RAF Panavia Tornado GR.1

James C
A couple WIP pics of the Italeri Tornado. I'd advertised this kit for sale very cheaply on a local trading website, but after 6 months I hadn't got any buyers. As I wasn't prepared to drop the price any lower than what I already had it listed for, I decided to just build the bloody thing.

Being a smaller subject that the F-14, I haven't encountered any warpage like I did on the Italeri Tomcat build, so that is a plus, and the fit so far has been pretty good as well in comparison. But it still remains to be seen how well the forward and rear fuselage halves will mate up. The molding quality is pretty rough as was to be expected with no consistency across the recessed panel lines with the depth varying considerably across the entire airframe.

Anyway, will see what I can do with it...

Jos Jansen
Hey James, good to see you're building planes again. I've heard that the Italeri kit should be a molding nightmare...?

James C
Thanks mate 😉

Yeah, I've heard a lot of negative comments on this one, and can believe most of them after building their F-14. My main concern is the wing gloves as apparently this is a real problem area with these Italeri Tornado kits.

I think starting a build like this assuming that it's going to be a turd is a good thing as sometimes you end up being pleasantly surprised... and isn't so much of a let down when you do run into issues.
Will see how it goes...

James C
A bit of a milestone reached with the airframe now assembled and testing sitting on its landing gear. Thankfully it's not a tail sitter due to the weight I added to the nose.
There was a bit of a step where the nose attached to the fuselage due to the cone having a slightly larger circumference, but I have mostly eliminated that now with some careful sanding.

Attaching the forward fuselage to the rear wasn't quite as simple due to there being very minimal surface area to apply adhesive to. I had to use some 0.5mm stock plastic card to create "lips" beneath the arch of the upper spine, and below the horizontal surfaces between the intakes for the rear section to line up on and adhere to. It appears to have worked out quite well, and I only have minimal gaps with which to deal with now. I also used a long strip to reinforce the join on the bottom of the forward fuselage which you can see in the first album picture.

I have also assembled the loadout, but not done any cleanup on these yet.
2x External fuel tanks, 2x Sidewinders, 4x Iron bombs and 1x each ECM and Decoy pods.
I've still got to install the refueling probe, but will wait until after the main canopy is attached.

Next up is to start taking care of the joins and gaps...

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Nice start, James. 👍
Looks like you are going for the Luftwaffe Klappdrache.

Cockpit detail of the kit seems to be quite good. Nicely painted.

James C
Thanks mate 😉

When I pulled it out, and rinsed off all the parts, I was set on doing the Luftwaffe camouflaged version (not the anniversary version as depicted on the box art) but then Clifford finished his RAF machine from the Gulf War which looked equally as appealing! As this boxing also has several RAF Gulf War markings as well... I'm very tempted to do one of those instead. I guess I will have to decide soon...

James C
A bit more progress made on the clean up of the joins on the fuselage and vertical tail, but still need to fill the gaps inside the cockpit where both halves joined together. Also got the refueling probe installed and then installed the troublesome wing gloves on the leading edges.

As I'd read in other build reviews, the fit of these parts wasn't all that great. The instructions would have you glue the top and bottom parts together before installing on the airframe. But I found it best to mount the bottom part by itself directly into position with some Tamiya extra thin... leave it for several minutes to partially set, then install the upper piece over the top and then nudge them into position before the glue fully cured. Curiously, the fit on the bottom was near perfect... unlike the more visible upper piece. A piece of scrap 0.5mm card was used to plug the larger gap on the right hand side. Hopefully a bit of vallejo filler will be enough to clean up the rest without destroying the surrounding panel lines.

I scratched together some release handles for the ejection seats out of some wire and while they don't look all that great up close, should work out ok once installed in the cockpit with the canopy closed. I had purchased some after market resin seats and some 3D printed decals to use on the instrument panels and side consoles, but found them to be too large to use on this kit which leads me to believe that this kit is possibly slightly under scale? The resin seats in particular were notably larger than the kit seats.

Something to be wary of if intending to build this kit and are considering purchasing aftermarket accessories.

Clifford Keesler
It is looking good James, looks like you are whipping it into shape. I rather enjoyed building the 2 Tomcats I have built of theirs, I did not run into any problems with them and they sure beat the old Monogram/Revell ones, which I have a boat load of Lol.

James C
Thanks Clifford 😉

To say that this kit is better than the Italeri F-14 is like saying cat shit tastes better than dog shit... not that I'd know the difference, personally of course 😉.... or do I.... hmmmm ? 😉

Clifford Keesler
That's a good one. Lol.

Neil
Hi James C, this is looking excellent! I put my build for my italeri tornado on hold sometime ago for many of the reasons discussed in this thread. Your sterling accomplished work may make me resurrect it and give it another bash! 👏👍

James C
Hehe Cheers Clifford & Neil 😉👍

@ Neil... dig it out again mate, as you did a top job on the Typhoon.
I didn't have the gumption to tackle that one and sold it off instead.

