Tornado ASSTA 3.1, Revell 1:48

[Greg Kimsey]

Ok, Tornado, take 2. I am taking what I learned from Paddy and the rest of you awesome guys on the British Tornado and see if I can do it better on this Gernan version. As usual I start in the cockpit, specifically the seats. I wanted to see if I could come closer to my reference photos.
First, the real thing...

Now the model...

Under this extreme magnification I can see some things I want to fix, but in real life they look passable. I still have decals to apply. For the harness backing and the fabric cover on top (the green parts) I used Amaco embossing metal sheet. For the actual belts I used flat lead wire .2x1mm. For the hardware I also used the embossing sheet as it is even thinner than the lead. For the (what I think is the) black and yellow striped ejection handle I used .5mm styrene rod.
It is not 100% accurate, but it looks ...cool. Maybe I will get there one day. Anyway, for this model I am taking Paddy,s lesson to heart and will attempt a clean showroom model (that I assume this model depicts with the amazing tail art) with all of the inspection areas open

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I should have kept painting rather than post those pictures LOL. The seats look infinitely better. I hope you can tell...

 

[moon puppy]

Man that's awesome!

 

[phantom II]

Great detail .

 

[paddy]

Great work Greg , are they the kit seats ?

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Great work Greg , are they the kit seats ?

Yes, and the kit seats actually had molded seatbelts but I sanded them down to add my own. So the base seat only is from the kit.

 

[paddy]

Great stuff Greg, they look good under macro so i bet real life they look perfect.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Great stuff Greg, they look good under macro so i bet real life they look perfect.

Under normal eye sight, yeah, I am pretty happy with them!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The seats look good in their new home. I am trying to keep this cockpit fairly "clean" so have only done a light wash and let some dark grey wick into the edges. For anyo e interested, I found this super cool video on the Tornado 3.1 training simulator which provided me a lot of info and reference:

Below are my progress shots so far.

 

[moon puppy]

Really nice work Greg, those screens look amazing.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Y'all, this plane is going together like a dream. Everybody please knock on wood somewhere! The secret may be the extra thin Tamiya cement. That stuff is a game changer! I have minimal work on the seams, and some I have no work to do but paint. I worked about 12 hours on it today and am ready for bed. Oh! The wings actually work like they are supposed to. The armament pivots actually turn correctly. That may change if the connector bar slips off ot its pin. If it does...meh, wasnt meant to be. But hey, I did it right this time!

Gonna knock off here for tonight. Thanks for watching!

 

[moon puppy]

The pylons move? That's awesome. Neat engineering there.
Press on Greg!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

The pylons move? That's awesome. Neat engineering there.
Press on Greg!

Yeah, as the wings swing back the pylons rotate to keep the armament pointing forward. Pretty cool really.
However, I am going to model this plane with the flaps down so I am not sure the wings will be able to swing back with them down. BUT! I did it right this time. It took a LOT of time and fiddling and figuring out how to keep the parts in place while putting the wings together. I ended up using low tack tape to hold the bar down then covered it with the upper wing. The tape released with I activated the mechanism just as I had hoped. So, there is a random piece of tape floating around between the wing halves LOL.

 

[Steve Ski]

Love that cockpit work!

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Sorry guys, I was in New Orleans at an Art Supply trade show for a few days. I will get some new progress shots up soon. I am pooped!

 

[paddy]

Hey steve its a fun hobby for winding down, you're not working to a deadline

 

[Greg Kimsey]

Hey steve its a fun hobby for winding down, you're not working to a deadline

No doubt! I definitely wind down while modeling, just sort of zone out...

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I have most of the bodywork done and am ready to paint I think. For this version I am adding as many bells and whistles as the kit allows. This is an "air show" plane with all inspection options open. I will try to make the paint job "clean" as well!

 

[moon puppy]

Wow that thing is complex. Really clean so far Greg, keep at it.

 

[Greg Kimsey]

I got the matte black Tamiya XF-1 sprayed on rather thinly. I want to experiment with the next step by using different metallic colors to do the marbling in some of the panels. Hopefully that will give the panels various hues when I overspray with the main color, plus some pop from the metallic properties.

I have all of the little tidbit parts primed as well.