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c. Wayne Sharp
3 articles

British Panavia tornado GR-MK 1

February 28, 2013 · in Aviation · · 19 · 7.7K


MODEL: For this purpose this week will be the boxing of the British Panavia GR-M1,
AKA, model IDS, and boxed under the AMT label as well. Not the best kit of this Air plane but doable with a little help. Complaints from all the Arm Chair Experts,I.E. , not shaped correct, lacks cockpit detail, ( all kits do),- list goes on, - but- only you can, and will, make the decision to build one of these or other “harder to build” kits in lieu of the paste and paint kits.

This is not a suggestion for a new group posting like the Tiger teeth thing a couple of weeks ago but that was a good idea but seems to have been hi-jacked by some school room monitors of the other “site”. But my post this time will be of some “harder” and not so popular, kits, that need a lot more care to build and locate proper help to get it as a presentable product and catches the judges eye if you like to compete at your favorite Model show or club meeting(s), and will some times, send a thrill up your leg and be a down right aggravation for most of the build. BTW, we all have several of those.

If we need or want a “Theme” lets go with “Desert Storm War”, the model selection for that history is super great like all the World War II stuff. Which BTW, is a whole different subject as most model builders, er ah, I. E.., “scale modelers”, were not born until that was years over (I was a kid when it was over), and the only clues are what someone's opinion is / was, and / or, pictures etc. tells them that, “maybe” this, or it, was a reasonable facsimile.

Ok, I am posting this as a little different input for some of the nice renditions of several ( bunches), of all the nice Timiygawa kits out there that have been posted lately. I guess just wondering if we did other postings of non-WWII stuff on here. All the great technology the past few years have given the Model Hobby, ( kit builders), (historians in Miniature), and the ever present (“ I am a scale modeler' ),( makes us feel more manly)..I am just a “Kit Builder”, but I do talk to “Scale Model builders” sometimes, builds my ego so much and let me add, the P-47 has ruled the day for a while on this site, by far. What ever we choose to call ourselves these days, some basically easy building to some extent has been just a “paste and Paint” thing with minimum effort of scratch building or “correcting” efforts and all the really nice new painting artist with some super paint gun work and/ or some folks who insist they can do as good with “KRYLON” spray cans, paint brushes etc.. Truth be told, we all, at one time or the other, did that. This is a learn as we go Hobby and all our mothers, ( and others), are so proud of us and always will tell us the things we do, look so good. I. E. “ looks good baby, go play and make your little toy aeroplanes”!


One of the high profile aircraft during Desert Storm War, (were many other types as well), was the Brit Tornado, The British lost a number of these aircraft due mainly to the mission of low level targeting and easier targets for ground fire etc. This one is a model of one of the actual aircraft that was there and flew many missions. Actual photos of this plane show it much more filthy, grungy, and paint peeling than my effort but the message is there.


This model needs a lot of help so the effort was on how to get some and find some better seats, found some good Paragon Designs MK 10s and some etch metal interior I think Eduard, found some “right color Paint” ( Desert Pink) ( “ExtraColor”) mades it, but actually, some Model Master “Wood” color with a drop or two of red for some “blush” will accomplish the same thing and good for fade or shading with adding lighter colors and weathering with Raw or Burnt Umber etc. Used Paragron resin Slats and Flaps, out of production now like a lot of stuff . I do not remember where I got the Decals but it was on a sheet that included more Brit Desert Storm birds for the Jaguar, Buccaneer etc. I know, a lot of stuff I used is out of production now but other companies are there and stuff could still be found. I scratch made the FOD covers and RBF tags and also had to scratch build the “Gear box for the Engine reversing braking mech” in the rear. The dive brake interiors is etch metal products. And yes, we Kit Builders, ( just like the Scale Modelers), had to to a lot of fitting, sanding and filling on this “inferior, low tech, off a few millimeters here and there” and a bunch more but that is the picture.. We just had to suffer through it.
Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

19 responses

  1. Well, for a model that you say needed a lotta help, looks you came through with flying colors. Looks good to me. Nice detail, weathering, etc. as well. The kit may be a disappointment fundamentally, but you made it look top shelf. Nice work.

  2. Merril,
    Good job on using the picture tags. I have moved the

    --- pic1 not found ---

    from the title to the top of your body text, beieving that this was your intention. Pic tags don't work in titles. Hapy modeling.

    • yea, I did just the old Hogan's goat on the title pic, tried to correct it, still screwed up and was praying for help, thanks.. I tried to follow the directions but got way layed. I guess I thought the Pic 1 would auto go to title and did n't happen. glad for "atta Boy" but still got a "aw S@$%"! anyway.. old people learn slow but we can stil learn..hope..

  3. That is some very nice work on that Tornado. I like the paint work and weathering that you did. I have seen lots of pictures of aircraft from that war and the desert was not kind to any of them, and the sortie rate being what it was left limited time for anything cosmetic. You did a nice job on that kit. I am glad you had the time and revenue to invest in making a poor kit better with resin and photo etch. Working 40+ hrs a week, raising a family, taking care of the house and cars, plus other duties I will stick with the easier kits and hopefully find the time to get them done. Again nice job.

