ESCI 48th scale Tornado, another dinosaur

Been too long since I worked on this one, once I got into my job and things took off, I havent sat at the bench for man twenty minutes and it was always to do other-than-model stuff.

I hope to have this old lady completed in the new year.

thanks for the info fellas, but without robbing another kit I don't have access to any British ordnance. I just want the finished product to be busy and cool looking for my cousins.

stikpusher

Just a suggestion, but you need some Brit style bombs. They did not use the Mk. 80 series in the Gulf

British LGBs are also based on the 1000 pounder above, rather than the US Mk.80 series.

Some BL755 CBU's would also go down well, but I don't know where you'd get those.

Just a suggestion, but you need some Brit style bombs. They did not use the Mk. 80 series in the Gulf

Looking good so far ! I think I will try the bondo filler on my next build.

Louts of hard work,but looking good

had to check in, haven't had the time or the energy to do much after work the past week or two.

She is ready for paint, and I haven't gotten the chance to figure up my painting plan yet.

Hopefully I'll have a better update tomorrow

and on the pylon

more to follow later this week  

now for the ordnance, I'm using two Hasegawa Mk-84's as well as four sway braces from the same weapons kit.

I cemented the four halves together with Tamiya Extra thin and after letting them set for a day I attempted to scribe all the details because the halves didn't align as well as I hoped so I had some sanding to do.

So the bombs are done, less painting, and the pylons are salvaged. I used clipped straight pins for locators and the head of a straight pin to replicate the foot that kicks the bomb away from the pylon.

pylons

 I'm almost ready to do a base coat, but there are a few trouble spots I've found that need attention first

the crew in their permanent home

thanks for the compliments fellas, and the tips on the putty, I might try it on my next round of self abuse, I mean next kit build, you guys are gonna think I'm crazy when I drop it on you, but let me post some updates and a picture or two.

First off, I have been making slow progress since I re-entered the job market. Most notably the crew is in for good, the pivot points of the pylons are tweaked for a good friction fit, and I have salvaged the belly pylons and have gotten them ready for a pair of Mk-84 two thousand pounders.

anyway, I'll annotate the pictures as I go.

First is an overall shot or two

Looking pretty good there! Almost ready for its base coat of paint.

I know it's too  late for this build, but have you tried Bondo's Glazing and spot putty ?   I got the tip to use this stuff from Don Stauffer and not used any other putty since. Easy to work with and very fine grit ( grain ) so it sands very well.  Any auto parts stores have it, just make sure you get the single tube #907 rather than the 2-part stuff.

I took the kit to my local clubs monthly meeting yesterday and got a talking to about all the work I've done and the fact its going to be hanging from a ceiling, but I'm not going to cut corners just because it wont be a finished model that you can look at closely.............

More pictures to follow

okay so the Milliput experiment didnt work, neither did the use of Testors contour putty that followed, so I stripped off both attempts and filled the seams with CA, sanded and polished.

Next came the aircrew, they are finished, seated and installed, and are now permanantly affixed their respective offices.

After the crew was perched, I installed the canopy with CA at the front and rear and have started fairing the canopy assembly with Mr Surfacer.

and last but not least is the is the entire wing load, pods and fuel tanks.

I have a feeling its going to take quite a bit more to smooth everything out once I get the putty sanded, but nothing on this model has come easily.

Filler of choice so far has been some Miliput Superfine I bought last week.

I finally got around to getting the intakes attached, I used MM Sky Type S for the intake trunking, attached it to the fuselage with CA and filled the monster gaps with epoxy putty

the other BIG area was the reworking of the out board pylon ordnance load. The kit came with American style  frangible nose rocket pods, which I have never seen on an RAF aircraft. So I used each one as a basis for a ECM pod, though I tried my best to make them accurate, I'm pretty sure they aren't, and one I took complete artistic license with, but they look cool and my cousins will like them.

Heres the most modified pod. I added the forward end from a Monogram Phoenix missile, the intake is also a section of Phoenix I thinned to look the part better, the rear louvered area is a heat exchanger I robbed off the same Monogram Tomcat that the phoenixes came from which is also where the pods fins came from.

The pod on the left is the one I just described, to its right is the other modded pod, it has the rear most fins off another Phoenix, as well as the nose cone to close up the opening.

Pod number ones rear end

and from the front, the ram air cooling intake

got some work done finally........

Here are a few of the pilot that's closest to be completed.

Hey fellas, a quick update, been doing mostly accessory work, the outboard wing mounted ECM gear has been on the front burner, but thankfully because of my new job lol, I haven't had all that much time to sit down and get serious work done during the week.

But pictures will follow this weekend

LOL thanks for the heads up Phil_H, its too late now, these two Limies ( sorry Bish ;) ), are gonna be in the 70s blue style flight suits.

On another note, I wont be able to do any work on this beast this week, I am house/dog sitting this week and with Arthur on his way, wont be able to get behind the bench until after the holiday.

@Jim, yeah its a monster alright, and the next one is gonna be a breeze

Looks like you're finally getting that model subdued--and you didn't even need the sledgehammer.

USMC6094

I decided on US Navy blue gray for the RAF flight suits, it just had the right look to me for the blue fabric.

The modern RAF flight suits are an olive green colour.

I'm not really worried about the black paint being over powering when its all said and done, especially since I plan on trying more than one shade of tan/sand/brown before I seal it all up to decal.

then I got to work on the crew.

I decided on US Navy blue gray for the RAF flight suits, it just had the right look to me for the blue fabric.

and then I laid it down on a very low pressure, I think I was spraying at something like 15 psi

I cranked up the airbrush last night to do some shading work, for the fuselage I just thinned flat black to a little less than milk consistency and then laid on successive coats of very thin paint

I masked off the front and rear cockpits with paper towels I cut into strips and sealed it with Micro-mask. and masked off the area around the cockpit sill as well as the radome.