Tornado ADV - 1/48 Hobby Boss

[Caledonia]

Hi Ian and all, yes it was partly a holiday, I will be 65 this year and have always wanted to go to an opera at the Arena in Verona, northern Italy, so I thought I had better do it now or it will never be done. We saw Puccini's Turandot, and it was fantastic. It had a new set by Franco Zeffirelli who went on stage at the end to take a bow (he's 87) and the new set was breathtaking. See www.arena.it for info.

Anyway back to modelling, I am posting a couple of photo's of the model with the Decal's on and before I start 'dirtying it up' thought it might be useful for the newer members of the forum to see how a fairly bland model can be livened up with some weathering, not that I am any expert but I will try my best. Still to paint and fit the exhaust, the wheels and quite a few minor details.

Ian by the way in my sheet of decals they only give 4 off Iten 77 but you need 5, also on the Pilots seat you only get one set instead of two sets of decals. In general the decals go on well but the very long white hatch ones on top of the wings and fuselage are on very thin film which twists very easily, and I must admit to giving up on them. Cheers Derek

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[AlanG]

Looks great Derek

 

[Centurion3RTR]

Very nice Derek, these Hobb Boss kits have some great detail and this is no exception.

Have fun, John

 

[Ian M]

Glad you enjoyed the break Derek.

Not much to say other than: Wow!!! that looks brilliant Derek!

Thanks for the warning about the decals. Dont worry about the missing one, I'll get round it some how or the other.

Ian M

 

[stona]

Hi Derek,as a bloke whose never built a jet I just had to say what a great thread you've done here. That really looks superb. I'm also glad to here you enjoyed the arena in Verona,it's quite a place. I've actually worked there a couple of times which isn't so much fun! We used to have to move all the equipment in and out from the piazza outside using a crane to lift it over the walls! It's probably the same now.

If you will allow I have a question for Allyne who is obviously a font of knowledge on all things Tornado. Allyne,you mentioned some way back that the crews arrange the seat harnesses in a particular way. As a WW2 modeller we usually leave them on the seat. I have seen photos (particularly Luftwaffe) which show shoulder straps thrown out over the side of the cockpit and a parachute on the tail plane. All the RAF ones seem to show the straps being held by a member of the ground crew as the pilot gets in but I've often wondered where they were before he got his hands on them. It doesn't make sense that he would have to dive headfirst into the cockpit to retrieve them!

Cheers

Steve

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks chaps for your kind comments.

Steve, nothing changes see below. You have my sympathy working in that heat, we normally go to Verona in September after the Opera as its cooler and the Hotels drop their prices. But when we were their just recently it was 29 Deg at night and 34 - 38 Deg in the daytime, so you must have baked. These guys change the opera set every day, 6 Days a week; as you have guessed this is Aida. I have been following your Spitfire build and am polishing up a set of 5 Stars so they are ready.

Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Hi all, not made as much progress as I had hoped this week, a neighbour and friend has had a run of bad luck and one of their parents died this week and to cap it all their dog needed an operation, so we have been helping with running messages and doggy sitting.

Anyway, all I got done this week is to apply the Promodelller Black to the whole aircraft and rubbed it off to highlight the panel lines/rivets. Will proceed with highlighting individual panels by lightening/darkening and dirtying up various joints, and putting that dirty great stain across the fin. Cheers Derek

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[Ian M]

Well that was an eye popper! Seing all that hard work and fantastic paint gone under the pigment wash!

I dont think my heart would stand it! Just think if it didn't come off......

Fortunatly it did and the result is fantastic. I really must get my act together!

Hope things are more normal for you now.

Ian M

 

[Caledonia]

Hi Ian, Thanks for your interest. Have continued my dirtying, still some more to do but have posted a few photos to show the Fin etc. I used Tamiya X-19 Smoke with roughly 50% Tamiya Thinner on the Fin and misted over the whole model and spotted a few panels. Cheers Derek

p.s. Looking at more photos I think I have overdone the dirt on the airbrake and adjacent area, so plan to remove some of the smoke. Well post more photos in about a weeks time.

