Dragon

1/144 Panavia Tornado ECR 1/JBG 32 (321 Squadron) "Lechfeld Tigers"

Kit Number: 4594

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $8.95 Visit the Dragon website at www.dragon-models.com. Thanks to Dragon Models USA for providing the review kit. The Aircraft The Tornado has been in service with the RAF, the Luftwaffe, the AMI (Italian Air Force) and the Royal Saudi Air Force, with the first aircraft delivered in 1979. Compare this to the F-16, which was first delivered in 1978. The Italians leased their Tornadoes, and returned them in 2004. Since deliveries of the Eurofighter Typhoon are beginning, the end of the Tornado's career is in sight, just like the F-14, 15, and 16, but they've still got a number of years left. The version of the aircraft covered by this kit is the ECR, Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance version. The Luftwaffe has 35 Tornado ECRs of the total Tornado force of about 250. The ECR carries the HARM missile, which homes in on radar signals. This goes back to an old Electronic Warfare maxim, "The best ECM is to bomb the radar station." Because 321 Squadron is called the "Lechfeld Tigers", they're invited to the annual NATO "Tiger Meet". Most units which attend paint one or two aircraft in some "tiger" scheme. Here's the one from 2001. This aircraft (46+44) is included in the kit, but with standard ECR markings, not the gaudy Tiger Meet paint job. Instead the Tiger Meet markings are from 1996. The aircraft (46+45) attended the Tiger Meet at Beja Portugal, but with operational requirements for Bosnia, the markings were toned down. Since I was TDY to 5 ATAF in 1996, I find that I actually worked with these guys. For more 1/JBG32 schemes, go to (www.321tigers.de) click on TigerJets on the left menu, and click on the picture with the 3 Tiger Meet Tornados. The Kit Since this kit contains 2 aircraft, you get two of everything. All the parts are nicely molded, flash free, no sink marks, and recessed panel lines. A true state of the art kit. There are even pilot/WSO figures in the ejection seats. They look pretty human, and with the visor down and O2 mask, there's not much to see anyway in 1/144. I say there are two of everything. That wasn't quite right on this kit. I had a moment of "uh-oh" when I tried to test fit the canopy. It didn't fit at all. Then I discovered that the sprue said "F-14". So I checked the box, and the other canopy said "Tornado". Hmmm. No wonder it doesn't fit! So I went to the Dragon web site, and opened a trouble ticket. That was Monday. On Friday I had my replacement canopy. Wow. I've been in service and repair work for a lot of years, and I find that the true test of character of a company is not how they sell you the product; it's how they handle a problem. In this case, there was no finger pointing, no denial, just a question (where did you purchase the kit?) and we went on. I did have to get John Noack involved, as he forwarded the kit, as provided by Dragon. Reviews are often seen as a negative, but here is a chance to say good things about Jasmin and Alain at Dragon, who were just great. Thanks. Building the Kit The kit went together nicely. I had no fit issues with any of the parts, except the refueling probe. Because of the way it's on the sprue, it's difficult to determine where the part ends and the connection begins. Fortunately I cut it too long, and was able to shorten it. The wings have a pivot and are connected together so they sweep forward and back. Unfortunately the pylons don't change with the wing, so I had to glue the wings in place to keep the wing tanks facing forward. Painting was made a lot easier by the 4-view drawing supplied as part of the instructions. Unfortunately, the color reference page wasn't up to Dragon's usual standard. Part of this could have been trying to figure out a cross reference for Luftwaffe RAL colors to FS595 and Testors colors, but I figured out that painting the jet exhaust and the underside the same color didn't match the box art. Once again Dave Klaus's IPMS Color Guide was an invaluable reference. The main assembly was soon finished. I have learned my lesson with the canopies on Dragon kits, and filled the canopy with Blu-Tak to support the clear, fine, delicate and fragile canopy while masking and painting. I was gratified to see that even in 1/144 the detonator cord line in the top of the canopy was indicated. Now I was ready for the real test of modeling skills, the Tiger Meet decals in 1/144. Decals I applied the standard coat of Future, then started decals. The decal sheet is large for a 1/144 kit, because those tiger stripes take up a lot of room on a flat sheet. Putting all of them on a small model so they fit together is a challenge. I had to stop several times to figure out exactly how a particular decal fit and how it was oriented. Also, the instructions skip decal #15, which is just under the cockpit on the left side. Pretty obvious once I got there, but there are about 30 decals involved in the tiger stripes. Then there are national markings, aircraft numbers, warning stripes, ejection seat triangles, and other small additions. Decals took 3 sessions spread out over 2 days. It's a good idea to let the decals really set before putting another decal on top, as is done with the aircraft numbers and crosses beneath the cockpit on both sides. The decals were very good. The colors were on register, although they only deal with white, black grey and red, and came off the backing sheet very cleanly. The decals are thin enough to snuggle nicely, reacting as expected with Micro Sol®, but even with the large areas (well, they're large for 1/144) the tiger stripes handled well, and I was overall quite happy with the results. Finishing with the "Fiddly Bits" I left off the underwing stores and the landing gear while dong the decals. My track record for knocking off small parts trying to do something else is probably legendary. Or at least the source of some really great stories. After the decals had set up overnight, I began the "fiddly bits". The underwing stores actually have tiny little pips on the pylons and holes in the weapon/tank/pod. And the holes actually lined up with the pips. (Don't laugh, it happens.) I had installed the very large ECM/sensor pod on the outer wing pylon, and it didn't look right when compared with the box art. The holes lined up exactly with the pylon, just as it's shown in the instructions, so I failed to louse it up this time. Well, someone didn't quite get that right on the mold, because the photographs on the 321 web site agree with the cover art. So be aware if you're going to build this one, there's a GLARING error that HAS to be fixed. At least there aren't any rivets to count on this one! The Sidewinders and HARMs were very delicately molded. I had to use the fine saw I use for dinky resin parts to get the sidewinders off the sprue, but they are classy. I have seen HARMs less cleanly molded in 1/72 scale, so Dragon gets a real kudo for these. The main landing gear was just a little bit on the "spindly" side when I first installed it. But after I installed the main gear doors, they provided the necessary support to insure the model will still be on its' wheels for a long time.

Overall Assessment Overall, this is a great kit. The quality of the molds is what we've grown to expect from 1/72 kits costing 4 times as much. And in this one, you get 2 aircraft for your 9 bucks! The instructions have a couple of errors, but none of them are "show stoppers", and the one molding error is so easily rectified it's not a problem. Dragon's handling of the "wrong canopy" problem was also as good as it gets. My experience with this kit was good enough that when I saw Dragon's RAF Tornado GR1 from Operation Granby on the shelf of the local hobby emporium, I bought it. It's the same mold, with different armament. Thanks to John Noack for the unexpected kit. The web site for 321 Squadron (www.321tigers.de) also has a listing of all units which have participated in Tiger Meets, and a great short history of the NATO Tiger Meets. I think it's worth a couple of minutes and a bookmark.

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