The Little World

And you never look a gift Tornado in the mouth. For that matter it’s not wise to peer into goddesses mouths, either…

The occasion for this Italeri Tornado was a job of shooting a belly dance show. The entertainment was worth any expense but the addition of a free plastic kit – the choice of the dancer – made it wonderful. I have decided to name the aircraft after her when it is done.

As with most Italeri kits, it has gone through many variations – new boxing and new decals to attract new buyers. The Tornado enthusiasts of the specialist web sites and modelling groups may be able to find a myriad of errors in it. I don’t care. I shall do faithfully whatever italeri commands and be delighted with the result.

The two grey sprues are flash and sink-free as far as I can tell – the clear one looks perfect. The decals seem well-drawn and the scheme is easy enough to do.

I did spend some time researching what the paint makers think is the correct colour, but in the end I have had to get as near as dammit to the shade and will modify it for the final spray. Not all colours are in my local shop – the times being what they are. I am not discouraged.

I note that the model has provision for swinging the wings – actuated by a linking rod within the structure. I’ll look more closely at this when we get there to see if I imagine it will endure – if not I’ll set the wigs to take-off position and load out the ordnance accordingly. The instructions have two pages of ordnance options – a welcome thing for those of us with little real flight line experience.