1/48 Italeri Tornado completed

[SlipStream77]

I've just finished this GR1, my first model using an airbrush. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, although I have learnt a few lessons. The rough finish of the grey was caused by using paint that was too thick I think, I should have sanded it afterwards. The subsequent layers of varnish did little to smooth it and some of the decals 'silvered' as a result. I would have used Promodeller's wash on the whole model had the finish been smoother, but I didn't want to risk not being able to remove it. The undercarriage was treated with Promodeller's and it turned out very well IMO.

I used Vallejo Model Air paint for the green, black, white and varnishes, and I highly recommend it.

I know Tornados are not usually seen on the ground with their wings swept, but I like the way it looks and it saves space.

The boxes in the background are the Italeri Tornado on the left and a 1/48 Airfix Jaguar on the right which is my current project.

I hope you like the photos, DOF can be a problem with models.












Interesting to compare the size to an identically scaled Sopwith Camel.

Edited by SlipStream77 on Tuesday 22 June 21:54

[RobM77]

Stunning Great job.

[Eric Mc]

Really nice.

I need to get a move on and finish my current projects - both 1/72.

An old Heller Arado 96 and the even older FROG De Havilland DH60 Moth.

[dr_gn]

Both are great builds - very neat.

The Promodeller washes are fairly easy to remove even from a 'textured' finish (with detergent and a stiff brush), I found it was only truly fine matt finishes that stained badly.

Having said that I'd leave it as it is. Never go back to a 'finished' model is my motto!

[NismoGT]

Very nice builds. Have you built the Jaguar i see printed on the box yet?

[SlipStream77]

Thanks everyone.

Eric, that Arado is quite interesting, it reminds me of a Miles Magister a little. I don't really have much knowledge of WWII aircraft, I've only heard of Arado from the PC flight sim "IL2 1946", one of the aircraft you can fly is the Ar-234 jet bomber. If you haven't tried it, it's a great sim, have a look on youtube for some videos if you're interested.

dr gn, thanks for the advice, the matt finish had caused some decal silvering and despite a coat of varnish over the top, I didn't know if the Promodeller's would make it under the decals. I will be leaving the Tornado as it is, but I hope to weather the Jaguar properly.

NismoGT, The Jag is being worked on right now, currently, the main parts of the fuselage are constructed and it is being filled and sanded. It will be finished in the same camo as the Tornado, and I have a Lightning (Eduard) and Harrier (Airfix) ready for the same scheme. I'd like to do a Vulcan, but it might be a bit big.

[Eric Mc]

SlipStream77 said:

Thanks everyone.

Eric, that Arado is quite interesting, it reminds me of a Miles Magister a little. I don't really have much knowledge of WWII aircraft, I've only heard of Arado from the PC flight sim "IL2 1946", one of the aircraft you can fly is the Ar-234 jet bomber. If you haven't tried it, it's a great sim, have a look on youtube for some videos if you're interested.

dr gn, thanks for the advice, the matt finish had caused some decal silvering and despite a coat of varnish over the top, I didn't know if the Promodeller's would make it under the decals. I will be leaving the Tornado as it is, but I hope to weather the Jaguar properly.

NismoGT, The Jag is being worked on right now, currently, the main parts of the fuselage are constructed and it is being filled and sanded. It will be finished in the same camo as the Tornado, and I have a Lightning (Eduard) and Harrier (Airfix) ready for the same scheme. I'd like to do a Vulcan, but it might be a bit big.

The Arado 96 was the German's advanced trainer in that operiod (a bit like the North American Harvard or Miles Master). The Magister was more of a basic trainer - a monoplane equivalent of the Tiger Moth.

Arado 96



Miles Master



North American Hsarvard

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 23 June 17:06

[dr_gn]

SlipStream77 said:

Thanks everyone.


dr gn, thanks for the advice, the matt finish had caused some decal silvering and despite a coat of varnish over the top, I didn't know if the Promodeller's would make it under the decals. I will be leaving the Tornado as it is, but I hope to weather the Jaguar properly.

