**** DONE: 1/48 Tornado F3 - Home Country Modern Aircraft / Spitfire Mark GB

[Airframes]

Username: Airframes.
Name: Fingers Foxtrot
Category: Judge - non-competing.
Kit: Airfix Tornado F3.
Scale: 1/48th.
Accessories: A shed load of scratch-building, spare and home made decals.

* Advance apologies - I might not complete this build *

This will be an addition to my '56 Squadron History' line up, but there'll be a lot of work to get it looking right.
The Tornado F3, an improvement of the intermediate F2, is the Air Defence Variant of the original GR1 to GR4 strike aircraft, and was introduced to RAF Squadron service in the mid 1980s, and retired at the end of 2011.
Longer than the strike versions, and with a totally different avionics, radar and weapons fit, the F3 was, when introduced, a very advanced, variable geometry ('swing-wing') interceptor fighter, and replaced the Phantom and Lightning F6 in RAF service.
The kit used is the Airfix offering, as, at the time of purchase, the much better Italeri kit was no longer available. However, this was another cost saver, as I got it for £12, instead of the normal price of £25. Just as well really, as the higher price tag is, in my opinion, unjustified for such a basic, and in some areas, poor and inaccurate kit, which is basically a scaled-up version of the older 1/72nd scale kit.

Having been pre-warned by Vic, I am aware of the problem areas of the build, which, like the Airfix Buccaneer, are concerned mainly with the fuselage joint, as well as the rather poor cockpit fittings.
The cockpit will be virtually totally scratch-built, using the kit parts as a basis or, where needed, templates, and the photos below will give some idea of the amount of work required in order to achieve a reasonable result. Fortunately, I've already had experience of doing a similar thing on the old Revell 1/32nd scale F2, converted to the F3, and this will help considerably.
PIC 1. The kit box art - poor quality compared to 'traditional' Airfix, not that it matters that much.
PIC 2. The horizontally-split fuselage halves, made from two distinctly different types of plastic. The bottom half will require 'spacers' in order to align the joints.
PICS 3 and 4. The problem areas - aligning the joints.
PIC 5. The shape of the moulded-in front and rear cockpit instrument consoles are incorrect, and more in line with the GR versions.
PIC 6. The instrument panel (at right) and Nav/WSO panel (left) are plain, flat, and inaccurate. Both rely on decals for the detail. These parts will be used as the basis, heavily modified, for scratch-built panels.
PIC 7. The instrument decals provided - headed for the spares files!
PIC 8. Cockpit tub. Again plain, and in need of major attention.
PIC 9. The kit ejector seats - er... yeah, right ... more scratch-building.
PICS 10 to 12. This partly restored Tornado F3 cockpit gives some idea of what this area should look like!
So, apologies for the rather long initial post, and I hope to make a start on the butchery ...er... scratch-building work, in the next couple of days.

[Wurger]

The next nice choice Terry.

[Airframes]

Thank you my friend.
I've made a start, by preparing the cockpit area for correction and scratch-building.
PIC 1. The incorrect rear cockpit consoles have been removed, and that strange 'hump' over the pilot's HUD housing removed also. The rear aperture will be bridged with a 'shelf' of plastic card, and the new Multi Function Displays and ancillary instrument consoles built onto this, together with a bulkhead to separate the two cockpit positions.
The sighting head and reflector screen for the HUD will be made and added once the cockpit has been assembled. Airfix have made no attempt to replicate even the sight reflector glass, let alone any representation of its associated mounting frame - a poor show considering the original price of this very basic kit when in production.
PIC 2. The upper part of the Navigators panel has been removed, and will not be used, being styled on the GR variants, and totally inaccurate for the F3.
PIC 3. The duplicate throttle (power lever) quadrant in the rear cockpit has been removed, as it was only fitted to the F2 and early, trainer variants of the F3. The hole will be plated over, and all the various switch panels will be scratch-built and added to both side consoles. The front cockpit throttle quadrant has had slots cut into it, and the twin power levers will be made and added later.
Apart from spending around another 30 minutes removing huge sprue attachment burrs from the upper fuselage half, nothing more has been done at this stage, but at least I'm now almost ready to commence some scratch-building - more just as soon as there's something to show.

[Vic Balshaw]

Can't say I can fault your choice Terry after all it is a 56 Sqn machine but Oohhhh the nightmares this one gave me……………………..I'm now in the corner in the fetal position sucking my thumb!!

Serious though, good on you T it will be a dandy machine when done. I seem to recall I used a lot of PE for my cockpit.

[Airframes]

Thanks Vic. Now, was that PE4 ?!!!
Never have used much metal etch, and don't really like the stuff, especially now with my knackered hands. I'll be using mainly plastic (old habits die hard), wire, foil, paper etc, and possibly a small amount of scrap PE.

[Crimea_River]

Great to see you join in Terry and very much loooking forward to seeing more of your magic.

[Florence]

Nice one. Certain to be another classic build.

[T Bolt]

Always enjoy watching you doing major scratch building Terry. Looking forward to it!

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps. Just planning what's needed, where, and in what order, before tackling the instrument panels and consoles. Might have something to show later.

[meatloaf109]

Ah, scratch, scratch, scratch.
I love that sound.
Cool bird, sir!

[Airframes]

Cheers mate!
I've made a start on the modifications and scratch-building, and, so far, things seem to be working to plan - always a worrying state of affairs!
PIC 1. A simple plastic card 'bridge' has been cemented across the cockpit mid-section, which will form the 'shelf' onto which the navigator's MFD consoles will be built. These will be made and fitted once the cockpit tub, and lower instrument panel, are in place. I'm fortunate to have some good reference material, kindly provided by BAe, Warton, when I used to visit their Flight Analysis and Photo departments in my previous career, when Tornados were still being built or up-graded. This will help enormously in altering the kits' incorrect GR series fittings to the ADV type.
PIC 2. The pilot's instrument panel under construction, with the main flight instrument bezels on the left, the correct rectangular display screen in the centre, and the HUD base unit above. These are still in their 'raw' state, and will be tidied and further detail added once all the parts have fully set.
The sub-panel on the right hand side will utilise some of the kit's decals, which, being very small, will suffice. The larger hole near the bottom of the centre console is where the control column attaches.
PICS 3 and 4. What I'm aiming for. The B&W pic shows a F2 panel, which is similar to the F3, apart from minor details, but distinct from the GR1/4, which had the circular moving map/radar screen in the central panel. The switch panels on the side consoles will also be replicated by scratch-built items.
That's about it for now, but I hope to get some more done tomorrow. Thanks for your interest and votes of confidence!

[Crimea_River]

[woody]

Looking forward to your build Terry.

[Airframes]

Thanks guys! More tomorrow - off to bed now, as I'm b*ll*xed !!

[Wayne Little]

Sweet Terry!