31 replies to this topic

[ladder4boy]

Hi all.. would love to join in with this one.



Planned on initially converting it into a float plane, but at the rate i do things it'll be October 2015 before i'd get it done! Will be OOB unless i add some wiring or little stuff.

Cheers!

Jerry

[branchline]

Ok Jerry I'm going to take the bait here and give you some encouragement.

I've always liked the Swordfish but the type has not fitted into my modelling areas of interest so as much as I was tempted by both the Tamiya and Trumpeter kits, I didn't take the bait. However, six months ago I read an article on the Air War over Malta and found it so fascinating I sought other material on the subject. In particular the Swordfish operations off the Island and the incredible amount of Axis shipping sunk by them caught my attention. This led to seeking material on other Swordfish activities in the Mediterranean and really that was it, I just had to get the Trumpeter kit.

By chance there was one on our local Trademe website a month or so ago and I won it (it was a nervous wait as previously these always went for quite a price and were hotly contested, but I was the sole bidder and for a really good price). I haven't had much time to peruse LSP in any detail due to work commitments and spending a wee bit of time in hospital for some ad hoc abdomen surgery (as one does), so here I am at home recouping and having been able to sit up with the laptop on my lap for a couple of days, I've been able to do a bit of catching up on LSP and found your Swordfish thread.

So, are you going to have a go at building this and if so what scheme/markings would you choose?

Regards

Brent

[ladder4boy]

Thanks for lookin' in Brent.. have been toiling away with what little time i have here during summer hours on this thing and was hoping to post some WIP picks this week as soon as i get the cockpit painted up and finish up a few tweaks on the other sub-assemblies. I build the Tamiya kit about 4 years ago when i first got back into modeling and it was a gem.. this kit is as well! so far there's only 1 or 2 fixes i've needed to make, mainly in that the aelerons on the lower wing are don't line up from bottom piece to top piece. Will be sure to take a pic of it when i snap some photo's. Was thinking about doing the Ark Royal offering in the box decals since it's a nice "sky" color on the fuselage and undersurface. There is a bit more work in clean-up and joint filling than the Tamiya kit, but nothing bad so far. Pretty much just using this build as a practice run before i start my WNW Gotha! Check back by weeks end and i should have a pretty decent update ready.

Cheers!

Jerry

[Qvarre]

I wich you good luck with this build.This kit is still one off thoose kit I can´t resist so I will follow you´r build closley.

//Larsa

[ladder4boy]

Hoping not to dissapoint Larsa.. so far, it's been okay.
Proof that actual work is being done on this kit!!


A few fit issues that can be easily fixed with some sandpaper and a wee bit of mr. surfacer. The only big thing i've seen so far is the lower wing aelerons.. the top and bottom edeges don't line up.. I just left the top lines and matched the bottom one's to it..

the wing on the right shows the problem as the red area.. the one on the left has already been fixed


a closer look at the fix.. filled in the existing scribed line with putty, scribed a new line to match the other side of the wing.. pretty easy as the plastic is soft and scribes well..

another problem area was the exhaust collector ring. half the rivets were almost non-existant, the other half were the size of golfballs. I know this is due to the molding process.. so no big deal. The fit between the 2 parts just wasn't good enough for me to attempt to paint them seperately and then glue them together, so i just went ahead and glued, sanded, puttied, sanded, re-scribed and re-riveted the thing. I'm happy with it now..


also started painting the interior.

Just base coated now.. hopefully will have the rest of the cockpit painted and weathered and the fuse closed up by the end of the weekend.

More pics to follow hopefully by sunday.

Thanks for lookin' in
Jerry

[DougN]

Nice work so far, I have this one to do as well, so will be following your build!

Cheers,

Doug

[MikeMaben]

Go Jerry !!

[LSP_Mike]

I, too, have this one in the to-do pile. Should be fun to watch.

[ladder4boy]

wee update.. got the engine done finally. added some lead wire leads and the rest is all kit stock. I know the plugs are in the wrong place, but drilling them out on the side would have been too much of a pain, and to be honest, they probably won't be visible once this thing is shoved into the cowl anyhow. also, i could only find two decent pics of a swordfish engine online that was complete, and they both had everything painted and or chromed differently! so i took some severe artistic license..







makes ya realize everytime you post one of these that macro is definately NOT your friend!

hope to have the cockpit and cowl done by the weekend, then close her up and start painting the outside. this is the point where i always stall out cuz i really enjoy building but have to be in the "mood" to paint! gonna try to find some mood enhancers to see if i can power on through instead of breaking out another kit!

cheers!
Jerry

[branchline]

Hi Jerry, this is looking really great, and don't stop now - you have an audience here who are hanging out on your progress to give them (and me) inspiration.

Best Rgds Brent

[ladder4boy]

Thanks Brent!! working up the innard's on the cockpit as we speak.. the IP is a bit of work as i'm having to punch each decal guage out and affix them one at a time, and they are THICK.. three passes of solva-set to get 'em to suck down. Thinking i may end up getting some ad-astra masks for the outside markings now. Been playing around trying to figure out how to paint the collector ring now. I know everyone goes for the burnt copper look, but it was actually stainless steel, so i'm thinking of base coating with Stainless, misting on some burnt metal, then misting on some burnt Iron to get the coloration down.. we'll see how that works out...

Thanks for lookin'!
Jerry

[DougN]

Actually, I believe the exhaust collector rings were indeed copper, but it seems that there was a SS insert (that covered the inner ring section) that was riveted in that I am guessing was used to repair it if it because unserviceable. Do you have some references that show they were SS, as I had not heard of the entire apparatus being SS before?

[ladder4boy]

doug.. i've heard both.. several of the pictures i've seen that show the collector ring it seems more of a metal than copper color. Granted, these are restored planes, and i've yet to see a good color pic of one from back in the day, so i'm gonna just SWAG it here and hope for the best!

MK II
MK III

Cheers!
Jerry

[ladder4boy]

k.. finally got the engine mounted in the cowl so i can put it up till the build is over and stick it on at the end. Don't even want to confess how many times i've broken this assembly trying to get them mated together!.. painted the sky color first (1 bottle of Tamiya sky mixed with 1 bottle of Tamiya white to get close to the color swatch on the instructions), then the black on the top. masked off and started with stainless steel MM metalizer as a base on the collector ring, followed with burnt metal buffing metalizer.. buffed that out, then applied burnt iron.. then broke off the porcupine exhaust.. re-glued.. gloss coated, black oil wash.. broke off the exhaust again, then drilled and pinned the d@mned thing.. then touched up by dry brushing with the buffing metalizer again.. looks a lot better in person as the camera doesn't really show the effect on the metal that well. Looks pretty much like the discolored copper on everybody elses..

[dodgem37]

Very nice.

Sincerely,
Mark