, 2011 by PaulR

[FZ6]

This is going to look good.

I have a started one in the stash I need to finish and might have to get one of those metal Pitot Tubes.

Good idea about doing the little bits such as Stores etc first as I have a couple of projects which would be finished by now if I had built them this way.

Look forward to seeing more.

Mark

[Col.]

Good to see you making a start Paul. Hope to join you soon but still a few things to tidy up and little free time at the moment.