Joe's 1/72 Hasegawa Panavia Tornado GR.1

[flyjoe180]

The second Tornado I'll build for this GB. Again just a box top shot for this one, sprue shots etc to come later. The decals are off-white and old so the DERA scheme is out. I conveniently have to hand Airdecal sheet 7225 and would like to complete this as ZA541 in No.617 Squadron markings as seen in 1982.
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[papa 695]

All these Tonkas coming out I'm getting excited already.

[Dave W]

Nice choice Joe. I intend doing my 1/32 in this RAF wrap around camo.I remember when the Tornado was under developement it was called the MRCA . Multi Role Combat Aircraft. Or as the RAF called it at the time 'More Refurbished Canberras Again'.

[Guest]

Really will be a great GB guys....
Nice one Joe

[rickoshea52]

The 17sqn markings are quite eye catching though, eh?

I will probably do a 617 jet - it's an act of penance in a way. Our fast junk flying neighbours at Lossiemouth unwisely left their mother beautiful lightning bolt flag fluttering in the, not so gentle, breeze that blasts the Moray Firth coast over the weekend. Perhaps they forgot or just assumed that because those other Tonka driving rascals from the other side of the runway don't work at weekends their pride and joy would be safe from being snaffled - wrong!
One of those naughty riggers (and an easily led (aren't they all) sooty) from the tireless and dutiful squadron of Mallard adorned yellow whirly birds across the road from the HAS site rescued it from breezy oblivion and secured it in the warmth of our bosom (the Sqn tea bar) on one Sunday afternoon.
617 Sqn were lucky, on a previous detachment to Lossiemouth the crew of the Puma I was with seriously wanted to steal the upkeep mine (bouncing bomb), that acted as their HAS site gate guardian. After the loadmaster crunched some numbers on the back of a butty box lid he concluded that it was probably too heavy to fly it back to Northern Ireland as an underslung load. Given that the IRA had recently called a ceasefire the vision of the RAF flying a bouncing bomb over Ulster dangling from a helicopter was also a discouragement....and the fact that we didn't have a sling anyway.

Oh, how we laughed.

[flyjoe180]

The 17sqn markings are quite eye catching though, eh?

Didn't think they were that flash to be honest Rick, some sort of affiliation there for you?

I'm doing 617 because it'll sit beside my Dams Raid Lancaster later.

Great tale by the way, love those sorts of stories.

[flyjoe180]

My box (same as representative shot at start of the build thread but beaten up a little):
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Inside you get a Hasegawa Tornado IDS/GR Mk.1 instruction sheet, with all the paints and markings referred to being that of the wrap-around Tornado and not the DERA version.
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The kit has a separate sheet for the DERA scheme. Here also are the kit decals (yellower than they appear in the photo)
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As mentioned previously, I'm replacing the kit markings (cockpit and stencils can be ustilised) with Airdecal sheet 7225, specifically the wrap around No.617 SQN version
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[flyjoe180]

Sprues are in the box un-bagged, except the clear parts which are in an opened bag. The canopy looks quite nice, and has the ejection explosive chord molded in

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[flyjoe180]

Off topic briefly; I scored this:
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Rick, I'll get a 17 SQN ride done at a later date

Onwards to the Hasegawa Tornado GR1.

Not much to report so far. The start was pretty much getting the interior ready for gull grey spray at the same time as the Italian IDS. I will say however from a kit perspective, the Hasegawa has much, much finer detail and looks to be a good fit. Hasegawa split the forward fuselage vertically and the main fuselage horizontally.

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The ejection seat outer parts have been sprayed. The instrument panels are dry fitted in the picture above, for convenience of spraying. Hasegawa kindly provided nice looking decals for the instruments and screens. The detail on the panels is raised, so we'll see how that works out, otherwise it'll be a hairy brush bonanza.

[papa 695]

Nice start Joe

[flyjoe180]

No pics again but to update the build progress, the cockpit tub is assembled, the instrument panel decals applied, and now painting/detailing the seats. Unlike the Italeri offering this Hasegawa is very refined and nice to build. Will update pics when opportunity allows.

[flyjoe180]

I have assembled some intake components and finally finished the cockpit. I will give it a flat coat and then assemble the front fuselage.

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[papa 695]

A nice looking pit Joe

[flyjoe180]

Thanks Ian. It looks better in reality. Now having issues getting the front cockpit fuselage halves to mate with the cockpit inserted. Seems this is a common issue for the Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado...

[flyjoe180]

The cockpit saga continued:

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This is the big pitfall of this kit. If you line up the tub and fix it in place on one side first, remove the guides on the other side, you get a reasonable, but not perfect, fit. Filler will be required, but care will be needed to ensure the nose section mates with the rear fuselage without too much of a step.