Revell's 1/48 scale
Tornado GR.1

by John Trueblood

January was the 30th anniversary of Desert Storm and accordingly I have finished a 1/48 Revell Panavia Tornado.

I did a minor conversion from the IDS version to a “Gulf Babe Gr1”. Most of the parts needed for a Gr1 are on the sprues labeled do not use .

I used the Eduard interior and exterior sets along with Brassin for the weapons and the ECM pods.

The drop tanks nicknamed “Hindenburgers or Big Jugs” are from the kit. I modeled “H for Helen” as she appeared on the final day of the war. The mission  scoreboard near her portrait is complete.

The highly detailed Revell kit allows the modeler to swing the wings, deploy the slats, flaps, spoilers, speed brakes and raise the canopy but period photos show the RAF Tornados tightly closed up in a futile effort to keep sand out of the mechanisms.

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Thumbnail panels:

“H for Helen” is painted with the temporary camouflage paint “British Desert Pink” which by the end of Desert Storm is badly stained and worn away especially on the airframe leading edges. I used Mission Models for the pink paint and Print Scale for the decals. 

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2021 by John Trueblood
Page Created 12 March, 2021
Last Updated 12 March, 2021

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