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[Ian M]

Hm I dont think its to far from the truth. If you look at the 3rd and 4th pictures from the bottom in the Tornado photos in the referance section, looks you you hit it right on the head. The 4th from the top is almost as bad (or good, you know what I mean!!)

Ian M

 

[colin m]

This looks brilliant Derek. I'm really looking forward to seing it with all the hardwear attached. Well done,

Regards

Colin M.......

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks chaps, Decided to remove some of the reverse thrust exhaust stains from the airbrakes and adjoining areas, see photo below. Have also posted a photo of the Fin stains on a real F3 to illustrate just how heavy they get. Going to ATTEMPT to paint the colour discolouration on the reverse thrust buckets - should be fun. Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Hi all, apologies for the time taken for me to finish this build, I know its not a race, but I don't usually take all this time. Since returning from holiday life has been chaotic, apart from the problems I reported earlier, last Sunday we had to call the police to gain entry to my Sisters flat when she would not answer our calls etc, so this week has been hospital visits, repairing door frames and changing locks etc etc. As my sister is elderly, so the hospital visits are going to go on for some time yet.

Anyway back to modelling; all I have got done is fit the exhaust and reverse thrust cans as you can see below.

As I am almost there, this will be my last posting 'Under Construction' all I have to do is fit a few bits and pieces, and some small paint detail, so hope to post in the 'Aircraft Pictures' section the final model some time this week. Apologies again.

Finally but not least, thank you John for your good wishes and kind offer. Much appreciated.

Cheers Derek

p.s. Allyne, I see from the available internet photos I have found, that the underside of the airbrakes either side of the Fin looks very clean, which to me suggests the reverse thrust is applied only after the airbrakes have been stowed, is this correct?? The configuration of airbrake and buckets is as the kit instructions and may not be factual. Can you comment please. Many thanks.

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[tr1ckey66]

Hi Derek

First of all I'm sorry to hear about your sister, I hope she is better and out of hospital soon.

This Tornado is looking really cool, love the weathering and the reverse thrust? (this is something I didn't know Tornado's could do). A lovely build and I'm looking forward to the final pics.

All the best.

Paul

 

[AlanG]

Derek

The airbrakes are indeed 'stowed' when the thrust reverse is applied. But they are not always clean. There is normally a hint of OM-15 hydraulic oil (Riggers Blood) in there as the airbrake jacks leak. But for modelling purposes then clean will be fine. Also when the TR is deployed normally the spoilers on the wings come up too.

Tornado thrust reverser | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Caledonia]

Hi Paul and Allyne, thanks for your wishes and interest. Allyne thanks for the technical input, might try to lightly oil up the underside of the airbrakes, will see how brave I feel. I'm not forgetting the earthing forks for the flaps will try to show something to represent them. Thanks once again for answering all my queries throughout this project. Cheers Derek

 

[AlanG]

My pleasure Derek. The hydraulic oil initially is a beetroot red colour. But once it's been in a hydraulics system for a while and leaked out it goes a more caramel yellow red (if you can understand that lol). you don't need to spray alot around. The oil tends to gather at the lowest point i.e. the panel joints.

 

[Fenlander]

Some great work going into this, the weathering looks superb, very nice build.

 

[Caledonia]

Thanks Graham, I am just away to post the finished Tornado on the Aircraft Picture section. Cheers Derek

 

[spike7451]

Hi Allyne, based on your experiences on Tornado's can you advise what colour the wheel wells were on the F3's. I am making this Tornado from No 43 Squadron, RAF Leuchars. Looking at general photos on the internet, the colour seems to be either white or light grey. The kit calls for white, but I am not sure thats right. Cheers Derek

It's gray...always has been gray..never white...I've never seen white undercart on a Tornado,and being an ex Armourer on them,I've seen enough of them close up to know...

(ps,glad you like my ref thread on BM)