This Model was
built completely out of the box, from the recent release of the old Airfix
Tornado F-3.
Airfix have
updated the kit, the new parts included a new top fuselage molding (more on this
later!), a current selection of weapons- 4x Sky flash, 4x ASRAAM, 4x Sidewinder,
2x BOL rails, 2x 1500 litre fuel tanks, 2x 2250 litre fuel tanks, BOZ pod,
PHIMAT pod,2 ALE-40 flare dispensers, 2x ALARM with launch rails.
The best part
of this kit is the decal sheet; buy far the best from Airfix for a long time.
The decal
options are- RAF EF-3 ZE902 “XI” 11 Sqn, RAF F-3 ZE734 “DA” (With Eagle
nose art) 11 Sqn, RAF F-3 ZE161 “UU” 43 Sqn “Operation Telic”, and an
Italian Air
force F-3 from 53 Stormo in the 1998 Tiger meet scheme with a large
Tiger on the forward fuselage. These Decals worked fine with no problems.
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I built the
model with no aftermarket help, what you see is what you get in the kit.
Lets start at
the cockpit-The cockpit is a bit simple and is taken from the Airfix Tornado GR1
kit, so it’s nothing like the cockpit of an F-3. To save time and money, I
just used the supplied cockpit. Airfix have
molded a new top fuselage part with recessed panels lines, while the rest of the
kit has the old raised panel lines, I don’t know why they did not remold both, so both half’s match!!
To save time, I
only resribed the fuselage sides and not the whole kit.
This kit has
the problem that all horizontally split kits have, a bad fit and a large step
along the side of the forward fuselage.
A fair bit of
filling and sanding sorted this out, I did mind too much, as I was going rescribing
the panel lines anyway. Another bad
fitting part was the intakes, which took a lot of filling and sanding to get to
look O.K. The rest of the
kit goes together with no real problems. The main under
carriage legs are quite weak and put any side load on them, and they would probably
break. I painted the
model with Extra colour paints and used the kit decals. I chose the 11
Sqn Tornado F-3 with the Eagle nose art, as nose art is quite rare on RAF
F-3’s.
After
researching, I found that the supplied nose art decal looks nothing like the
painting on the real aircraft. The kit decal has got a patchwork look to it
while the real painting is shades of brown. I modified the decal with artist’s
paints, to resemble the real artwork..
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The model was
weathered with chalk wash and I added a bit of exhaust staining to the fin to
get that typical Tornado look. To sum the kit
up, I would say that is builds O.K and looks good with a bit of work.. The updated
parts and decal sheet make the kit worth buying. When will we
get a good 1/48th Tornado?, come on Revell or Hasegawa it’s about
time!
Shaun
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