Panavia Tornado GR.4

[AjD]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I posted my last project so I thought I'd stick this one up. I've been working on this for 5 years or so now - not because it's overly difficult, just because life's got in the way. Having posted along the way on another forum I wondered if you guys might be interested in this so here goes...

Taken in 2008, this was the cockpit whilst working on it. Looking back, I know I could do a little better nowadays but that's something you have to live with when you let something run on this long! This was taken when it was still Neomega's Tornado GR.1 cockpit, prior to conversion to GR.4 standard:

This was the forward fuselage whilst I was scratch-building the open avionics bays and doors. Again, I know I could do a bit better now but hey ho:

The rear fuselage and fin needed a fair amount of work. The beginnings of a rebuilt airbrake housing, fuel dump nozzle and tail are visible here:

I fouled up the Paragon dropped flaps a bit when fitting them to the port wing. At the time I had less experience with resin. There's a theme developing here isn't there?! Still, they look fine now it's painted:

[AjD]

Work in progress on improving the reverse-thrust mechanism which is rather blandly moulded on the kit. There is a Paragon Designs set (discontinued) available for this but at the time I wanted to improve my scratch-building so went in all guns blazing:

The beginnings of a Ground Power Unit I was building about 5 years ago to go on the eventual diorama. I still have it but need to check its accuracy before I continue with it:

Once the fuselage was glued together and the resin tub installed, I was able to start sorting out the intakes. In order to flatten the less than adequate sides I seem to remember I used milliput which sanded down nicely when dry. The nose gear bay also went in at this point after detailed scratch building:

This shot shows the milliput applied to the intakes prior to sanding on the starboard side:

The avionics bay still needed a matt varnish at this point and I had begun work on fitting the refuelling probe housing. The Italeri (extended) probe is a bit too sparse and beefy for my liking so I saved the tip and rebuilt the rest from scratch - a painstaking task. The seat visible here has long since been evicted as an accident early on in the build wrote the other one off - hence it's missing in the rear cockpit. I've since repainted two MB Mk.10As in the last few days:

Some of the GR.4 mods are visible in this view. I'm grateful for the help I've received on another forum along the way to point out the black floor on the Tornado and also the large, rectangular MFD in the front cockpit:

The black floor is evident in this shot, plus the strengthening spacers I needed to fit inside the forward fuselage to force the Italeri kit in to submission when I came to put it together:

[AjD]

By late-2010 it was in this condition and even then I was trying to get it ready for the UK Nationals at Telford. Needless to say it failed to make the Special Schemes SIG stand that year. And the year after if I come to think about it...!

The excellent Neomega cockpit was in, although far from complete at this point, and some of the Flightpath etched parts were added. The forward section of the wing root is still missing in this shot:

The airbrakes can be seen to still need some extra scratch-building here. The basic interior was completed but the UK GRs differ to the ECR/IDS I think. Either way, the outer parts of the bay still needed closing off which will be seen later. The rear fuselage join around the wing glove and elevators can also be seen to have been a tricky one, requiring plenty of filler. I actually had to use a wedge of plasticard to blend the upper and lower fuselage halves together and avoid a step in this area on one side. This kit certainly wasn't shy of showing its age!

Although I wasn't totally happy with the appearance of the avionics bays, I had by this point decided to accept them (or I would never finish!) and so would be sealing them off prior to the application of primer. Nowadays I've learned my lesson and build the bays first then add the details after painting the model, all pre-painted so I don't have to be so careful painting them after they've been nstalled:

The underside was no less troublesome than the rear end, requiring enough filler to last a lifetime. The belly pylons were eventually replaced with resin parts out of the Flightpath set once I got that far. They were later to be detailed through scratch-building as well. The liberal use of filler is clearly evident:

Starboard undercarriage bay, with a few scratch-built additions to raise the level of detail in an otherwise sparse offering from the kit:

