First things first, MDL8 says it's a port... Or they're a port - as the list Ed just posted shows, there are a heck of a lot of models in the package!
The ADV comes in RAF (no squadron insignia) air superiority grey and the RAF F.2 black and white test livery (with Mk82 bombs? On an ADV?!?). No Italian or Saudi liveries and I can't remember anyone else who bought them.
The ECR comes in Luftwaffe light grey and camo. Again no Italian scheme and I can't remember anyone else who bought the variant.
The GR.1 comes in RAF 9SQ grey, RSAF grey, RSAF desert camo, RAF Desert Storm "pink" with naughty nose art (Snoopy, for those who know it...) and Luftwaffe grey.
The "IDS" comes in Luftwaffe "prototype", "green primer", camo and grey, plus two display liveries (Luftwaffe and German Navy).
So it's basically a British and German pack, with some Saudi paints. The payloads are fixed and cannot be dropped.
There's no HUD, which made flying a performance jet quite hard, head down. The office is "FS9 standard", a few blurry bits, 2d rather than modelled switches and gauges, some hand drawn, some photoreal textures. A couple of parts look totally untextured. Only the front seat is modelled in the VC or 2d panels. There are no extra views on the "a" key cycle. There's no GPS or, indeed, any subpanels, but I couldn't see a single default gauge on what is provided.
Reheat is throttle controlled and the plumes look good, but the 9Sq aircraft refused to rotate until over 200KIAS, even with a single stage of flap, using well over half the runway at Lossiemouth. That's definitely not right. Wing sweep is controlled by the first two stages of flaps, with the flaps extending beyond that.
With wings fully swept, it stalled at about 145KIAS, which seems rather low. In approach configuration, that came down to 133KIAS, which seems a little more realistic. Approach , trying to follow a 3 degree slope, was very nose high (but the aircraft was still heavy) and I had to raise the seat to continue watching the PAPI. The moment the mains hit the deck at around 140KIAS, the nosewheel dropped instantly and the aircraft was sucked to the ground by the same mysterious vacuum encountered on takeoff. Reverse thrust and braking is moderately effective and the aircraft remains stable during the rollout and taxi.
Overall? "Meh". A large range of nice external models, a mediocre cockpit and a below average flight model. I'd probably have to limit it to 2 stars, because of the flight model. The external models are probably four stars, the VC and cockpit two and a half to three at best.
I guess it depends how much you want a Tornado.
Ian P.
