SPA Modeler

Green going on...

Wowser, zowie!

Looks excellent

Nice!!

The wraparound camo looks really good Stuart. Which brand of paints did you use?

I really like that camo scheme. I need to step up my modern UK fighters. I get a bit confused on the Tornado variants e.g. versions vs roles. GRx vs IDS/ADV/ECR

The user air forces use those suffixes to denote roles. GR is for Ground attack Reconnaissance. IDS(Inter
diction Strike) roughly the save variant used by the Germans. ADV is the Brit Air Defense Variant, and ECR the German Electronic Combat Reconnaissance , the SEAD role.

The Brits have been using the letter suffixes since at least the immediate post war era to denote aircraft variant roles: FRS, GR, FG, B, etc.

Here is a great site on Cold War RAF aircraft

https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/index.php

Thanks Gents! This is only the first coat - I'm working on the second now.

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:38 am The wraparound camo looks really good Stuart. Which brand of paints did you use?

Thanks Carlos. I'm using a Hataka blue line RAF paint set for this build.

keavdog wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:54 am I really like that camo scheme. I need to step up my modern UK fighters. I get a bit confused on the Tornado variants e.g. versions vs roles. GRx vs IDS/ADV/ECR

Thanks John.

As Stik said, The IDS and ECR are the German and Italian strike and SEAD variants (I'm not sure the Italians had the ECR).

The RAF referred to their strike variants as the GR.1 and the later GR.4. These aircraft differed from the other German and Italian airframes by having different sensors and avionics (the under nose pods etc.) and a wet fin to increase range. You also had the GR.1B which was the Maritime Strike model and the GR.1A and GR.4A, which were equipped with extra cameras/sensors for recon and thusly only had one gun rather than the original two (as did the GR.4).

The Saudi's also purchased the British GR.1 version.

The ADV (Air Defence Variant) Tornado was solely a British endeavour. Called the F.2 and later F.3 by the RAF, it had a longer Radome to house the air to air radar, a longer fuselage to allow for the fitment of four Sparrows/Skyflash (which also gave it more fuel), Wings that could sweep back further, re-tuned engines and an internal/retractable air refuelling probe.

Again, the Saudi's bought a few and the Italians basically rented some ex-RAF airframes as a stop gap before the Typhoon entered service.

Hope that helps

Oh yeah, build more British, as British jets are cool!

Stuart wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 5:21 pm Oh yeah, build more British, as British jets are cool!

Definitely! I watched Thunderball over the weekend and really loved the Vulcan scenes. Too bad there is no 1/48 Vulcan because that would be a must have. Not to mention that RAF recruiting video you posted a couple of weeks ago Stuart…

Carlos, I think a 1/72 Vulcan is quite big enough, that's a lot of wing. In 1/48 it would be a useful shade for your patio.