Italeri 1/48 Panavia Tornado IDS in the markings of "Helen" from the "Desert Storm" conflict...
Hello Chaps,
I'm just playing catch up with posting my last few builds, since the issue with Photobucket preventing 3rd party sharing. Well, now that I've figured out an alternative solution, I'm happy to be back and able to share again.
This build I completed on May 15th of this year (2017), and it so happens that the Tornado is my most favorite British used strike aircraft of the modern era, but after 3 years of building models, I've only just gotten around to building one.
Because it's my favorite British used strike aircraft, I decided to do something completely new that I;ve never attempted before....build a base for it to sit on. I even decided to do some scratch-building, too, to enhance it a little.
Items that I scratch-built were:
1) Seatbelts- made from strips of wine bottle foil
2) Canopy jack- made from a length of round sprue with a hole drilled in one end and a piece of paperclip inserted into it to simulate the rod. then I glued sections of styrene sheet at each end to simulate the claws.
3) Air intake covers- again, these were made from wine bottle foil.
4) FOD covers- made from two layers of styrene card of different dimensions, then painted red
5) Red and white striped warning/remove before flight tags- again, my go to source for items like this...wine bottle foil
6) Sidewinder Missile Caps- these were made from a section of small diameter round sprue cut to length, with the grab bar made from a slither of styrene card, then painted yellow.
7) Front Wheel Chocks/Blocks- These were made from parts from my spare parts box, they were triangular section guns from a A-1J Skyraider, cut to length and painted yellow, then in one end of the two pieces a hole was drilled. Into the holes I inserted a length of stretched sprue, glued into location with CA glue; this simulated the rope for dragging the chocks away from the wheels.
The kit didn't come with any figures, so I borrowed a USAF pilot from my F-4C Phantom build and had him pose at the side of the aircraft; he was visiting from a USAF base to check out the allies jet and get a ride in it! 
Anyway, I had a ton of fun building this one and recommend the kit if you're a lover of the "Tonka".
So, enough waffling, here she is, I hope you like her....
I decided to stick my finger into this photo to provide an idea of scale:
There she is guys...I was happy with my first attempt at a base and the scratch-built extras, even if they might not be accurate...at the end of day, I had a ton of fun with this one, and for me personally, that is why I chose to build models since retiring...as a way of relaxing, switching off from life and having fun.
If you'd like to watch my YouTube build updates and Final Reveal videos showing how I went from the beginning to the end of this build, here are the links to those 5 videos:
Build Update #1 Video Link:
https://youtu.be/sS8aGNAvdic
Build Update #2 Video Link:
https://youtu.be/THX9-01dyNM
Build Update #3 Video Link:
https://youtu.be/pofTlO3ZLuI
Build Update #4 Video Link:
https://youtu.be/YIc9GNPSBjE
Final Reveal Video Link:
https://youtu.be/e68A3-I1z2Y
Okay chaps, thanks in advance for taking a gander and leaving any comments, much appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed building her!
Cheers,
Martin 
