Panavia Tornado
Posted: 13 Sep 2018, 06:48
Since Manfred’s disappointment that he had no Tornado GR1/GR4 AI aircraft for his in-progress retro RAF Brüggen scenery for P3Dv4 and my offer to help out, I’ve made a start on the modelling. The reason for the gap is that we have no license to convert the Fernado Martinez (FMAI) FS9 model in the way that we do for many other of our FS9 AI aircraft.
I decided at the outset that I would only build FSX/P3Dv4 models this time. I actually had a partially completed one in the air, when Giorgio PM’d me to say it would be great if we had the Italian examples in FS9 format too. That opened up a can of worms and I thought about it for a few days. Brent managed to get me the total present day count of Tornado’s from Scramble. They total 291 at the most – RAF 25, Italy 65, Germany 120 and Saudi Arabia 81. If the 40 or so needed for retro Brüggen is added in, that’s 331 paints. It’s probably too many for me, particularly as some have particularly complicated anniversary schemes.
What began to change my mind and build for FS9 too, was a visit to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford (UK) to scrutinize the two Tornado's there. I just got hooked on the aircraft because of the opportunity for some varied animation, including the thrust reverser buckets. The visit helped me to understand the mechanics. What cemented it was a close look at the FMAI models and a complete lack of load-out options. That seemed a pity given the range of stores the Tornado can carry. After returning from Duxford I promptly converted my Gmax file to FS9 (not easy because of the need to get every bit of FSX code out of it) and put myself at my usual start position with an FS9 build:
For Manfred's Brüggen, as well as a clean model and 3 fuel tanks, there are additional options of 2 x Paveways and a separate model with 2 x JP233’s. For the modern day RAF load, I’ve produced an option of 2 x Paveways, 3 x Brimstones and a Litening pod:
I have also produced the parts needed for the F-3 (ADV). This has the longer nose, extension to the fuselage behind the cockpit, sharper wing root gloves plus of course a different load-out:
So, how much to take on? Well, the priority is the 40 GR1 and GR4 camouflaged examples for Manfred, but I’m also planning to produce the 25 current grey RAF GR4’s. I’ll see how I get on with the other users. At the least, I’ll do one master paint for each user country so people here that have an interest can duplicate and number up themselves. I’ll probably do the same for the F3 with perhaps one paint for each of the Squadrons that used the aircraft.
It should be possible to use the existing flight plans by changing the aircraft names and deleting retired aircraft. I’m not intending to do that myself, nor am I intending to work on any scenery.
Next job is to spend some time on the FDE and then move on to mapping and painting.............
John
I decided at the outset that I would only build FSX/P3Dv4 models this time. I actually had a partially completed one in the air, when Giorgio PM’d me to say it would be great if we had the Italian examples in FS9 format too. That opened up a can of worms and I thought about it for a few days. Brent managed to get me the total present day count of Tornado’s from Scramble. They total 291 at the most – RAF 25, Italy 65, Germany 120 and Saudi Arabia 81. If the 40 or so needed for retro Brüggen is added in, that’s 331 paints. It’s probably too many for me, particularly as some have particularly complicated anniversary schemes.
What began to change my mind and build for FS9 too, was a visit to The Imperial War Museum at Duxford (UK) to scrutinize the two Tornado's there. I just got hooked on the aircraft because of the opportunity for some varied animation, including the thrust reverser buckets. The visit helped me to understand the mechanics. What cemented it was a close look at the FMAI models and a complete lack of load-out options. That seemed a pity given the range of stores the Tornado can carry. After returning from Duxford I promptly converted my Gmax file to FS9 (not easy because of the need to get every bit of FSX code out of it) and put myself at my usual start position with an FS9 build:
For Manfred's Brüggen, as well as a clean model and 3 fuel tanks, there are additional options of 2 x Paveways and a separate model with 2 x JP233’s. For the modern day RAF load, I’ve produced an option of 2 x Paveways, 3 x Brimstones and a Litening pod:
I have also produced the parts needed for the F-3 (ADV). This has the longer nose, extension to the fuselage behind the cockpit, sharper wing root gloves plus of course a different load-out:
So, how much to take on? Well, the priority is the 40 GR1 and GR4 camouflaged examples for Manfred, but I’m also planning to produce the 25 current grey RAF GR4’s. I’ll see how I get on with the other users. At the least, I’ll do one master paint for each user country so people here that have an interest can duplicate and number up themselves. I’ll probably do the same for the F3 with perhaps one paint for each of the Squadrons that used the aircraft.
It should be possible to use the existing flight plans by changing the aircraft names and deleting retired aircraft. I’m not intending to do that myself, nor am I intending to work on any scenery.
Next job is to spend some time on the FDE and then move on to mapping and painting.............
John
.... Just stunning.....
(there still have a lot of FS9 users)
