Aur0ra145's Revell 1/48 Tornado

[aur0ra145]

Happy New Year!

Couldn't decide a kit, so I rolled a D4 to decide for me. The Tornado won!





I was given this kit for Christmas about 4 years ago. This is a great excuse to build it! This will be built in a tan paint scheme of Desert Storm. I even have some cool lady decals to boot. I know it's a GR.4 v a GR.1 but, I think it will work. From some research, it seems the only difference was some avionics.

[digger303]

WOW very nice, looks complicated or should I say involved
Definitely about 3 levels too high for me ....

[aur0ra145]

WOW very nice, looks complicated or should I say involved
Definitely about 3 levels too high for me ....

Yeah probably no munitions on the wings for me. I like them to be exact, and I have no idea what the Brits did with this during Desert Storm.

[digger303]

WOW very nice, looks complicated or should I say involved
Definitely about 3 levels too high for me ....

Yeah probably no munitions on the wings for me. I like them to be exact, and I have no idea what the Brits did with this during Desert Storm.

Runway destruction was one op....https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/3 ... torm-raids

[DBMiller]

WOW! You were quick off the mark with this one!
I got to see a German Tornado fly back in the 1980's at a local airshow. Very cool.

[Kevthemodeller]

Very looks great in the 95th Sqn anniversary livery too

[Stokesy44]

Lovely looking kit and a great subject to build.

[aur0ra145]

There are a LOT of parts in this kit. I spent a solid 10 minutes searching for the "E" sprue.

The cockpit will take a bit, as the parts are very detailed and it looks pretty meticulous how it needs to be assembled.



The directions looks pretty involved as well.

[Tomcat64]

Nice to see a pink Tornado

These were regulars at our Air Shows until they retired and always put on an impressive display.

Looking forward to seeing this come together, it really does look very detailed

[aur0ra145]

Got the cockpit and subassembly primed. Next will be some dry brushing and I'll take a look at the decals that are called out.

[DRUMS01]

That looks like some nice detail for a 1/48 Revell. Do the parts fit well or is some fiddling and adjustments needed?

Ben

[Garion77]

Seems like a well detailed kit ! Almost bought it a few months ago. Up to a good start. I love the instructions of the most recent Revell's kits. They are easy to follow and well drawn.
keep up the good work !

[aur0ra145]

That looks like some nice detail for a 1/48 Revell. Do the parts fit well or is some fiddling and adjustments needed?

Ben

There has been some minor flashing on a few parts, nothing major, or really to complain about. Fit so far looks to be pretty good, I'm very interested to see their engineering surrounding the wings.

[Kevthemodeller]

Looking good, it's all coming together very nicely

[aur0ra145]

Well, this weekend is the wife's birthday. Got a lot planned, so we'll see if I can sneak away for a little bit of bench time.

[onemac]

Hey Brad - if it's not to late just leave the port chin off and duplicate the gun port and you'll be sorted. Hope this helps.

Al

[aur0ra145]

Hey Brad - if it's not to late just leave the port chin off and duplicate the gun port and you'll be sorted. Hope this helps.

Al

You're right, I'll try that!

[aur0ra145]

Little bit of dry brushing. Some Death Krops Green and a touch of Warp Lightening contrast paint.... and we have a cockpit!

[aur0ra145]

Small blurb from the USAF Museum:

During the 1991 Gulf War, military planners made the elimination of Iraq's air defenses a top priority. At the start of Operation Desert Storm (called Operation Granby by the British), Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR1 aircraft attacked Iraqi air bases at low-level with Hunting JP233 anti-runway weapons and suppressed enemy air defenses. Afterward, GR1 aircrews flew medium-level missions using 1,000-pound bombs. At the end of the conflict, they used Paveway II laser-guided bombs against other strategic targets. Flying more than 1,500 operational sorties, mostly at night, RAF GR1 aircrews played an important role in forcing the Iraqis out of Kuwait, and the RAF lost six GR1s in combat.

Development of the Tornado began in 1968, when the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy initiated a collaborative project to produce a low-level, supersonic aircraft. Panavia Aircraft, a new tri-national company established in Germany, built the variable sweep wing aircraft, and the first prototype flew on Aug. 14, 1974. Operational deliveries began in July 1980.

Tornados could carry a wide range of weapons, including the Air-Launched Anti-Radar Missile (ALARM) for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) and the Paveway II and III laser-guided bombs (LGB). The RAF also modified a number of Tornados to carry the Sea Eagle anti-shipping missile. This variant became the GR1B.

The aircraft on display flew with the RAF's 17 Squadron from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where it sported desert camouflage and the name Miss Behavin'. The aircraft is currently painted as an aircraft assigned to 617 Squadron. It came to the museum in October 2002 as a donation from the RAF.

