Panavia Tornado
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/7/9/1/1697791-121823-12-720.jpg)
Cockpit crewed and painted.
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/7/9/2/1697792-121823-45-720.jpg)
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/0/8/3/1708083-121823-64-720.jpg)
Tonka will be posed flying with wings fully swept. The central fuselage was quite out of square where the cockpit section joins. It formed a parallelogram and the top and bottom of the wing roots were about 2mm offset. I used a little brute force to try and square them up and let the joint set overnight before mounting the cockpit section. I also chose to fit the air inlets to the cockpit sides and allow them to set up before bringing the two assemblies together.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/0/8/1/1708081-121823-44-720.jpg)
Colour is dark grey with a drop of PRU blue as I didn't have the 'proper' grey. I let this dry well before masking for the green to minimise the risk that it would be damaged by masking. Getting a good match for any repairs would be tricky.
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/0/8/5/1708085-121823-45-720.jpg)
I don't really like masking for overall camouflage schemes, but I really wanted to do the version equipped with HARM missiles.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/0/8/9/1708089-121823-13-720.jpg)
The green got two coats on the bottom. I'm probably a bit heavy-handed with the masking putty and it started to drip.
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/0/9/0/1708090-121823-32-720.jpg)
Port wing is missing the inner pylon. The kit fixes each pylon with a tiny plastic 'circlip' to allow them to be rotated to suit wing sweep angle, but one went walkies after the wing halves were bonded.
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/0/8/8/1708088-121823-48-720.jpg)
Camouflaged stores and the errant pylon painted.
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/0/9/4/1708094-121823-76-720.jpg)
Masking for the top really only begins at the rear of the cockpit, but still needs a lot of putty.
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/0/9/5/1708095-121823-83-720.jpg)
I extended the wings to match the painting chart in the instructions.
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/0/9/1/1708091-121823-66-720.jpg)
I tried to match the intersection points of the two colours with what I had already done on the underside.
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/0/9/2/1708092-121823-23-720.jpg)
The putty slowly flows over time, especially as the model is handled to position other pieces. This does tend to improve curves, but it can lead to distortions. As I start with the lighter colour (grey) and mask it to add the darker colour (green) using an even darker coloured putty, I'm basically forming a negative image of the illustration in the instruction sheet, which can be confusing.
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/0/9/3/1708093-121823-87-720.jpg)
The above comments are my excuse for any differences between the intended scheme and what I ended up with. There are now some metallic grey panels to be added and I may 'correct' some of the green at the same time. The starboard side of the massive vertical stabiliser would be a prime candidate for improvement, but I'm reasonably satisfied with the 'overall' effect.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/7/6/2/1709762-121823-37-720.jpg)
I couldn't resist tinkering with some of the green areas by brushing freehand. Metallic panels on the fin and at the gun ports were masked and airbrushed. The exposed tip of the refuelling probe was also brush painted.
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/7/6/3/1709763-121823-39-720.jpg)
Black panels on wingtips and fin and in front of cockpit were masked and sprayed. Exhaust was also sprayed and the seals between wings and fuselage were brush painted.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/7/6/1/1709761-121823-15-720.jpg)
Posed like boxart for temporary cover shot.
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/2/8/2/1721282-121823-42-720.jpg)
Ready to bring this thing to life
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/2/8/3/1721283-121823-35-720.jpg)
Days later and decals nearly finished!
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/9/3/3/1722933-121823-76-720.jpg)
Finished now!
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/9/3/7/1722937-121823-70-720.jpg)
As soon as I added the pitot tube, it fell on its nose, twice.
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/9/3/8/1722938-121823-86-720.jpg)
Boxart pose, well almost.
![Album image #22 Album image #22](/albums/img/9/4/1/1722941-121823-50-720.jpg)
The fins on the fuel tanks are on backwards. I realised this as I was halfway through decalling them. The boxart is wrong too, so I have some excuse. The fins get quite close the horizontal stabilisers when the wings are at maximum sweep, so reversing them might have been a real world fix.
![Album image #23 Album image #23](/albums/img/9/4/2/1722942-121823-17-720.jpg)
The base of the fin is dirtied by the thrust reversers, but my attempts to replicate this actually look better in person than on the 'photos.
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/9/4/3/1722943-121823-48-720.jpg)
![Album image #25 Album image #25](/albums/img/9/4/4/1722944-121823-78-720.jpg)
![Album image #26 Album image #26](/albums/img/9/4/5/1722945-121823-44-720.jpg)
![Album image #27 Album image #27](/albums/img/9/4/6/1722946-121823-55-720.jpg)
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27 1 April, 20:06