This is a limited run by 12 Squared of General Dynamics’s BGM-109 Tomahawk.  The Tomahawk Cruise missile became a household word during the first gulf war.  The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. Introduced by General Dynamics in the 1970s, it was designed as a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile that could be launched from a submerged submarine. It has been improved several times and, by way of corporate divestitures and acquisitions, is now made by Raytheon. Some Tomahawks were also manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.   

The Tomahawk missile family consists of a number of subsonic, jet engine-powered missiles for attacking a variety of surface targets. Although a number of launch platforms have been deployed or envisaged, only naval (both surface ship and submarine) launched variants are currently in service. Tomahawk has a modular design, allowing a wide variety of warhead, guidance and range capabilities. 

In the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict, 288 Tomahawks were launched. The first salvo was fired by the cruiser USS San Jacinto on January 17, 1991. The attack submarines USS Pittsburgh and USS Louisville followed. The Louisville Slugger company gave the crew of the latter special-edition baseball bats emblazoned with an image of the submarine conducting a Tomahawk launch. The honor was repeated during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The United States Navy has a stockpile of around 3,500 Tomahawk cruise missiles of all variants.   History by Wikipedia

This was a limited run kit that was injected molded.  The parts needed a lot of clean up as is the norm with these limited runs.  It is molded in soft grey plastic with recessed panel lines.   The parts included the body of the missile in two halves, the main wing, air scoop, booster rocket and maintenance stand.  Also included is a two part base in the shape of the country of Iraq with the BGM-109 raised letter in it.  21 parts in all.   There were no decals.   12 Squared provided a very nice 3 page instruction sheet that gave step by step assembly instructions but also facts and drawings of the BGM-109. 

 Being that it is 1:72 scale the parts are small and the tabs attaching them to the runners are thick so careful attention is needed when handling the parts for clean up.

The assembly is straight forward starting with the missiles main body.  Being that I wanted to display my Tomahawk on the base I did not use the maintenance rail or the booster rocket sections.  After gluing the two halves of the main body together I took the main wing cleaned it up and carefully cut and shaped the area on the body it was to slide through.  Then I assembled the two halves of the air intake.  Again this is a small kit and lots of clean up and reshaping was needed here.  After that came the rear fins.  The soft plastic bonded well with Testors liquid glue and when sanded the seams disappeared with little effort.   I then glued the post to the base and reshaped the tab on the holding rod until it fit snug in to the engine outlet of the missile.  

The Tomahawks were painted Dark Grey on top and Light Grey on the lower surfaces.  I did this freehand with the airbrush without masking any areas.  I went with Testors Model Master Dark Ghost Grey FS36320 for the upper surfaces and TMM Light Ghost Grey FS36375 for the lower surfaces.  For the stand I painted the main part “Iraq” TMM Sand and the holding rod Flat Black.  The raised nomenclature I painted Dark Ghost Grey. 

 This is not a kit for the beginner.  There is a lot of shaping and sanding needed here.   Once completed it does make for a very nice model of the Tomahawk in 1:72 scale. 

The kits instructions provide everything I used for the build.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Shawn Payne

February 2010