Mission Mark Decals MMD48-003: Tornado IDS

Before the Greys

This is Mission Mark's third decal set and like the previous two, is superbly done. This set concentrats on Italian Tornado IDS aircraft in the scheme used from 1991 until 2011 when the greys scheme came into vogue. This is not the first scheme as earlier planes had large insignia and codes, though they were in the green/grey camouflage scheme. 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 at least ten of them provide markings for all the units operating them during that time period. Color information is provided using AER-M-P shades along with approximate FS 595 references, though one of them is suspect as it lists both a Dark Green and Red as the same FS 595 shade!

A variety of schemes are provided with planes in both the desert tan color used during Desert Shield/Storm and the green/grey scheme used during combat in Kosovo. The planes are from the 6, 36, and 50 Stormos, the units which operated the type during this time. You also get a combination of full color and low visibility unit markings on the sheet. A note in the decal sheet states that two shades of tactical number are provided, one for 'scale effect', the first time I have seen this offered.

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. 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.

March 2015

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