I had pretty severe decal silvering with the Spitfire I rebuilt recently. After asking advice on Britmodeller, someone suggested slitting the decals in several places with a new scalpel blade and brushing Johnsons Klear into the cuts. It worked perfectly, and after overcoating with satin you can't tell there was ever any problem.

[SlipStream77]

dr_gn said:

SlipStream77 said:

Thanks everyone.


dr gn, thanks for the advice, the matt finish had caused some decal silvering and despite a coat of varnish over the top, I didn't know if the Promodeller's would make it under the decals. I will be leaving the Tornado as it is, but I hope to weather the Jaguar properly.

I had pretty severe decal silvering with the Spitfire I rebuilt recently. After asking advice on Britmodeller, someone suggested slitting the decals in several places with a new scalpel blade and brushing Johnsons Klear into the cuts. It worked perfectly, and after overcoating with satin you can't tell there was ever any problem.

Thanks, I will try to remember that.

Eric, that Miles Master is a great looking aeroplane, it must have been pretty stable with all that dihedral. I notice that some were actually made combat ready but they weren't used.

[Eric Mc]

If you look around, you might find the old FROG 1/72 kit of the Master. They did a Magister too.

Both kits have resurfaced on a few occasions under various Eastern European and Russian branded model company names (FROG sold their moulds to the Soviet Union in 1976).

[SlipStream77]

Eric Mc said:

If you look around, you might find the old FROG 1/72 kit of the Master. They did a Magister too.

Both kits have resurfaced on a few occasions under various Eastern European and Russian branded model company names (FROG sold their moulds to the Soviet Union in 1976).

Thanks, I usually build in 1/48, a little research shows Sanger produce a vacform Mk.III Master and Hannants stock it. I'm not sure my skills are up to doing a vacform yet, but I will give it some thought.

[dr_gn]

SlipStream77 said:

dr_gn said:

SlipStream77 said:

Thanks everyone.


dr gn, thanks for the advice, the matt finish had caused some decal silvering and despite a coat of varnish over the top, I didn't know if the Promodeller's would make it under the decals. I will be leaving the Tornado as it is, but I hope to weather the Jaguar properly.

I had pretty severe decal silvering with the Spitfire I rebuilt recently. After asking advice on Britmodeller, someone suggested slitting the decals in several places with a new scalpel blade and brushing Johnsons Klear into the cuts. It worked perfectly, and after overcoating with satin you can't tell there was ever any problem.

it must have been pretty stable with all that dihedral. I notice that some were actually made combat ready but they weren't used.

It hasn't got much dihedral in reality - it's an inverted gullwing with anhedral at the root. The wing is relatively thick though.

[Eric Mc]

SlipStream77 said:

Eric Mc said:

If you look around, you might find the old FROG 1/72 kit of the Master. They did a Magister too.

Both kits have resurfaced on a few occasions under various Eastern European and Russian branded model company names (FROG sold their moulds to the Soviet Union in 1976).

Thanks, I usually build in 1/48, a little research shows Sanger produce a vacform Mk.III Master and Hannants stock it. I'm not sure my skills are up to doing a vacform yet, but I will give it some thought.

I've never built a Sanger vacform but I have heard they are very, very basic. Indeed, some of the current Sanger models are based on old Contrail moulds from the 70s and 80s.

I stick to 1/72 - The Gentleman's Scale.

[RobM77]

Eric Mc said:

I stick to 1/72 - The Gentleman's Scale.

And one that permits the building of Vulcans When Slipstream mentioned the Vulcan above I had visions of him one day giving in to his enthusiasm and being pinned into a corner of his house by a giant model

[Eric Mc]

Yes - it's big enough in 1/72.

