Rob's Tonka Twins

[rob_van_riel]

Time to start the second wave. Don't know if I'll be able to finish any of them, but I can try...

First up, a pair of Revell Tornado GR1, one of which will be turned into a GR4 along the way.






I may have to revise my opinion in the coming weeks, but judging by the contents of the box, Revell have produced the best Tornado to date. It is certainly better than the Hasegawa; where the Hasegawa would definately benefit from some update stuff (the Flightpath set comes to mind), the Revell seems capable of that level of detail out of the box. Looks like these will be really hard to beat, and I've got two of them

The GR4 will be the one with the commemorative tail art mentioned often enough by now.
The GR1 will be based on this picture:

[rob_van_riel]

Revell have tried to be too clever with the wings. They've built a very elegant mechanism to let the pylons swivel with the wing sweep, in fact the best I've seen so far.



However, this mechanism requires the pylons to be at straight angles to the wings. The wings themselves droop by about 5 degrees (both on the kit and in real life), and keeping the pylons at straight angles to them points them very clearly inwards. Not only does it look ridiculous, it is also incorrect; all images I can find show the pylons perfectly vertical, and at a slight angle to the wings. Nice try guys, but I'll be chopping the pivots off and fixing both wings and pylons in the wings forward position.

[rob_van_riel]

Quite a bit of non-photogenetic work has been done on the first of the twins.
The ejection seats that came with the kit are quite passable, but I've got quite a bit of resin and metal seats lying around, so one will get Flightpath metal seats, and the other Airwaves resin. For comparison:
.

[ShaunW]

I think this kit is generally regarded by Tonka enthusiasts as being the best in the scale Rob. I built the kit as as a GR1 OOB a few years ago. I'm not a big fan of "working" features at all and glued the wings permanently forward, pylons and all. Those replacement seats are certainly worth using.

[rob_van_riel]

Spent today and part of Friday making what seems like a million subassemblies.

Fit on the Hindenburg tanks was lousy, and some parts of the air intakes were drowning in flash, but other than that, the kit largely builds itself.
The rear fuselages are not glued up yet; I've yet to make up my mind what to do with the gaps that will be left with the wings in the forward position, and will need to look at some pictures of the real thing first.
The interior is ready for painting, which should see a lot of work tomorrow.

[ShaunW]

Looks like a fair bit of work Rob! I used Tamiya tape to make up some curtains (for want of a better word) for the wing gaps after looking at pics of the full-size.

[rob_van_riel]

The large amounts of paintwork I'd predicted didn't happen, as I got distracted by other work, mostly on the first Tornado and the Mustang. I did manage to get the cockpit tubs painted grey. After that, I had to choose between using the decals supplid by the kit, and painting the interior by hand. I decided to do one of each, just to see the results.





To be honest, I'n not satisfied with either. The decals mostly look good, but I'll never be able to produce an exact match to the background grey of the panels, which will therefore always look silly. The hand painted one, on the other hand, fails to produce passable side panels in the rear cockpit, and the MFDs just look a lot better on decal. This calls for a third option, which also represents an even bigger distraction that the other two kits..

I was already wondering what to do about the decal sheet I was preparing for print. The commemorative tail took up about 1/3 of the total sheet, and a few odds and sods (including the invasion stripes for the Mustang fuselage) would take up enough to bring that to half, but that still left an awful lot of wasted decal space. I decided to strip the side panel and MFD decals from the kit of their background colour, and add those to the print job. Also, I was going to need markings for those Hindenburg tanks that came with the Flightpath set, so those were added too. This made for a respectable level of fill. It did end up costing me almost two days of work though

I intend to strip all the decals out of the decalled cockpit, and erase the paint work on the side panels of the other, to be replaced by these new decals.

[ShaunW]

I don't think those side panels are too visible, especially if the canopy is closed. Decals for side panels and IPs are variable in quality and as you point out it can be difficult to match the colours. PE panels, carefully dry brushed, are my favourite.

[Jagewa]

Looking great Rob, a nice filled decal sheet too.

Cheers
Jim

[rob_van_riel]

I've finished most work on the cockpit interiors. The side panels on both were replaced with newly printed decals with only the instruments on them. The painted one also had the drybrushed MFDs replaced first by the black-only decals (nice, but not good enough) and then by the kit decals. Results shown (painted on top, decals below). I prefer the mixture of paint and decals over the all-decal cockpit, so this tub has been selected for the commemorative plane.




With the cockpits now far enough done, I could seal the forward fuselages, and join them with the rear ones.



It turns out fit between the rear fuselages and just about anything else isn't all that great, and will need some filler and sandpaper work. Nothing really problematic, but at this stage of the game, too much. Anything not ready for the paintshop at this time has no chance of finishing in time, and that now includes the twins.

As far as this GB is concerned, they're doomed to failure. I'll keep working on them of course, and transfer the build work over to Aviation on Sunday.

[ShaunW]

This pair are coming together nicely Rob. I would agree with your assessment regarding the time left and the chances of finishing them - I know for a fact that I would have no chance!

[rob_van_riel]

This pair are coming together nicely Rob. I would agree with your assessment regarding the time left and the chances of finishing them - I know for a fact that I would have no chance!

Thanks. It simple calculus, really. I have four evenings and one day left to work on this, and primer, two main colours, varnish and decals amount to five days (drying times, and such); game over for GB context.

[Martin R]

Rob,

I have never made a Tonka (far too modern!) but I have read a number of build articles that have described replicating the wing seal that is obvious where the wing trailing edge enters the wing glove, when the wings are swept forward. How does the Revell kit deal with this issue and, if it doesn't, are you planning to deal with it?

A bit of a smart-a*s question, perhaps, but the reason is that your description of the kit and the build itself are making me want to have a go!

PS £9.99 on flea-bay!

regards,

Martin

[rob_van_riel]

described replicating the wing seal that is obvious where the wing trailing edge enters the wing glove, when the wings are swept forward. How does the Revell kit deal with this issue and, if it doesn't, are you planning to deal with it?

Like just about everyone else, Revell just leaves a gap, albeit with much nicer detail around the edges.
I've fitted the wings in a fixed position, and made blanking plates behind the gaps. That left a "box" into which I stuffed milliput, which I wrinkeled up a bit with a toothpick. I hope that will turn out looking good, but I'll know (and post pics) once the primer goes on.

[Martin R]

described replicating the wing seal that is obvious where the wing trailing edge enters the wing glove, when the wings are swept forward. How does the Revell kit deal with this issue and, if it doesn't, are you planning to deal with it?

Like just about everyone else, Revell just leaves a gap, albeit with much nicer detail around the edges.
I've fitted the wings in a fixed position, and made blanking plates behind the gaps. That left a "box" into which I stuffed milliput, which I wrinkeled up a bit with a toothpick. I hope that will turn out looking good, but I'll know (and post pics) once the primer goes on.

Rob,

Thanks for that.

Sounds like a sensible and do-able (for me) solution. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

regards,

Martin