1:48 Tornado IDS 45+88 100000h Tornado JaBoG 33 Büchel 1999

A jubilee fin over the Eifel

The twin-engined machine with variable wing geometry formed the backbone of the strike force of the Luftwaffe from the start of the 1980s, and the base in the Eifel mountains was among its best-known homes. When the wing stationed there reached a hundred thousand hours flown in 1999, one of the aircraft received a festive coat with the large figure and the badge of the unit. The fuselage code is read as forty-five and eighty-eight separated by a sign, as is the custom in German markings.

What the sheet offers

Alongside the jubilee artwork it holds crosses, the code of the machine, the badge of the wing and complete service texts. On this type there really are a great many of them and they are placed all over the airframe, including the inner surfaces of the landing gear bays.

A procedure that has proved itself

The wing with variable sweep tends to be movable on kits and it is exactly there that decals most often tear. If you leave the model with the surfaces spread, fix them with a drop of glue before applying them; the transition between the fixed and the moving part then stays still. The lettering for the landing gear bays is applied before the fuselage is closed up, because later you will not get into the space.

Emphasizing the panel lines before the decals and again lightly afterward gives the surface depth without the edges of the printed motifs standing out. It is also worth remembering that the lower surfaces of this type tended to be markedly lighter than the upper ones and that the transition between the two shades runs along the sides of the fuselage with a soft edge. Anyone who sprays it too sharply deprives themselves of half the impression of the finished work.