Under Construction: Revell Tornado GR1

[Mike]

So, not to be perturbed by my own drunken antics, chin up and start with the next one. This time I'll do better even found a way to upload smaller pics!

Next up, the Revell Tornado GR1:

I chose this because all the comments on here are about how good the fit is and other than tigermeet varieties, you don't see many Tornado's up on here. Well, except one attempt that ended up melted, I will try to avoid melting mine! I ordered this from a small shop in Reading that actually specialises in stamps and arm medals and the like. He pulled out a box and after a few browsing a million postcards, came across this:

Turns out the decals in the set are also for 9 Squadron so that's something, the chap was good enough to throw this in for free so I'm sure the finished model (I will finish this one!) will end up on this. Or maybe one day if I keep this up long enough might try to use this in some sort of box construction.

Anywho, I mentioned decals, and oh my god there are a lot:

It appears most of these are for ordnance, I'm not sure if I'll kit the plane out or just have it with the fuel tanks and no missiles, but that's a decision for later. The kit is far, far, FAR more detailed than my last attempt so this should look good. I only have Humbrol paints so after converting the numbers from Revell's I find I have absolutely none for the super detailed cockpit, so I left that until I could get to the shop and get me some more. Anywho, this was a bit more fiddly than I was expecting with bits I am supposed to glue and bits I'm not, but the rear has come together well:

The, err, things you connect missiles to, work fine when the wings are in low speed configuration:

I've followed the instructions but I'm not quite sure what's going on with the rear stabilisers as these can be rotated 360 degrees and aren't really attached to the fuselage at all:

But it does fit together well, it works well, looks like it's going to be an absolute bitch to paint, but I've been practicing camo using maskol and an airbrush and those results have come out well. Let's see what I can get out of this one!

 

[dubster72]

That is one heck of a decal sheet for a 1/72 aircraft!

It's coming along nicely Mike, and mucho gracias for the smaller piccys!

I think the horizontal tailplanes go like that, they rotate around a single pivot, just like on the diecast one I had as a kid.

 

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Michael

That's a good start to the Tonka. The stabilisers on the Tornado do move like that but I usually glue them in one position (I usually strengthen the bar that holds them too).

I have 2 1/48 and a 1/32 Tornado waiting to be built so I'll be interested to see how yours turns out.

Keep up the cracking work

Paul

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice subject Michael.

 

[rickoshea52]

These controls surfaces are actually called tailerons - an obvious hybrid of tail and aileron. They are all moving and provide pitch and roll control in flight with the wings swept or forward. I never worked on Tonkas so part from the above the only other thing I know about them is the taileron actuator is very complicated and a pain in the arse to replace.

 

[Mike]

So, I've figured out why I've never seen a model built whereby the things the missiles attach to still moves, it'll leave gaps when painting as you cannot move it until the paint is dry and cured, and, more importantly, once it's painted it'll eventually scratch and leave a circle where it's gone against the paint work...

Hmmm...

 

[papa 695]

I like the Tonka Michael so will watch this one

 

[Mike]

Oooh looky what just arrived in the post

OK, so an RAF Tornado from 1982 isn't a WWII British Aircraft, but this 16 colour set had so many colours that'll come in use on other models including numerous greys, greens - and of course Dark Earth which will come in use on any allied WWII project, I simply had to.

Everyone seems to rave about Vallejo Model Air, this seemed a great way to find out rather than just buy 1 pot of the stuff

I suppose I should really get back to the build now!

 

[flyjoe180]

You'll find the dark green and ocean grey you need in there, nice set. Now back to the build Mr!

 

[Mike]

Crikey this modelling lark takes a long time when you ban yourself from working on a model when drunk! My experiments with Vallejo Model Air are not good...

I've knocked the psi way down to 20. It was 35 with humbrol acryllics. I've also got a new gravity feed air brush, it's a cheap one, but it's far better than the syphon ones I had and as I can't put the paint back in the bottle I need gravity! I can't get up close any more with Vallejo as the air just pushes it away, it's *really* thin, so I thought I'd practice on an Airfix Tornado, rather than ruin this really nice looking Revell one. I've also picked up some liquid Poly so thought this was a good crap kit to practice on to see if it makes a difference before splashing out on Tamiya's magic extra thin. I am aware of this Airfix kit, it has a shockingly bad reputation. Now I've built one, I know why!

As I ran out of white primer, this model requires a black tail fin and I don't have a Vallejo black, I even masked the canopy, which I rarely ever bother doing. This needs a subtle grey, so this might cause an issue but will cross that bridge when I get there. The most annoying thing is the bits that fell off trying to mask the top sections. The liquid poly did quite a good job on this if I'm honest, the fuselage is a 2 piece construction so there's a lot of contact pieces to get right, this was made a lot easier with a liquid product rather than the quick drying cement that comes in this starter kit.

So, poly cemented pieces are now drying and the bits that need to stay black are masked:

That took me about an hour and now I've run out of time as I'm off to see the Poppies at the Tower of London and the NFL at Wembley so I've no idea when I'll get back to testing Vallejo on this, or when I'll finish this and get back to the Revell one! This was supposed to be a quick build so I can test out my new bits

Speaking of new bits, one of the other things I got was new model putty that was recommended by Laurie (I forget which one), that was used on the tailerons. It looked awful as the weight of the part was pulling the glue apart with that stretched blob look I'm sure you've seen before, the putty sorted that out good and proper and looks like it was actually part of the plastic, so well happy with that!

I guess I'll get back to this tomorrow!!

