Italeri BAe Tornado GR.4 DC Build 1:32

The thrust reverser buckets, with the PE cut back or removed, were now fitted. You cannot see under the buckets and I can confirm that removing the PE is not an issue. With this done the model was at that stage where some weathering could be done but this was to be kept subtle as reference photos showed the real subject to be quite clean. For the weathering I used AMMO Streaking Brushes to ‘grubby’ up the area around were the crew would access the aircraft and along the upper fuselage and wings were the ground crew would walk whilst servicing it.

The weapons were the next stage of the build

What you get in the kit is quite limited for the GR4 build (there is quite a few more options but none of it is applicable to the GR4 option) so I had a look at my options. The wing stores options are quite standard with the outer pylons a having either a BOZ pod and Skyshadow ECM pod combination or two BOZ pods. If you are doing an operational GR4 you will have to source two TERMA pods but you can find these on the internet.

For the fuel tanks this kit only has the 2250ltr Hindenburg tanks which although used extensively on Operations were not that commonly used in the UK with the preference being for the standard 1500ltr tanks. At the time of the build I couldn’t source any 1500ltr tanks so I had to use the kit Hindenburgs.

For the under-fuselage stores the kit has 4 LGBs and although correct they are usually used in conjunction with a LITENING pod on the front port station which isn’t included. I originally thought of using some aftermarket STORM SHADOWS that I had purchased but these needed a lot of work to finish off so it was back to the LITENING pod and LGB combination. eduard Brassin make a LITENING pod but its configuration is wrong for the Tornado with the intake and access panel being on the wrong side. To get around this I removed the front and rear sections and reoriented the sections to get the intake and access door on the correct side – the door is still wrong as it is located too far back but it’s close enough for me.

The kit undercarriage legs are quite nice from the box with the brake lines moulded onto the main legs. These all fit quite nicely into place, even the front strut which I had altered so it could be fitted at this point.

The main undercarriage doors if fitted as shown in the kit have a droop to them due to the length of the actuator arms. This is actually correct if the aircraft has been powered down for some time and hydraulic pressure has been lost as in the first picture below. I didn’t like this look (call it my OCD !!) so I altered the arms so that the doors sat at the powered-up angle as in the photos.

Read on…