A view of the port underside. The difficulty with the rear fuselage can be clearly seen here. I had just added the plasticard 'plug' I mentioned to get rid of a distinct step between the upper and lower fuselage halves. It was ultimately sanded down and the panel lines scribed on to it so as to belend it with the kit parts. The nasty join is now invisible:

Edited February 9, 2012 by AjD

[AjD]

The fuselage was eventually primed and is more or less ready to go in this shot:

The Flightpath tanks. I really like David Parkins' Flightpath range but these were slightly below par in my honest opinion. The casting was not of the sort of quality which can be found on the market these days. That might however be because this is an older set and because Flightpath's expertise is in etched rather than resin. I had begun to mark out some options for improvement at this point but lacked some good quality photos of the Hindenburger tanks so I suspect the end result was not 100% accurate:

A little more advanced by this point. The pylon was just test fitted and is actually able to have the tank added and removed as required now. Not because I intend to change the fit, more because it will be easier to transport without them fitted, and also, the resin is very heavy so I may wish to relieve the weight on the undercarriage once in a while:

This was the end product for the engine nozzle, once primed:

The wing root leading edges have been added here and most of the panel lines cleaned up after the filler assualt of months gone by. The undercarriage bays benefit from the extra time spent there I think:

Here's the underside as it was with primer applied. The hole for the APU exhaust (missing in the kit) can be seen rear of the wing but it still required the internal detail - also to be scratch-built:

A quick visualisation of the open canopy after I had pre-shaded the panel lines:

[AjD]

By the time the UK Nationals were approaching in 2011, I was still hopeful - ha, what a muppet! It's as if I hadn't looked back at my own track record! Anyway, by that time I was concentrating on the under-wing stores. Firstly the hefty 2,250 litre Hindenburger fuel tanks. These are solid resin so aren't what you might call light! They've now had the etched fins added and are primed ready for painting. I have to say, the strength and visual scale appearance of Flightpath's fins really makes a difference:

[AjD]

The resin spokes on top of the pylons were replaced with plastic rod in order to strengthen the fit to the wing. Then there was the BOZ-107 pod which is mainly resin too, bar a bit of etched metal here and there. Again the wing mounting points were strengthened. The fins were left off of the BOZ pod until after painting as I had seen some examples of the pod with different colour fins so wished to mimic one of those:

The Flightpath BOZ-107 and the Sky Shadow pods together, although the latter is still without its own winglets here

Here's all of the under-wing stores together. Once painted, the Flightpath set really looked very good. Top marks. The Sky Shadow needed priming here and then the pylons needed a bit of detail added:

[AjD]

The under-wing tanks and BOZ-107 were complete by October 2011. The Sky Shadow pod was to be painted along with the RAPTOR pod and the rest of the jet. I decided to go for Barley Grey tanks as per the Tornado F.3 fleet, although I would have prefered to do one in the old camo but couldn't find a picture of ZD748 carrying such a tank:

Good progress was being made by November 2011 with most of the fuselage painted and all of the stores complete, bar the odd AIM-9 (which I still may add later). There were plenty of jobs still to go such as the tail, spine, canopy, cockpit sills and airbrakes, etc, to finish before being able to gloss varnish, add decals and matt her down again. Then it was a case of chasing the details such as plumbing the undercarriage oleos, etc - which I'm still doing at the moment!

[AjD]

Once the black tail went on I really started to get enthusiastic again as somehow it felt like I had crossed a big hurdle. Most of the smaller components were complete too:

Although the undercarriage bays look white here they are in fact light grey and once the wash was applied they dulled down a bit as expected:

Edited February 9, 2012 by AjD

[AjD]

Once I'd missed the Telford deadline for 2011, things picked up pace (typical!)At this point I'd not made any major ***** ups...although I did tempt fate by saying it as the time as things went slightly awry later. Not that I'll be pointing out the errors though as I'm sure you'll all spot them if you're interested enough to look! The rebuild of the airbrakes was more or-less complete at this point, albeit without the wiring which went in later:

Moving in to January 2012, the light wash/matt varnish was complete and all the avionics doors attached. The undercarriage is on with just the plumbing and doors to be added in that area. I'd finished scratch building new airbrakes and just needed to rebuild the hydraulic jacks to finish those off. There were plenty of details still to add at this point but it was starting to look like a Tornado:

[AjD]

Here's the Flightpath access ladder when it was ready for priming and finishing. That was by far the most fiddly job I've attempted in a while. Not a lot to show for 5 hours of work but hopefully worth the effort in the end!