TECHNICAL NOTES:
Crew: Pilot and navigator in tandem seating
Armament: Two IWKA-Mauser 27mm cannon, two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and 18,000 lbs. of ordnance
Engines: Two Turbo Union RB199-103 turbofans with 15,800 lbs. thrust
Maximum speed: 1,452 mph at 36,000 ft.
Wingspan: 45 ft. 7.25 in. (wings fully spread); 28 ft. 2.5 in. (68° sweep)
Length: 54 ft. 9.5 in.

Then some pictures I took while there! Interestingly enough, this is the only British Tornado in the US.

[aur0ra145]

Little bit more work done getting the intakes assembled and put on. The next couple of steps will be slow going with dry times in between each step.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Love getting the history and some real research photos in there
That is awesome

[aur0ra145]

Got the fuselage halves stuck to the front. The cross bar was a bit wonky and had to modify the cross bar to fit. As for the GR.1 guns, I found some extra bits on the sprue that should be a flawless conversion to a GR.1 guns. The chin pod delete should be simple as well!

Also bought some canopy masks, JP223 dispensers from Eduard (the runway destruction weapon) and RAF Pink paint.

This needs to dry completely before putting anything else on.



As for the dispenser, the one at the USAF museum has one under the jet though, I didn't take any up close pictures of it.

Some more info on the weapons:

Originally known as the LAAAS (Low-Altitude Airfield Attack System), the JP233 is a British submunition delivery system consisting of large dispenser pods carrying several hundred submunitions designed to attack runways.[1]

Design and development
Development of the system began in 1977 as a 50/50 cooperative program between Hunting Engineering (now known as INSYS) of the UK and the US Air Force. The USAF intended to use the weapon with its FB-111 strike aircraft; however, in 1982 rising costs led them to pull out of the programme, and the British completed development on their own for potential use with the Tornado, Jaguar and Harrier.

The dispensers could be carried on wing pylons: short-finned containers for bomblets, or medium-length finned containers for mines. The F-111 was capable of carrying a pair of each type, but the Jaguar and Harrier would be able to carry only a single pair of either type. The Tornado could be fitted with a pair of much larger pods on the shoulder pylons, each containing both types of munition. Each JP233 as fitted to the Tornado was divided into a rear section with 30 SG-357 runway cratering submunitions, while the front section carried 215 HB-876 anti-personnel mines. Both types of submunitions were retarded by small parachutes.

The SG-357, which weighed 26 kilogrammes (57 pounds), was a two-stage munition. The longer, smaller-diameter forward section consists of a cylindrical high-explosive charge with a hole down the centre. The shorter, larger-diameter rear section held a shaped charge. At the front of the munition was a telescopic stand-off fusing system that created the correct detonation distance for the shaped charge. On impact, the extended fuse initiated the shaped charge, creating a molten metal jet which travelled through the centre of the forward charge element and then penetrated the concrete runway surface to create an underground chamber. The momentum of the cylindrical charge was enough for it to follow down through the hole created by the shaped charge before exploding some distance under the runway surface. This second explosion was intended to produce a crater with significant "heave" at the edge, making repairs much more difficult and time-consuming.

The HB-876 mines would lie scattered on the surface, making rapid repair of the runway very hazardous. The outside of the munition was surrounded by a "coronet" of spring steel strips that were held flat against the sides of the mine. After landing on the surface a small explosive device would fire and release the coronet springs such that the mine would become "erect" on the surface, with their self-forging fragment warhead pointing vertically upwards. The cylindrical case of the mine was made from dimpled steel and on detonation would spread small steel anti-personnel fragments, rather like a hand-grenade, in all radial directions. They would explode at preset intervals or if disturbed. Standing above the surface on the coronet of spring steel legs, they would tilt toward a bulldozer blade when pushed before detonating and firing the forged fragments toward the vehicle.

Unlike most other submunition delivery systems that essentially function as free-falling bombs, the JP233 dispenser pods remained with their aircraft during operation and were jettisoned once empty.

Deployment
Deployment was rather frightening for the flight crew, since it required the aircraft to fly low, straight and level over an enemy airfield, and when over the runway the pods would dispense their payload. During the Gulf War it was widely reported in the popular press that Tornados were shot down by AAA fire and MANPADS during delivery of the JP233 munition, but in fact none of the losses occurred during the attack phase of a JP233 mission.[citation needed] Only one aircraft was lost carrying the JP233 munition when Tornado ZA392 crashed into the ground approximately 16 km (10 mi) after delivering the weapon at low level; enemy fire was not reported and it was believed that this was an incident of controlled flight into terrain.

