Mando Models

Kit Number MM7204

1/72 'Tornado' Expendable Motor Boat (EMB)

Reviewed By John Noack, #23017

resin/vacuform kit, available from Mando Models, mando@fsmail.net and they can accept PayPal.

MSRP: £21.99 per kit (+£1.00 UK delivery, £2.50 Airmail delivery)

Not many reviews on this site start off with an apology.  Armando Loni of Mando Models sent me this kit back in May of this year, and a whole series of life changing events conspired to get in the way of me finishing the review.  At long last...

Developed by the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) in WW2, the Tornado was an expendable motorboat designed to rapidly enter Allied harbors and cause as much destruction as possible.  This boat was comprised of two Junkers Ju52 modified seaplane floats joined together by decking and a flat bottom, power was afforded by a deck-mounted Argus 109-014 pulsejet (developed for the Fieseler Fi103 (V1) flying bomb).  The Tornado prototype carried a 700kg explosive charge in the bow, and was remotely guided to target after the pilot ditched in the sea.

The kit is packaged in a sturdy folding box and consists of only about 8 pieces - all are resin, with the exception of the vacuformed windscreen.  The largest casting is the hull, and this suffered from a number of pinholes, but only on the underside - easily filled with Mr. Surfacer or any other filler of your choice.  The pulsejet engine is mounted above the upper deck on two short struts - I replaced the resin parts with similarly sized styrene struts from my WWI spares box.  Assembly of the kit can be done in 20 minutes; I'd recommend attaching the pulsejet engine and struts after you've painted the hull.  I went with the kit suggestions of an RLM light green/dark green splinter camouflage over dark grey, using acrylics.  I then gloss coated the boat, attached the engine, used an umber wash for the cockpit and hatches, and over coated with Dullcote.

I added a steering wheel from an old P/E brass cockpit set, and some cleats at the bow and stern.  The windshield went on with a dab of white glue, and I painted some clear decal sheet with the light green paint, trimmed it with a scalpel, and used the strips to detail the windscreen frames.  The markings were red decal stripe stock and swastikas from the spares box; if I did it again, I would paint the red hull band or cut some white decal stock to lie under the red.  The "White 10" hull numbers are spurious.  I left the scuba-masked "pilot" out of the cockpit but he's there if you want him. This little kit, only about 4" long when finished, would look great at a dockside diorama.

Looking for something different to fill out your Luftwaffe '46 collection or perhaps more accurately, your Kriegsmarine '43 collection, try a Tornado!

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