In recent years Italeri has been re-releasing their models with decals for special camouflages or retirement schemes. And I kind of like that. It is a way to get access to kits that otherwise is difficult to get and also to find special decal sheets as part of a regular box.

Italeri’s Tornado has been around for quite some time and the molds hold well. There is no flash anywhere to be found in the review copy and all the surface detail is very sharp and well defined. Panel lines are recessed and well defined. Cockpit detail is raised and will accept dry-brushing really well.

Opening the box you find 3 main sprues, a clear one and a small sprue with a couple of special drop tanks. One of the sprues includes some weapons, which are not applicable to this version of the model, so you get extra parts for the spares box. Total part count is a bit over 100. You also get two full decal sheets, which are glossy and in perfect register.

A comment on the clear part: if you look carefully to it, you might think there is a seam on the top of it. Actually that line should be there. I’m not sure if it is an anti-fog device or an explosive charge to be used during ejection, but I saw it there in pictures of the real airplane.

Instructions comprise of 9 steps, with a typical breakdown of first steps being around the cockpit. Note that this model has movable wings and therefore the fuselage breakdown had a front section with left and right sides and a back section, with an upper/lower.

In order to better assemble the upper/lower fuselage parts there are some alignment tabs that are just flat plastic parts. Pay close attention to the instructions and dry fit them well. Also this model has a large opening in the fuselage sides, just behind the wings. That is because the wings can be ‘tucked-in’ or spread out. In the real airplane there would be some leather or rubber part that would close that gap. You will have to decide what to do with your model as to ‘close the gap’ (I would consider build it with the wings in the ‘tucked-in’ position).

Then onto the main reason why this particular boxing exists: The amazing markings of this Tornado. The 311 Gruppo is a test and research Flight of the Italian Air Force and for its 60^th Anniversary it decorated one of its Tornados to resemble a bird and to have a very artistic winged-man on the tail.

The instructions include a color page explaining that you are supposed to paint the model in glossy white, with only two minor parts that are supposed to be red and another one blue. The instructions also include templates that can be used to create self-adhesive masks to paint and mask those areas.

This model is recommended to modelers of all skill level and in particular to those that have some experience handling large decals.

I would like to thank Hobbico/Italeri and IPMS/USA for the review sample.