The ladder was then primed and made ready for painting:

Then it was on to a bit of under-wing detailing work - the flap deployment mechanism, fashioned out of coiled brass wire. First job was to prepare my tool (no laughter from the back please...) which consisted of a pin vice and the appropriately sized drill bit encased in it, but back to front. Then one end of the 0.33mm brass wire was inserted in to one of the crevices (will you please quiet down at the back...!) so as to hold it firm when I came to twist it (oh, please...!):

Next, with one end held firm by the end of the pin vice, it was a simple job of rotating the vice itself to make a tight coil of appropriate length.

Once the excess wire was removed with scissors (as long as they're sharp they make for the neatest cut), the coils could be installed in to the void left by the flaps to represent the actuator.

That was another small job ticked off the list:

The ladder was then painted and test fitted to confirm the quality of the product:

Unsurprisingly for David's Flightpath etched range, it positioned perfectly and even supported itself:

[AjD]

The new set of MB Mk.10s were completed as replacements for those painted at the start of this build, one of which was accidentally ruined:

This technique may be of help to some people...

The ejection handle was constructed in much the same way as the flap mechanism, except using black and yellow painted wire twisted together. I used to try and paint such handles until this easier and more realistic method occured to me! I never was that quick...!

And here's the finished seats:

I did wonder if they looked slightly under-scale but it may just be me. Not that this angle really shows off what I mean very well:

Now to bring the build up to date. The rear panel's were finished and wired up two days ago:

Finally attached that part to the cockpit:

And a quick test fit confirmed that the seats weren't obstructed by it so we're going in the right direction:

So that's it for now. I'm working on RBF tags and other details at the moment but that's where 5 years work will get you if you're as painfully slow as me. I have finished lots of other kits in that time mind you...honest!

I hope you all like it and won't mind an extremely long post! I've posted other builds of mine here but not this one so wondered if anyone might be interested?

Be gentle!

Cheers all,

Andy

[Av8fan]

Truly excellent work.

I very much like the panels that shaded differently.

[Aigore]

Sacred grass muncher!

[PHIL25102]

great work!!!

[AjD]

Very slow progress over the last few days...due to that thing called 'life' again!

Been doing a bit of work on the Remove Before Flight tags and assorted covers that go with them. After the spray session I thought I might try and sell my spray surface as modern art! Not really on a par with a Warhol but who knows...!

Here's a few of the RBF tags after fitting. There's several more still to attach and then it will be on to the next thing.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Andy

Edited February 10, 2012 by AjD

[bikerider]

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Andy

Very nice work. I am in the middle of the Italeri Tornado F3, very similar to what you are doing although I am modelling mine in-flight.

I am also not nearly as skilled as you and just wanted to build the Tornado as it is the first Italeri kit I have tried and I wanted to see what they are like.

I share your putty and mis-fit experience, but overall i'm ok with the kit.

Your tips and pics give me idea for future builds.

Thanks

Kevin

[kurnass77]

Hi Andy,

I'm not a fan of the special scheme planes but your Tonka is superlative!!!

Gianni

[Gary West]

Pheonominal stuff Andy mate

[HOLMES]

good job...

and the ladder is SIPMLY EXQUISITE...

FLAWLESS AND NEAT work...

[POMPEO]

looks amazing...

[speedlimit]

Nicely done progress. I too like the different panel shading. Shots are very good too. Please keep it coming.