 

[phalinmegob]

looking great mate, i just finished the 1:32revell kit and had exactly the same problems. broke the wing pylons off, also snapped the rear wing off after repeated moving.

 

[colin m]

I built this and finished it off as a Gulf war machine. I found it to be a really good kit, lots of detail for the price.

 

[Mike]

Well I'm hoping to get back to the Airfix project this evening to see what I can get out of Vallejo Model Air on a plastic kit. My test sprays have not been good and I do not want to ruin what is so far an awesome Revell kit without a bit of practice first!!

 

[F-104nut]

Michael that Tornado is looking really awesome. One of the best RAF planes ever besides the EE Lighting . Keep up the awesome work

Cheers Brian

 

[steve scan]

Yeah looking really good, strange thing about these acrylics my Italeri set was useless and I had similar probs. as you with my Ammo Russian set, anyway looking forward to seeing this.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the support guys. Last nights work can be summarised by "glued stuff back together". Needed to get the big boy glue out as it wasn't purchasing now the primer is down, but got there in the end. All ready for spraying, by far and away the best part of modelling! I can't find a Vallejo paint that matches the number required by Airfix (off the top of my head, Humbrol 163 off the top of my head), but this is supposed to be a practice run for the awesome looking Revell one so found a grey that's light enough to look about right, that'll be job number 1 when I get home this evening.

Is it ok to admit, I'm actually a little excited. Which is odd as I've done nothing to make this Airfix Flash Fest look any good!!

 

[Ian M]

Rather than practising on either model just find a plastic bottle and practice in that.

Try adjusting the air down a bit at a time until you get to a controllable pressure.

Ian M

 

[Mike]

Rather than practising on either model just find a plastic bottle and practice in that.

This be a fair point Ian, but I'm learning a lot on the Airfix kit on what to do with the Revell version. For instance, I will not be attaching the ordnance until after everything is painted and decaled as getting the airbrush into the gaps between the fuselage, wing and external fuel tanks was a proper PIA. Next thing I learnt was that whilst I thought you could leave paint in the airbrush and the paint cup and leave your plane to dry for only 20 minutes, when you can safely turn the plane over to paint the other side, your airbrush will not be a happy bunny and this will happen:

I tried cleaning a few times, but the paint would not come out without being patchy and spluttery. In the end I had to take the airbrush completely apart, the paint had gone all the way up the wrong way of the needle and one of the parts has signs of rust on the inside. I've only had the brush a couple of weeks, but I guess that's what you get with a cheap Chinese knock off. Anywho, a quick visit to YouTube to learn how on earth to clean an airbrush, and voila:

I'm starting to wish I'd spent a bit of time filling and sanding those unsightly joins on the fuselage and the external fuel tanks now as this hasn't turned out that badly considering how little time I've actually spend on it. The masking of the canopy went better than I was expecting, wishing I'd spend a bit of time on the cockpit now too as you can see much more in there than I was expecting.

However, everything I've read about this kit is true, it's god awful. This seems to be a theme with Airfix Starter Kits... Anyway, just needs the decals applying, the undercarriage and a final coat of Matt then the purpose of this kit is done, I now know how I'm going to approach the Revell kit and how I'm going to use the airbrush and hope to do it justice.

All in all, worth the tenner for the learning experience alone!

 

[steve scan]

Still looks ok to me, I built this Airfix one years ago and remember it being a pig.

 

[Mike]

OK, so I didn't realise that the undercarriage was so flash happy that one square unrecognisable lump was in fact a wheel... So as not to attract too much attention to this, I cleaned as much as I could, stuck with the black undercoat and dry brushed a metallic colour, I think it does a much better job at highlighting that there's metal there, if it was too shiny, it'd be obvious

And that's the last bit. I've learnt enough from this kit, so calling it done even though I haven't actually painted the exhausts or the nose, but these are separate bits on the Revell one, so will be able to tackle these better on that kit. I also made a wash with a slightly darker grey and a LLOOTT of water and went to town, I think the effect is good, however more practice required. Not bad for a first attempt at weathering methinks. Here's the finished Airfix:

So, what have I learnt with this kit?

1. Because this is a 1 body construction, it's not very good as the fit is poor. The Revell one has separate body, nose and exhaust construction so I shouldn't have the fit issues with that I had here.

2. New Putty is pretty good.

3. Making a wash really isn't that difficult and I wish I hadn't spent £5 on a pre-made one!

4. I *really* wish I had spent a bit more time on making the fit good and filling/sanding as actually the result isn't so bad

5. I should have washed the tail fin as well because the yellow decal is now far too bright in comparison

6. Vallejo Model Air smells amazing! I am concerned there is a drug in there that makes you want to airbrush

Back to the Revell kit. (Possibly via a new tool Hawker Hurricane I picket up for a couple of quid!)

One last question before I get back to the actual title of the thread, I have an Airfix GR4 617 squadron limited edition kit, which sadly also has an all-in one construction. I am supposed to paint the nose and the body in different colours, how does one do that with a perfect circular line? The Tamiya tape I have is good, but I'm only human and can't get a circle out of it. I was tempted to draw a circle on a piece of extra thick masking tape and put that over the nose to allow me to paint the end, but not sure that would work.

So, if you had the kit in the picture above, and had to paint a perfect lighter grey with a perfect line, how would you do it?

Alternatively, is there a Revell 1:72 Tornado GR4 that has the same ordnance as the two 617 sq. GR4's painted in the 70th anniversary paint job that I could then just use the Airfix Decals on, that might just do the job instead!!