Konrad -
Looking nice James! Great progress! 👍🏻

Jos Jansen
I would definitely go for the Gulf War version James...follow your build with great interest!

Daniel
nice, I would vote for gulf war as well, I just like the nose arts 🙂
taking a seat

James C
Thanks guys 🙂

Daniel Klink
Following and nice progress James👍

James C
Thanks Daniel 🙂

After thinking it over, I've just ordered a set of Hataka acrylics that includes a suitable colour (US Army Desert Sand) to use for an RAF Tornado from BNA in Aussieland. I will use the Hobbyboss kit to do the colourful and very eye-catching Luftwaffe version instead. Unfortunately this will mean the project goes on hold for a couple weeks until the paint arrives.

James C
Still plodding away on this build, but admittedly the filling, sanding and re-scribing (my pet hates) is becoming quite tedious now. Anyway, nearly ready for primer... RAF paint hasn't arrived yet anyway.

Arif Saeed
I'm sure this will look great when finished James, great effort so far mate 👍

Clifford Keesler
Coming along nicely.

James C
Thanks Arif and Clifford 🙂

Finally finished with the sanding and filling and sealed everything under several light coats of Stynylrez white surface primer. I'm still waiting for the paint to arrive from BNA, but in the meantime will get the pre-shading and final micro sanding done in readiness.

James C
I finally got the base colour finished today. Will give it a day or so to cure properly before I mask off the black on the nose and wing/tail leading edges etc.

Robin (WhiteGlint)
👀 Oh, she really is pink. Looks nice with the shading done, James.

Clifford Keesler
Looking very nice James. Pretty in pink. Lol.

James C
Heheh, cheers guys 😉

I got the nose and assorted trim painted black today then mounted the engines/rear end and landing gear. Just a couple of touch-ups still left to do, then will give it a couple coats of clear gloss ahead of a panel line wash and decals. Pics to follow...

Konrad -
Very nice progress James! Looking forward to the final steps and Roll out🙂

Daniel
Interesting Idea with the use of pink as a bas layer. The result looks really convincing 👍

James C
Many thanks Konrad & Daniel 🙂

@ Daniel - Yeah, most of the pics that I used as reference of RAF Tornado's in this scheme during the Gulf War had a pink hue to them; so that is what I was trying to replicate by doing the pink base coat prior to the "Desert Sand" going over the top.
I'm quite chuffed at how it turned out. 😉

Clifford Keesler
Looks great on her legs.

James C
Cheers mate 🙂

James C
It's now had several light coats of Pledge floor polish.
Will leave it for a few days to fully harden, then give it a panel line wash over the weekend hopefully.

James C
I got the decals finished today and they just need a couple more applications of Micro Sol to get them to snuggle down a bit more, then will seal them in with another clear coat.

This kit is another example of Italeri's inability to measure the fit of their decals properly in 1/48 scale. Once again, I found that many of them were oversized. The shark mouth in particular caused a few problems in that when centered over the cheek guns; the mouth on both sides sits about 4 - 5mm too high, which throws everything else off.
The decal for the completed sorties (bomb markers) on the left of the nose was way too large to fit, so I had to trim off one column of bombs from the left hand side and two rows from the bottom in order to squeeze it in. As it is, it's still a bit too large compared to everything else.

While not unexpected, it's still disappointing and extremely frustrating!

Clifford Keesler
Looking outstanding James.

Antoine Meylan
Très joli. Je me rappel l'avoir construit quand j'avait 12-13 ans... avec moins de moyens que maintenant, pas d'aérographe, peinture au pinceau!

Guy Rump
Looking great James 👍

Arif Saeed
Looking awesome James 👌🏽

Neil
Hi James, agree with Arif! 👍 I think you've done a sterling job sir and can appreciate your point on vintage Italeri decals also.

James C
Many thanks Clifford, Antoine, Guy, Arif & Neil 🙂

Will be glad to get it off the bench finally and move on to something else to be honest.
Shouldn't be too far off now with just a clear matt coat to apply then final assembly & weathering etc. I'm undecided how dirty to make it look... but they got pretty grubby looking very quickly during operations.

Tommy Agne
Look's nice 👍! Watching.

James C
Thanks Tommy 🙂

A bit of a milestone reached now with a clear flat coat applied, and the canopy mask removed.

I still need to go around the edges of the frames with a tooth-pick and moistened cotton-bud to clean up a little paint bleed through and tape residue, but it came out alright for a home made mask.
I also got the wheel bay doors, ordinance and navigation lights installed.
The instructions omitted the nav lights on the wing tips, so I masked these off and picked them out with a "White Aluminium" base, then Tamiya "Clear Red" & "Clear Green" over the top of that.

I just need to give the tail a bit of staining then install the air-brakes etc

Clifford Keesler
Looking very nice James. I need to get me a couple more of the Revell one's, still have plenty of decals. Lol.

Nathan Dempsey
Your desert pink came out great 👍

Andrew Horton
Nice results! Great work, James!