Airfix are releasing a Valiant either later in the year or early next year

[RobM77]

Apparently the B1 Vulcan had a 99' wingspan, and the B2 111'. Both were 99' long.

That makes a 1/48 model just over two feet in length and wingspan for the B1, and the B2's wingspan would be about two feet and 3½ inches in wingspan. That is quite a sizeable model to find a shelf for!

1/72 brings that down to 16½ inches in length and wingspan (B2 would be 18½ inches in wingspan). Still large mind you!

The Vulcan's designers were very inconsiderate to the model maker!

I do think it's a great idea to model in one scale though, as it adds an extra dimension of interest to see models side by side, like Slipstream's comparison shot above. Out of interest, I've always found a discrepancy between watching a fast jet fly and standing next to one - something inside me says that something fast and manouverable will always be small, but jets like the Tornado or F14 change that subconcious misconception that I've always had. To see Slipstream's model Tornado next to the model biplane gives you that same feeling as when you stand next to one and think "blimey, that's a big old thing to be hurtling down a valley at 500mph!"

[Eric Mc]

I would argue that the F-14 and the Tornado have never been particularly manoeuverable. "Fast" doesn't need to be small - Concorde, SR-71, Tu-160 Blackjack etc are all fairly hefty pieces of kit.

I would guess that the biggest manoeuverable fast jets around are the F-15 and the Su-27 family. Aircraft like the F-16 and the MiG 29 are not that big in comparison.

[RobM77]

Eric Mc said:

I would argue that the F-14 and the Tornado have never been particularly manoeuverable. "Fast" doesn't need to be small - Concorde, SR-71, Tu-160 Blackjack etc are all fairly hefty pieces of kit.

I would guess that the biggest manoeuverable fast jets around are the F-15 and the Su-27 family. Aircraft like the F-16 and the MiG 29 are not that big in comparison.

True. I was mainly referring to the general principle as viewed by a layman such as myself who know very little about aircraft. When one can walk up to a biplane and push the thing round into the wind single handedly, you know it's going to be able to fly down a tight valley in Scotland at low level. With a fast jet like the Su-27 you mentioned, there's always been something in my mind that doesn't quite compute the sort of manouvres they can pull with how large they are. The Su-27 is a very good example. I've no doubt that an Su-27 would probably feel like a tank for a Red Bull Air Races pilot, but still to the casual bystander it never ceases to amaze me watching something as big and heavy as an Su-27 do things like this:

[Eric Mc]

And it and the MiG 29 are about the only modern fighters that can do this - although In have seen an F-18E Super Hornet get close to it. Mind you, the Russians have been performing Cobras and their derivatives for well over twenty years.

I often wonder why this has never been done by the F-16 or the Typhoon - is there some stress loading restriction on the respective airframes compared to the MiGs and Sukhois?

[RobM77]

Eric Mc said:

And it and the MiG 29 are about the only modern fighters that can do this - although In have seen an F-18E Super Hornet get close to it. Mind you, the Russians have been performing Cobras and their derivatives for well over twenty years.

I often wonder why this has never been done by the F-16 or the Typhoon - is there some stress loading restriction on the respective airframes compared to the MiGs and Sukhois?

As I'm sure you're aware, the Americans experimented with big angles of vectored thrust on the F16 many years ago. A quick google shows some videos, but I can't play them at work. I've seen pictures of an experimental F16 doing some crazy stuff (I'm sure I remember seeing a photo sequence of a complete 360...).

Perhaps the increasing stand-off distances in modern warfare (an intentional trend) mean that a manouvre like the Cobra is no longer deemed an advantage worth paying for? There's even talk with modern jets of not fitting guns on them.

Sure, the Cobra manouvre is extreme, but I was referring just to the high g turns etc that such huge aircraft can perform. I saw some RAF jets practise low level when I was in the Lake District last week and it was extremely impressive. Seeing Slipstream's Tornado and biplane really brings home the scale of aircraft like these.

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 24th June 13:11