1/32 Revell Tornado IDS

by Bob Aikens

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This kit of the Tornado  by Revell is the second version of this offering-it has been retooled, at least on the upper surfaces with much finer panel lines. Everything is quite a bit crisper than the original.

As the viewer may be able to see from the pictures there is an adequate level of detail for an out-of-the-box project, which is what I chose to do. The front and rear fuselage sections  join at a mid-point which is just to the rear of the  cockpit tub- which can be retrofitted into the previously built-up front fuselage section. This, of course must be done before  joining the front and rear sections of the fuselage!

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As with most swing-wing aircraft projects, things will be much easier if you can retrofit the wings when construction and painting are done. In order to do this successfully, the inner, round pivoting portions of the wings must be thinned somewhat, and the leading edges of the glove vanes must be internally reinforced as they are rather thin and will separate easily under pressure.  Speaking of reinforcement, the rear section of the fuselage ought to be (internally)  braced for easier handling and working..

The super-detail guys (as we can see from the various Tornado articles)  can work wonders with this kit- it's big-and there's lots of room to work! There are After market parts from CAM Resin, Eduard, Paragon Designs-there are flaps and slats and seats. However, when pricing the whole kaboodle, I was looking at around $200 Cdn., part of the reason why it's SOB.

The experimental paint scheme was seen on a Tornado of MG 1 at Deci air training center in Sardinia 1985. Painting was done with XtraColor, and the decals are from the kit-they went down slowly, but surprisingly well. The whole thing was sort of fun and only took about a month out of my life!

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Options and underwing stores include two centerline bomb racks and bombs, Kormoran missile racks, a reconnaissance  pod, and a 'Buddy'  refueling pack/tank.

Bob

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Photos and text © by Bob Aikens