This kit is the original 1992 release of the 1/48th Italeri Tornado IDS and although it will build up into a decent replica of a Tornado it will be with some effort and more than likely some resin replacement parts. Over time, various releases have been made with some nice marking options (but the same, now tired plastic).
Notable Kit Features:
Decent cockpit with raised details
Basic Ejection seats
Engraved panel lines (although a bit inconsistent)
Decent gear bays and landing gear detail
Assortment of weapons and fuel tanks provided
Good clear parts
Build Inspiration:
The Panavia Tornado with its swing-wing sleek looks and many markings options easily makes it a sought after kit for display. I came across this 1/48th Italeri Tornado IDS kit at a hobby show sale selling very inexpensively ($9.00). I was therefore incentivised to buy it despite my hesitation to deal with Italeri kits. This boxing had the pink "Gulf Killer" option on the decal sheet so, I was all set to go with a shark-toothed option out-of-the-box.
Heads-Up Report:
This is yet another Italeri kit that I purchased, and later realized I should really give up on the brand, as a source of plastic to feed my habit. Maybe it was just the mood at the time of the build, however it crossed my mind to just give up and move along during this one.
Plastic is quite soft
Engraved detail varies and some points fades off considerably
Ejection seats could use some extra detail (or a couple of seated pilots from another kit) or replacement
Some parts fit well, others really not so well (surprisingly the forward and aft fuselage fit was better than expected)
Remember to add nose weight
Upper and lower fuselage pieces require a bit of patience and work to connect and spreaders, even then the assembly requires filler and sanding (and some loss of detail)
Gear bays are a bit sparse
Design & fit of the intakes is poor, requiring a fiddly assembly with no connection assistance from the parts - afterwards you will require a lot of filler and sanding to blend them into the main body (this is the poorest fit area of the kit)
Swing-wing design has the added complexity of pivoting pylons to be dealt with (wing fit is a bit loose and plastic a bit soft to hold the spread (or swept) wing well
Speed brake fit is poor
Weapons racks and weapons look very basic
Engine detail is adequate and this part fit well enough that you can paint it separately and add later
Early kit decals were mediocre and mine yellowed over time (much later boxings have nice Cartograph decals... but tired plastic)
Kit Additions / Modifications:
Added two 1/48th Monogram pilots to crew the "in-flight" aircraft
Drilled out the nose gun
Replaced nose pitot with a needle (after breaking the plastic one)
Finishing:
The paint scheme for this aircraft was supposed to be the "Desert Pink" although mine turned out not to have much of the the pink hue to it (I will chalk that up to poor reference, or a poor custom paint mix, or both). Painted the nose cone near black and the exhausts in a form of iron. By the time I hit this stage, I was a bit fed up with this kit, so it didn't get the attention to detail that it should have in the paint shop (or after stages) to try and salvage the build. (Sometimes that is how it goes.) Weathering and washes were minimal and afterwards it went to hang in the shelf from there, as part of my Desert Storm collection of aircraft.
The After-Build Report:
Unfortunately those of us looking for a nice 1/48th scale Panavia Tornado kit are still looking... Neither the 2009 Revell release nor the 2014 Hobbyboss kit seems to have come to our rescue. (I will concede the point that similar to the Tomcat the Tornado has inherent design features that will make the kit a more complex build.) The current options seem to be which of the less than great kits do you want to wrestle with for your shelf display candidate? I wouldn't necessarily recommend the 1/48th Italeri Tornado IDS, but nor would I tell you you are making a horrible mistake here (however you'll want to consider your options).
Feel free to comment or ask any questions - Keep on building, gain experience, challenge yourself if you like, but try not to stress yourself out over the build - it is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby after all - Cheers
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