revell panavia tornado 1/32

Panavia Tornado F2 (Air defence)
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Tornado model in 1/32 scale made by Meindert de Vreeze

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Way back in 1987, Revell issued this first kit of the Panavia Tornado F.2 ADV in 1/32 scale.

This kit Revell no. 4766 for an Air Defense Variant (ADV) F2 was not very good, undersized and lacked many details. At this time however, it was the only kit in 1/32 available, so a large conversion project was started in the year 1988.

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(this page is a reconstruction made in year 2000; in 1988 no digital camera's yet!!!). So only few photos are seen here.

What is in the box?

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Although at first glance the parts look OK, the dimensions are totally wrong. So avoid the older kit if possible by using the newer Revell one as

Later on, in 1997, Revell issued the 1/32 Tornado with a completely new mould of superb accuracy and detail. Well... my built model was at that time more than 10 years in my collection, so... and still nowadays as it is not bad. Also, no F2 ADV kit version is still available.

(Apologies as the next pictures are not so good.. there are of the pre-digital camera age...)

The corrected kit has hundreds of extra parts re-made , but the result was worth it. At that time, no resin detail sets were available as the kit was, if not corrected, not really good.

Check out a 1/32 Scale Conversion of the Tornado ADV F3
using the newer Revell kit....
Look here.....

How as it done?
First, the old kit of Revell lacked enough width of the entire fuselage, so I had to cut the entire fuselage through and correct it with card of 6 mm width.
I also added the intake tunnels which can be seen with many card parts glued into the fuselage.
nose

.... tapered insert at nose
low

Also, intake air ducts were made from thin card.

intake ducts

The wings were not bad, but I wanted to have all slats and flaps "out". These were scratchbuild with putty, card and cut-out wingparts. A major task!

The slats inner wing section was made out of a 1/72 Airfix B-29 wing.
wing

The wider nose section required a whole new approach with new cockpit interior, new canopy (made with a balsa plug and clear acetate sheet) and corrected fuselage contours. The instrument panels, seats and details were made from card and sprue.

The tail fin of the old kit had insufficient height, so I added a 6 mm section with card.

The missile stations needed re-working, with on the missiles themselves the fins being replaced and pipes drilled out.

parts
A general view of the corrected parts.
Note the 6 mm wider and 3 mm heigher main aft fuselage section..... quite a bit...
exhast

The engines with tail pipes needed a whole new aft section to be made with the pipes diameter increased 6 mm made with rounded cart, and sprue for the trust reversers details.
exhaust

The entire undercarriage and its bays needed to be made from scratch, leaving only some kit parts usable. I used rubber tires that came from another kit.

Going this far, adding more details was worthwhile with new made refuelling probe, avionics bays and radar disk details.

The adding of the stores and the kit's fuel tanks completed parts to be used.

On to Tornado [ page 2....]

Back to 1/32 Models.......

References:

Books:
- RAF Tornado, Paul Jackson, Ian Allan publications, Aircraft illustrated special, 1987
- Tornado, AeroGuide
- Air international, magazine, Volumes 17/4, 27/3, 29/4 , 34/1, 52/4, 73/6 (December 2007), AI supplement 2005
- World Air Power journal, Volumes 31, 32
- Tornado, Doug Richardson, Aviation fact file, Salamander books, 1986
- Tornado, Fluzeuge, profile volume 6,
- Tornado, Ian Black, Airlife, 1990
- Scale aircraft modelling, August 2003, April 2004, March 2004
- Aerei, “Tutto Aerei collezione, No. 55, Gennaio 2006 (Italia)

Internet websites:
Royal Air Force web: http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tornadof3.cfm
Tornado site: http://www.tornado-data.com/

YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI-U3-9UO0w

Walk around of my modelling friend Cees Hendriks:

IPMS NL Tornado walk around

Created December 7, 2000.