Mission Mark Decals MMD48-002: Tornado IDS

This is Mission Mark's second decal sheet and it is just as superbly done as their first one. This one concentrates on the Tornado IDS, and specifically those flown by Italy. Though the aircraft is being phased out in Germany and the UK, I would imagine that the Italians will keep there for a longer period of time. They always seem to get a decade or so more out of their planes than some other countries.

All of these options, and there are fifteen of them, are in the newer overall grey scheme. I wish I could tell you the color, but the greys used are not listed by FS 595 color or any other, only by mixtures of Tamiya paints.

There are two special scheme planes on the set. Both are from 6 Stormo. The one with the blue tail is to celebrate 60 years of 102 Gruppo in 2008. The other is to Commemorate 1,000 flying hours over Afghanistan in 2010. For the other options, there are a variety of markings, some of which are serial number/aircraft number changes, while others have mission markings on them from the Kosovo war and others. All of the 50 Stormo planes have a shark mouth and many of the options are of the ECR variant.

Decals are superbly printed and come with a complete stencil suite. The set includes an instruction sheet dedicated just to stencil placement. There are enough of these and common markings for a single aircraft. Instructions not only provide basic markings placement, but there are notes on each aircraft option regarding things like antenna type and placement, which is not the same on all planes. I have shown just two of the four pages of decal placement as they are so similar. For kits, Mission Mark recommends the Revell Tornado as that is what the markings are sized for. They should also fit the ancient Italeri/ESCI kit and the Trumpeter version as well. Personally, I wouldn't use the ESCI kit as it is just too old and lacks a lot of detail.

In all, it makes for an excellent set of decals for not only an interesting model, but also one by a nation that is rarely represented in decals.

September 2014

Thanks to Mission Mark Decals for the review sheet. You can find this and coming products on their website.