Cheetah11

Hi Dave The Magics in the Italeri kit is the right overall length, The front pair of fins are 5mm too far to the rear, giving the odd look to these missiles. Nick

The nose gear and doors of the F3 is quite different from the srtike version. This is to accommodate the recesses for the missiles. I modified the front gear doors by sanding them to shape. The rear door on the GR1 is tapered but not on the F3. To preserve some detail I cut a V-section from it and re-glued it together with a thin plastic card backing. The nose gear was modified from the kit parts by removing the rear torque-link and making a new one in the front, using the photo as reference. A piece of plastic card was glued in the bay to facilitate the fitting later on. Completed and painted. Comments welcome Nick

Hi Eric I was wondering what happened to your build. The lack of photo references also kept this build stalled for a long time. Eventually I decided to go with what I had or bin the project, so a bit of artistic licence was called for in some cases. I think the main problem was that a number of updates were done to the F3 during its life especially the cockpit. I found many photos during the latter part of it's life but few of the Gulf War era and fewer still of the aircraft during the Gulf War. A time before cameras on cell phones. The photos in Ian Black's book is mostly airborne shots, so not as usable for modeling as one would like. I am sure you will go into a lot more detail during your build, so let me know if you need some reference. A modelling friend of mine visited 11 Sqn around 1999 and was fortunate enough to be allowed to take some photos of things like the gear bays and cockpit which I can let you have. Nick

Hi Everyone Here is the subject. A Gulf War Tornado F3. This project has been lingering on the shelf of doom since 2003 and I decided it is time to finish it. I had an extra Revell 1/32 Tornado (long story) and after reading Desert Fist by Ian Black, I decided a Tornado F3 would look good in 1/32. Ian was a F3 pilot in the first gulf war and the majority of the photos in the book was F3 photos. This looked like an easy conversion at the time , but as each stage progressed, the problems to solve became a little more difficult. I used photos from the book to measure the plugs to be inserted and then proceeded to cut and paste the model. When I later got the proper measurements from another publication, I had to revise the plugs slightly. I also lend the book to someone, and then could not remember whom it was. Eventually about a year ago I decided it is now time to finish the beast. The idea was to do all the changes applicable to the F3 and keep the detail of the rest of the kit OOB. These are the basic changes to the kit. The nose was cut from a plastic card block turned in a power drill . Here it is primed and next to the GR1 nose. More to follow soon. Nick

Hi Danny You might also consider the Avionix cockpit. I used it on mine and the fit was great. Maybe someone on the forum can comment on the fit of the Aires pit. Nick

Wikepedia gives the span as 13.06 meters. In 1/32 scales to 408 mm. I would not worry. Nick

Nice to see these additional markings for the big Mirage. A pity the SAAF roundels are all the same size. The Mirage III variants in the SAAF had 30 inch wing roundels. At least their shape is much better than the kit ones. Maybe an addendum addition with only four 30 inch SAAF roundels ? Nick

If you can get the Tamiya F-16 ones. Their shape is spot on and you get both types of fins.

Sorry Sean, I must have jinxed your standby with my post. Nick

The dark color almost looks like RLM70. Could just be the photo but looks the same as the spinner and blades.

Nice work Max Nick

You are perfectly correct. The trouble for us as modelers is the fact that the use of older colors were permitted till stocks were depleted and mixes of old and new were also permitted when the older color combinations did not run out at the same time. With the dispersion of manufacturing it must have been difficult to keep to a standard. Our other problem is that no one was interested in this immediately after the war, so very few examples were actually documented. Nick

Hi Radu Since there was no official RLM number and the shades on surviving relics vary, I suspect RLM83 was a mix. RLM70 and RLM71 would have bee the most obvious since old stocks were most likely available as the new colors were depleted or not available. In November 1944 more than 4000 fighters were produced in Germany, so supply lines would have most likely be under pressure and old stocks and other available paint would be used where available. This was also authorized in RLM documents. The general rule was one light color and one darker color but a few anomalies exist such as the Me 163 in Australia and the tailfin of the Bf 109K on display in Germany. Just an interesting piece of information for those who do not have Michael Ulmann's book as to why the RLM changed to new colors. The process is first mentioned in official documents in August 43 and detailed instructions in Aug 44. The reason was the shortage of Chrome in the war effort. RLM 65,70,71 and 74 used Chromium Oxide and was to be replaced with colors using less strategic material. The first mention of the new colors by the Allies was a crash report of a crashed FW 190D during Bodenplatte when the light green was mentioned. Nick

Hi Everyone This subject is the proverbial minefield but I have a few observations on this fascinating subject. The color we refer to as RLM 83 did exist, even if no official RLM number or sanction was given to it as it was reported on various aircraft. Probably the best recorded color matches of late RLM colors were done by Mr Ron Belling in 1955 on the Me 262 night fighter in South Africa and the color on the nacelles and undercarridge legs were the same as the Monogram color chips of RLM83(called RLM82 in the Monogram publication.) RLM81 was also present on the mottle and clearly not the same as the green RLM83. On the Ta152 the Allied reports at the end of hostilities speak of two greens. I doubt that an Allied intelligence officer would call RLM81 green without color charts and specifications, which would not be present during an on site evaluation. When I get home on Monday I will use Model Master paint to mix 50/50 of RLM70 and RLM71 and compare it with their RLM83. Looking at these colors I am sure it will be close and an interesting comparison. Nick

Two years late, no sprue shots, no proposed decals, only cad drawings and a box art painting. I get the feeling they release cad drawings to test the water and then decide it is not wort it from the reaction to the proposed release. I hope I am wrong, but this seems all too familiar. Nick