    • Hey Walt, not to worry, been there, bought the T-Shirt yada yada.. first, thank you.. yea, stayed home but was with the A-10 Flying tiger bunch and watched all the Wing come back and what the planes looked like.was not too bad on the A-10s but got tons of pics of some of the other stuff there and the sand and wind really did job on some equipment. the Brits Planes were really bad because of the "hurry up over paint pink on the regualr paint jobs" that they got bad real quick. As far as models go.. I got a ton of all the great new kits like everyone else and I build some of them and I love them,,But the old kits ( some of them) are appealing to me too and we have to "Correct" some of them too. Being retired now causes me to cut cost by a ton too and I do . But you have to remember, I started building when there were no Plastic anything that resembled a nice airplane, all I had was Balsa Kits. Now they are all great and there is still not one kit that does not need some help in my eyes because I seen everything all the services had . worked on the real deal and still a model is still only something that resembles something.. but we still like to try. thanks again.

  4. Great to see a Tornado here, and my favourite version too. Thanks for sharing!

  5. I would like to expound on what Walt was speaking of about the cost of doiing business of this hobby. I am on his side for sure. Yes, I do understand about the struggle of life, living, "getting by". most of us have, and done the same thing. We are living in an upside down part of our history now, ( no politics, but we are all high on the feeling). As for as Cost on the newer, more advanced, super kits now, most any scale but the Braille scale ( 1/32), has gone out of sight in a lot of cases. and Walt is right, I did spend extra $ on this kit but I got the kit cheap by todays standards, spent less that maybe $25.00 for some seats and a etched metal set, scratch made all the other stuff and it still cost less than what one new Academy Phantom with average cost of $60.00 and it still needs all the stuff I got for the Tornado.But then again, look at the price of gas for ours Cars. I would dare say, that for the most part, there is not one of us that like to do this Hobby, would just lay down a quit doing this for any reason(s). matter of fact, I still have some nice old Monogram kits waiting right next to the latest Hase kit, both need a lot of help. Life is a c**p shoot, then we die.

  6. Excellent work sir , very well executed. I've got one of these half built. I think it's an Italeri, it was one of the Testors Limited Edition kits. There was a closeout store near my home that had nearly all of the different kits under the testors brand and I bought em all! Could not resist as they were all around $12 each! I found that the fit and details on the IDS were kind of lacking so I lost interest, but now the interst has been renewed! I started mine with the German markings.

  7. Excellent work on a older kit which required a lot of extra work to bring to life. I would say that modelling is different for everyone, each to their own.

    I have a young family, work long hours and find I am fortunate to get 30 minutes a night for modelling, sometimes weeknds might get an hour if I am really lucky. I enjoy newer kits because they do not need tonnes of work and I can build more models because of this. I have no interest in 1/32 scale as these take more time as well. I like P47's as there a literally 1000's of schemes to do and I enjoy the history behind each plane and it's pilot. I am fortunate that Tamiya make a great kit of the P47. I am a member of a club and I can appreciate the work that is done to old kits to bring them up to scratch, I look in awe at the work some of my fellow club members knock out, spending 6 months on a single model. Given my owncircumstances, building 6 or so models a year is rewarding and enjoyable and keeps me in the hobby.

    Happy Modelling

    Darren

  8. This one is great! It is seldom seen built and a friend of mine have told me why in no uncertain words 🙂 ! No matter what you started from this is a great result.

    Regards

    Magnus

  9. Profile Photo
    said on March 1, 2013

    Amazing Tornado Wayne! Great finish with the temperate desert paintwork. I work near RAF Lossiemouth in north of Scotland and see these on a near daily basis. It looks like the real deal to me 🙂

  10. Love the work done on this kit. It is more organic i.e. dirty and down to earth than some of the kits that are being shown. Which really are some nicely done models but, are more representative of some nicely done models.
    This kit is a portrait of mud mover and fast jet.

    I agree with the comment; ".I am just a “Kit Builder”, but I do talk to “Scale Model builders” sometimes, builds my ego so much and let me add, the P-47 has ruled the day for a while on this site, by far. What ever we choose to call ourselves these days, some basically easy building to some extent has been just a “paste and Paint” thing with minimum effort of scratch building or “correcting” efforts and all the really nice new painting artist with some super paint gun work and/ or some folks who insist they can do as good with “KRYLON” " Very True.

    • Thanks Stephen, my atempt at some old humor may have put some demples but some of the major concerns over models not being Correct these days I guess I just never get it, must be an old people thingie..Hence the "just a kit builder attitude".. if you like it, build it or not. I guess I am like everyone else, got many projects going so, what ever falls out of the sack and I can alibi the short comings (which is what everyone does anyway) then it will hit picture table, put in case, start something else. But I do understand.. got ya covered..

  11. BTW, my compliments to the Editor and staff for the method for posting the article and pictures and a real cool way of putting the pictures where you or we, us, want them to be. I think I have finnnally figured it out for sure now but have to admit, I did print me an instruction sheet. Don't know how it works, don't care, but it does work like a champ.. the so-called "signature" model sites could take some instruction or get on a learning curve. Hats off and proper Hand Salute!

  12. Really nice Tornado. I've several Gulf War Tornados waiting to be built!

  13. thanks David, yea, I had a MK 3 started a few months back as well, and a friend of mine wanted one like it to build and could not find one so I gave that one to him. Got on a British go for a while as well on more stuff, got some of them finished and one of the hardest builds, but most rewarding was the Air Fix Buccaneer.. really tough but came out pretty good, may try to include that one in a week or two but dont want to over load folks with "Theme"things for now..welcome mats seem to wear out fast.

  14. WOW! What a great looking Tonka! A silk purse from a sows ear!

    • Thanks David, coming from a Base ops guy, you would know, when you get to see it all everyday and hear it all too, compliment is for more than just looking at made-up toy airplanes, Trains, automobiles and now just dirty work benches.

  15. I'm not a modern jet -fan BUT I must say this one is very nice.
    Stunning paintjob! Yep, very fine job!

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