Tornado F6

[Tophe]

I didn't know the code F4 for the Tornado. I came hoping it would be a F3Z zwilling, and... no I am not disappointed, each individual has his preference, this is normal, and longer wings/fuselage is interesting too, all right

[PR19_Kit]

It's an F3 with extra bits added. 

Or it may be an F5 after Dizzy's comment.

[Hobbes]

I suppose you could change the  exhaust pipes to a pair of Speys

The Spey has a 40% larger diameter and wouldn't fit in the Tornado fuselage. The RB199 is tiny.

[PR19_Kit]

I suppose you could change the  exhaust pipes to a pair of Speys

The Spey has a 40% larger diameter and wouldn't fit in the Tornado fuselage. The RB199 is tiny.

Yes, that would be a major problem, and with 16000 lb each in burner the F3 or the F5 didn't need the extra thrust really.

Note the Mark No. has been changed to an F5, thanks to Dizzy's observation.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm seriously impressed with the engineering of the Italeri kit, it goes together superbly and the wing sweep mechanism is a thing of beauty and simplicity. No complex gear teeth, just a single pivoted strut leading from the TE of one wing to the LE of the other, and it has swivelling pylons for the Hindenberger tanks too. OK, so they don't swivel automatically with the wing sweep but you can adjust them to suit.

I've got all the internals installed in the nose, and the wings are assembled, but not yet lengthened  and I'm deciding how much of the fuselage to glue together before I saw it into three sections before installing the extensions.

Pics later on with luck.

[Spey_Phantom]

looks promising, spey engines are indeed too big for the tonka, i would recommend the Eurojet EJ200 or General Electric F414

[PR19_Kit]

During the time the F5 was in production the EJ200 was still in the early stages of development, and the EAP still used RB-199s and that pre-dated the F5s by only a short while. 

Because of the need to have the wings and tail installed before the fuselage halves are joined, and I can't cut the fuselage until it IS glued up, I had to do the wing mods early on.

Thus here you can see the port surfaces extended a little, and the starboard ones as the F2 was. All the cockpit stuff is also in position now too.



The surfaces are only placed in position so far, and the fuselage halves are still un-glued. That's next........

[Mossie]

I like this Kit, Tornadoes are under-whiffed.

My Tornado whif idea would be to take an F3, fit a GR1/GR4 radome, fin and stores and call it a GR5.

A few people have considered that as a viable whiff, myself included after subtle prodding, but it's one that no one's yet done.  I've lost interest in RAF parafin burners for now.

I did some USAF Tornado profiles based on an IDS nose on an ADV airframe: The idea was to inspire myself into building it, that was 11 years ago....
http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,18043.msg488151.html#msg488151

[Weaver]

Wasn't there a real-life proposal for a USAF Tornado that was basically an F.3 fuselage with a GR.1-style nose?

The size of the IDS (GR.1) was a compromise because the Germans and Italians wanted a single-seat, shortish-range 'Super-Starfighter' while the RAF wanted a 'mini-TSR.2'. Eventually, the Germans and Italians were persuaded on the merits of two seats, while the quid-pro-quo was that the RAF settled for a common small airframe with a bit of extra fuel in the fin on their version only.

The ADV (F.3) could be stretched for RAF needs because the only bits that needed changing were bits that were made in the UK anyway, so it could proceed as a national program without interfering with the IDS. The driving issue was fitting 4 x Skyflash under the fuselage: the extra fuel and lower drag were just very, very nice gravy.

Off-topic: because fin tank is optional and only the RAF's Tonkas have them, there's no fuel gauge for the tank, just a pair of indicator lights marked FIN FULL and FIN EMPTY. 'FIN FULL' has apparently become RAF slang for 'having had too much to drink', i.e. the shorthand for "Jim's dancing on the tables and molesting the waitresses" is "Jim's at FIN FULL"....

[Devilfish]

'FIN FULL' has apparently become RAF slang for 'having had too much to drink', i.e. the shorthand for "Jim's dancing on the tables and molesting the waitresses" is "Jim's at FIN FULL"....

Maybe in the Tornado world, but I never heard that in 22 years of service.

[Dizzyfugu]

That's a subtle conversion!

[PR19_Kit]

That's a subtle conversion!

I haven't finished the engineering yet, but it will still be subtle-ish. 

I've heard the 'Fin Full' phrase before, when the RAF's Best Air Traffic Controller was up at Lossie, but it was wall to wall Tornados up there then.

[PR19_Kit]

After part gluing the fuselage halves together, I didn't glue where the wings and tailplane went, it was 'bite the bullet' time this morning and I sawed it into three parts. 

The jetpipe cut was relatively easy as there's a panel line to follow all the way round, but the cut just aft of the cockpit was a real pain, and I didn't do too good a job of it, but there's nothing that the essential PSR won't cover up later.



Matching the C Scale resin bits went better than I'd hoped, they look as if they'll fit pretty well. Just the forward extension may need some styrene sheet added to the underside, the Italeri kit is a little deeper than the old Airfix GR 1 kit which the extension is intended for.



So it's out with the superglue to glue it all back together again later, the wings and tail are already in position and the centre fuselage halves glued around them.

I had one small disaster when sanding off the new wingtips, one of the movable pylons snapped off and there's no way to dismantle the wings to get it back in place again now. I think I'll re-drill the wing hole and fit a metal pivot to the pylon, making sure it's a tight fit so I can just plug it in.

[NARSES2]

i.e. the shorthand for "Jim's dancing on the tables and molesting the waitresses" is "Jim's at FIN FULL"....

You've seen Jim at Telford then ? 

[JayBee]

I deny this most emphatically, I have NEVER danced on a table. Damned silly idea if you ask me.