Eric

[shan]

I cant wait to see the completed model......such amazing details!!!!!

i just finished mine..after 8 years...and yes...life got in the way too..ha ha

i hope you will get full satisfaction when its completed.

[AjD]

A few more photos. It's the nitty-gritty tasks which I've been concentrating on to get this one finished. All the little details which are best put on after the bulk of the work has been done.

A couple more shots of the completed undercarriage and scratch-built cannon barrel. The nose wheel well had a heap of scratch-built detail added as the kit part is very basic with limited internal detail and almost none on the side walls of the bay.

The main undercarriage is a similar story. The oleos were all lengthened ever so slightly as the kit undercarriage is a fraction too short in my opinion. I considered white metal replacements but from what I've seen of people who've used those, they're even shorter! Once lengthened at their base, the oleos were detailed with lead wire, weathered with oily stains and attached.

The wheels were all replaced with resin offerings from Paragon (alas, no more :weep:) if memory serves as again, the kit parts are far too basic.

The hydraulic jacks which operate the undercarriage doors were replaced as again, the kit parts are far from realistic. Various types of brass and steel tubes were used as I needed the outer measurements to appear to scale which meant an inner support structure needed to be made first.

The main wheel doors went on quite late to prevent me knocking them off again and the landing lights and mountings were scratch-built. Given the age of the Italeri kit, the clear parts are not moulded particularly well due to the limits of technology at the time so best to ignore them completely in favour of a home-brew!

The pitot was replaced with a lovely turned brass item from Master-Model...a last minute panic buy at Telford last year...almost forgot!

[AjD]

Quick shot of the RB199 exhausts, with scratch-built detail as I felt the resin replacement options didn't quite offer the realism I was hoping for. A little to 'flat' and without depth I thought but that's personal preference. I may have failed to capture that anyway but hey ho...I had fun ( ) along the way!

The BOZ-107 and Sky Shadow pods were fitted to the outer pylons, taking special attention to make sure I got them the right way round before going 'firm' as it were! Merv, please tell me I've not cocked this one up! Both were replacement resin items from Flightpath - they took some cleaning up but what a difference they make to an old kit.

The most interesting (and heavy!) addition, in my view, is of course the RAPTOR pod - using the beautifully cast resin replacement from the Model Alliance range. Given that it's a II(AC) Squadron jet it seemed only appropriate to feature this piece of kit, plus I like the 'beefy' appearance it gives to the Tornado. Prior to adjusting the height of the undercarriage this would practically have touched the ground beneath - another clue that all was not right with the height of the undercarriage. My only complaint would be that the resin set could do with a very small decal sheet to supply stencils for the pod but I did add the lifting lines myself.

Another part of the kit which showed its age was the in-flight refuelling probe. I decided to scratch-build most of it as its details were not clearly defined enough for me. The two fairings which make the stowed probe more aerodynamic remain attached as it is deployed but move apart as the tube extends itself telescopically. My problem was that on the kit part, they blended in to the tube - again a bi-product of the technology limitations of the time. I therefore cut the tip off of the probe and binned the rest. A scratch-built replacement was fashioned from there and detailed with wire.

So that's it for now I think. In amongst that I've been working on a diorama to display the finished model and there's a bit more to be done (such as the canopy detailing and HUD) but I'm almost there now.

Hope you like it.

Andy

[erik_g]

Nice Tonka!

I built the Italeri Tornado kits in 1/72 as a kid, first as a grey-green a/c, then, in 1991 it was repainted in a pinkish sand colour. Wonder why :D Even hand painted a shark mouth and a nose art on it (Miss Behavin' I think it was supposed to look like - probably looked awful).

Anyway, your Tornado look terrific! I like the level of detail, the patchy paintwork and the fact that it´s not another F-16 :-)

Let me take the opportunity to share another Tornado memory..

Photo taken at RIAT 2011 (by me ofcourse).