Revell 1/72 Taurus Missile
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Taurus
Revell of Germany’s Eurofighter kit includes standoff missiles,
the Taurus and Storm Shadow, with wings folded so they would hang under
the fighter’s wing. Since I was building the Eurofighter “clean”
I decided to build one of these as a separate model, and enter it in the
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle category at the IMPS Nationals...give those V-1’s
a run for their money!
First about the kit:
Each missile has a two part body; separate tail fins and the wings molded
as one piece, folded, with “hinge cover”. The decal sheet
has 18 stripes and stencils for one Storm Shadow while the poor Taurus
has none! Googling for information found a bright red Taurus with black
and white reference checkers. So the Taurus was chosen.
The only problem in assembly was the fins, which are small...tiny...and
fit into recesses not slots. Fitting and getting the correct “angle”
is a little tricky; fortunately the plans have a front view of the missile
with the showing the correct angles.
To build these missiles “flying” required opening the wings
to that position. My trusty Dremel made short work of plastic removal
but great care was required grinding under the hinge cover. The hardest
part about the new wings was sanding the airfoil. After the hinge cover
was glued to the fuselage, the wings were slid under the cover and “pivoted
out” until the wingspan dimension was correct. The wings were not
attached until all painting and decaling was complete.
The kit has the engine intakes covered with a streamlined “nose”,
correct when carried on the pylon. These were cut off and an opening made
by drilling. The kit’s exhaust was drilled out and a clear plastic
rod inserted to hold the model and simulate the exhaust gases.
Painting red requires a uniform base coat of white. Tamiya’s shake
can white primer (great stuff!) provided this undercoat then Tamiya red
for the finish color. The black fins and silver leading edges are decal
which is much easier than masking.
The checkers were made using white and black decal material. A large
white square was cut and two smaller black checkers set over the white
square, with a black square always in the upper right hand quadrant. Subsequent
photos show the side fuselage checkers have the black in the upper quadrant
to the front ...so only one side of my model is accurate! Add some stencils
from a Super Scale sheet and it’s done!
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