What alarmed the crews of British and Saudi Arabian Tornados using JP233 was that the aircraft was brightly illuminated at night by the exploding munitions. Attacks using JP233 were suspended six days into the Gulf War, as the Iraqi Air Force was effectively flying no missions.

With the increasing availability of standoff attack munitions capable of the same mission with little risk to the flight crew and aircraft, and the British entry into the Land Mines Treaty (which declares the HB-876 illegal), the JP233 has been withdrawn from service.

Examples of the JP233 are in various museums. The Imperial War Museum also has films, viewable on the WorldWide Web, of tests of the JP233 Airfield Attack System and Airfield Denial System. The Cold War Gallery of the National Museum of the US Air Force has a JP233 on display, fitted to a Panavia Tornado GR1 aircraft.

[Tomcat64]

Nice progress - the cockpit looks great

Hoping the wonky cross bar isn't a sign of things to come though.

[aur0ra145]

Attempting to fill in the gaps. My Tamiya putty is a bit dried out, though, I think it will still work. In the future I may try to find a putty that isn't lacquer based.

Yet another step I need to let cure before moving on. Thankfully, this is one of the few places I think I'll need to fill gaps.

[RangerNeil]

Reading this thread reminds me how old I am Remembering the Tornado entering service and then being phased out - amongst other types..... The era of swing-wing geometry was going full bore then - F1-11, F-14, Tu-22, Tu-160, Mig 23 and -27, Su22 and -24.... In Germany in 1980 the simulated ground attacks were carried out by new RAF Tornado's as the pilots of the Luftwaffe flat out refused to go that low in their F-104's. Can't say I blamed them given the types nickname. For some obscure reason Germany lagged in activating the Tornado....

This build is looking good though - can't wait to see the finished item!!

[aur0ra145]

Tried a new technique. Put down the Tamiya putty, then once dry I did a coat of thin CA glue. Then I sanded it smooth. Looks like it did the trick.

The canopy rails and dash were brush painted with matte black Stynylrez. It took 4 thin coats to get good coverage.

[Tomcat64]

Reading this thread reminds me how old I am Remembering the Tornado entering service and then being phased out - amongst other types.....

Yup same here - I remember being awed by the MRCA when it first appeared...

@aur0ra145 Nice work on sorting those seams out

[aur0ra145]

aur0ra145 Nice work on sorting those seams out

Thanks! It looks like I'll get a lot of practice doing it.

More seam line issues with the side panels. There not being an attachment point for indexing between the fuselage and the cockpit section is causing the issue. I'm a bit hesitant to glue and index the cockpit section, as the body. The fuselage and empennage are made of up several parts, so the geometry might get weird. Basically, a lack of have the traditional 2 half shell fuselage parts is causing this. Hopefully the engineering on the rest of the kit will be good.

So far the seam line cleanup is pretty minor and capillary action with CA glue "should" fix them. Just annoying if a kit made in 2014 has this many fit issues. Plus, there is a good amount of flash on the parts. Which again, a kit tooled in 2014 shouldn't have. I've never been a big fan of Revell and this kit is proving to reinforce that idea. However, I really like this subject, so I'll push through it and make it happen. Plus, I got shipping notices for all the extra goodies!

I'll get the other side on later today and mount the intakes. I'm leaving off the gun ports on the nose for later, so they can be painted separately giving them a nice finish.

In another note, I may start a 1/48 drop-in build from Tamiya or Eduard to work on so this kit doesn't burn me out if it gets to be a lot of seam fixes and what not.

[aur0ra145]

Now I'm less enthused. The directions are incorrect. The callouts for C30 and C33 were reversed. Meaning, they actually go on the opposite sides. Now I'm wondering if there is anything else that is wrong.

After searching through the internet, it seems there are lots of known issues with this kit which seems to be what I'm running into.

It seems I keep picking bad kits for GB's. To include the F7F Tigercat and the Chaparrel.

No worries though, I still want a pink airplane in the display case!

[aur0ra145]

Here you can see the flash in all of the leading edge slats. Also, all the ejector pin spots had to be scraped down to get the two wing halves together. Getting the wings together, on the hardpoint rotation thing is going to be a bit difficult. Though, we'll make it work. I'm also not planning on having any wing stores.

Though, I might do some drop tanks. I can't find anything as of yet that describes the ordnance loadout the Tornado's had when carrying JP223 dispensers.



Top of the leading edge slats.



Additionally, the directions are confusing as all get out. It's like a choose your own adventure that goes to the wrong steps.

Step 16, flaps up. Which is what I want. Reference step 47.

White text on a light gray background should also be illegal.

This has driven me to dry fit just about everything with regards to the wings and their variable geometry components.



Step 47 is for flaps down?





Also, the reverse thruster vs. non-reverse thruster steps are super confusing too.

