Italeri 1/72 Tornado IDS '311 GV RSV 60th Anniversary' Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Panavia Tornado is a tactical strike fighter with variable geometry wings, two afterburning engines with thrust reversers, and the ability to loft a variety of weapons to their targets. Nicknamed the 'Fin' for its large vertical stabilizer, the Tornado has seen service with the RAF, German Air Force and Navy, Italian Air Force, and the Royal Saudi Air Force. First flown in 1974, the aircraft has been periodically updated to keep it combat relevant, and has seen combat over Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Bosnia, and more. As the Eurofighter Typhoon comes online, the Tornado fleet is gradually being retired.

Italeri has reissued their 1/72 Tornado kit which is an older tooling designed for easy assembly. The kit is molded in gray styrene and presented on two parts trees plus one tree of clear parts. The tooling has extra parts that are not used with the IDS version but shows how this tooling has been released as the GR.1 and ECR over the years. Among the features and options in this kit:

• Reasonable front and rear cockpits
• Positionable canopy
• Wings are hinged and linked for synchronous movement
• Stabilators are interconnected for synchronous pitch movement
• Positionable speed brakes

While the kit is simple enough, the real star of this release are the two decal sheets that replicate the beautiful anniversary scheme for the Italian Air Force's 311 Group. The full color, four-view decal layout diagram shows where the basic colors need to be applied before applying those nice decals.

If you want a colorful 'Fin' for your scale flightline, grab one of these kits before they're gone.

My sincere thanks to Italeri USA for this review sample!

Reference:

• Tornado Modeler's Online Reference