James C
Thanks mate, I finished it off a short while ago.
Do yourself a favor and stick with the Revell or Hobbyboss offerings 😉

I was going to write a long spiel about everything that's wrong with this kit, but after thinking it over I decided against it in the end, as I didn't what to come across as pissing and moaning. (I'll just stick to the biggest issues instead) Probably the best way to sum this one up is that you get exactly what you pay for, and this Italeri 1/48 scale boxing is no exception. It's a cheap kit, so don't expect Hasegawa or Tamiya molding quality etc.

BUT... with a fair bit of time and patience, it does finish up looking ok despite it's many flaws.
The canopy can be posed open or closed, as well as the refueling probe. The wings sweep forwards/backwards, and elevators pivot up and down in unison.

Having now completed it, I'd advise against posing the canopy closed to avoid some troublesome filling and sanding where it mounts at the rear.
The mechanism that allows the wings to sweep forwards & backwards is very sturdy (unlike that of Italeri's F-14A kit) However, you should decide to display the wings one way or the other to avoid scraping the paint off while traversing between swept forward or back. I'd not recommend allowing the elevators to pivot without significantly modifying them to make them much more robust. On test fitting I found that they didn't support themselves under their own weight and drooped forward and down at about a 45 degree angle which I didn't want. I even ended up accidently snapping off the right hand side elevator while handling due to the flimsy attachment point. Better to mount them directly to the sides of the fuselage for the extra strength and just be done with it.

Lastly, the decals were problematic (for the version I chose) in that a number were far too large and just didn't come close to lining up with each other because of it. Having encountered this issue, I can only assume the same issues will be encountered if you attempt the colourful Marineflieger anniversary scheme (as depicted on the box art)
This really only leaves you with 3 viable marking options out of the 5 included in this boxing due to the spacing tolerances being far more forgiving. These are RAF "Snoopy Airways/Helen" based in Bahrain (doesn't have the shark mouth) the camouflaged Luftwaffe Jabo G37, and the Italian version based in Abu Dhabi.

On a final note, I purchased a couple after market accessories in the form of 3D instrument panels and side consoles and replacement resin seats but found that they were significantly larger than the kit components I was intending to replace. Admittedly, they were designed for the Revell kit but I was surprised at the disparity in sizes so left them off. Will see how they fit the Hobbyboss kit instead.

Anyway, as always... many thanks for following

Cheers

James C
Thanks Clifford, Nathan & FLM - Much appreciated guys 🙂

Konrad -
Another stunner! Awesome Job on this Toni James! It looks really fantastic👍!

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Fine work, James. I think the colour came out great!

Neuling
Top result in spite of the problems you had with this kit! 👍

Tommy Agne
Top job, mate.👍👍👍.

Simon Nagorsnik
Nice tornado!, very good result🙂

Murad ÖZER
Top notch! color especially. 👍

James C
@ Konrad, WhiteGlint, Neuling, Roland, Tommy, Simon & Murad - Cheers for stopping by and commenting. Very much appreciated guys 🙂

Guy Rump
Excellent result James, congrats 👍

Daniel
Fully agree with murad, not easy to nail the color and this is just perfect💯
Going to copy your approach when I start my old 1/32 revell tonka 👍

David H
Just shows, perseverance pays off, lovely finish , great subject 👍🏻

James C
Thanks Guy, Daniel and David. Cheers guys 🙂

I forgot to mention that Italeri also incorrectly indicates to use FS33531 for the desert sand.
I referred to the Eduard instructions instead which indicated to use FS30279 instead.

Also, I should have paid closer attention to the paint schemes in the Eduard instructions as Italeri also incorrectly indicate to apply a black trim to both wing tips and the leading edges of the elevators.
I guess this should be for the Italian version only? but they carried it over to do on all the schemes unfortunately. By the time I realized the error it was too late. Desert Babe (Eduard 11136, 1:48)

Clifford Keesler
Looks Awesome James, well done.

Villiers de Vos
Well done.

David Taylor
Smart.

James C
Many thanks Clifford, Villiers & David 🙂

Much appreciated guys 👍

David Taylor
Don't see many built with JP233 loadout would have been interesting.

Arif Saeed
Well done James, looks fantastic 👏👏

Alexander
Great looking Tornado, clean paintjob and build! 👍

James C
Thanks David, Arif & Alexander 🙂

@ David - I agree mate. Unfortunately the kit gives you very little ordinance to choose from: 2x 1500 ltr external tanks, 2x decoy launchers, 2 ECM pods, 2x sidewinders and 4x iron bombs. Would of been nice to have the larger capacity drop tanks and maybe some LGB's or JDAMS's in addition to some cluster bombs to load it up with instead.

Clifford Keesler
I think mine has the same bomb load as yours.

Jos Jansen
Nice job James...!

James C
Thanks Jos 🙂

Alex Rodionov
Nice model. Fine paint job. 👍

James C
Many thanks Alex 🙂