[aur0ra145]

So, it looks like I'm sort of on my own for a lot of the wing assembly. From what I can discern, the slats up/flaps up requires a bit of model know how.

The slats will be easy and the flash on the leading edge doesn't matter.

The flaps up. Well, the instructions appear to be wrong again on their part call outs, and some of the parts are never called out... like the flaps are never called out. Through a ton of dry fitting, I think I've got the idea. However, there is a lot of polystyrene I need to chop off once the flaps are done curing.

In a bit of good news. 2 Ultimate sanders stack on each other, are the perfect height to support the wings while curing!

As an aside. I think this kit would be better if they had language specific directions, rather than using a ton of symbols and no written explanations of the steps to keep the instructions non-lingual bound.

[aur0ra145]

Second wing went together a lot easier after figuring out the starboard wing. Again, the Ultimate sanding sticks have limitless versatility.

I plan on having this guy wings swept, flaps up, slats up, spoilers down and speed brake in.

[onemac]

Second wing went together a lot easier after figuring out the starboard wing. Again, the Ultimate sanding sticks have limitless versatility.

I plan on having this guy wings swept, flaps up, slats up, spoilers down and speed brake in.

Tornado wing sweep went from 25° (fully back) to 67° for landing/take off/slow speed with variable positions between depending on speed/wing loading etc. Flaps only came down at 67°. I twice seen a wings back/no flap landing and both times it touched down past the first cable and took the far cable. Fast didn't describe it!

If I recall correctly both the 1/48 and 1/32 Revell Tornados have naff instructions but if you want a real challenge try the Flightpath conversion set (GR.1 to GR.4) and doing the flaps, slats and exhausts etc in PE

[digger303]

Got a challenge on your hands, but sure you will win through.

[aur0ra145]

Flaps and slats are coming together. A bit of modding required and some regluing of stuff. By tomorrow the wings should be good to go.

On another note, my paint and canopy masks came in the mail!

[Quax]

This is coming together really nicely Aur0ra I don't know which scheme you intend but this is a photo I took in late1991 or possibly 92 at Bournemouth of "Nora Batty" the guy stood behind the cockpit is John Nichol. Sorry for the delay but the album was in the attic....



Whichever you're planning I know it'll turn out great
Paul

[aur0ra145]

This is coming together really nicely Aur0ra I don't know which scheme you intend but this is a photo I took in late 1991 or possibly 92 at Bournemouth of "Nora Batty" the guy stood behind the cockpit is John Nichol. Sorry for the delay but the album was in the attic....



Whichever you're planning I know it'll turn out great
Paul

Wow, that's really cool! I had to look up John Nichol, incredible story.

I actually do have decals for that scheme of "Nora Batty." Though, I haven't 100% committed to a particular jet yet.

In other news, the JP223 dispensers came in! Now I've got all my goodies I ordered aftermarket.

[digger303]

Cool

[aur0ra145]

Finally got the flaps on, now the spoilers are setting up.

[aur0ra145]

Well the wife surprised me. By a lot. She got me a vinyl of my favorite youtube band.

[aur0ra145]

More fit issues. I'm sort of the mind set to get stuff close, then fill in the gaps with putty, green stuff, CA glue, etc.

Thankfully yesterday I picked up some more Tamiya white putty and a thing of the Mr. Hobby putty.

The fuselage top doesn't sit flush together. It's like the rigid inside is out of place. Very strange. The instructions also show the engine inlets and the top piece being glued together. I may need to get creative on how the square off the intakes, as currently there is a gap.

Though, if I fix that stuff, the canopy hides some of the gaps. Though, the dorsal piece does not fit the shape of the back of the cockpit. This kit just has tons of little errors, which when compounded, gives you lots of issues.

[aur0ra145]

I'm at a loss. I have no idea where I went wrong to cause this bad of a fit issue. Upon putting on the outside of the intake really shows how off it is.

I'm going to put this kit down for a few days. Maybe I'll find the time to finish this.





In other news, after seeing everyone else get better storage/drawers. The wife and I made a trip to IKEA and I got a set of drawers. I still need new hobby tables for the larger drawers to be replaced.

[digger303]

Wow that is a bad fit. Is it the wing fold sitting too high causing that ?
Feeling your pain...it ain't fun when this sort of thing rear's up.


Ps...Nice drawers ( yeah Stokesy I know )

[ElCapitan]

That's a bugger. Nothing more frustrating!

Hope you figure it out!

[Tomcat64]

Ouch! Revell at their finest

Hope you figure out how to get that all straightened out mate.

[Kevthemodeller]

Ouch! Revell at their finest

They strike again, the main reason I won't buy Revell, I'm sure you're sort it mate