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Airfix Swift


Mantog

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I had a quick flick through the latest Airfix magazine after seeing the Swift on the front cover. There are build pictures inside which seem to suggest the panel lines are really deep and obvious. Has anyone got their hands on one, I'm hoping it was just some sort of trick of the light or something!

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Hi Guys

DO NOT worry, they are as fine as the latest Lightning kit in 1/72, possibly finer but hey I cannot even measure fractions of mm.

All honesty if you are / were happy with the panels on the Lightning, there should be no concern.

cheers Ali

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I'd put it down to the standard of the modeller in question and possibly the HD photography! I won't / wouldn't worry about it and neither should any one else really. Just be greatful that we have a decent kit of the Swift.

I am hoping that Airfix will do more early 50's jets like the Venom family for example.

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I've seen the pictures but alas, not the kit yet ! I believe that the panel lines have been accentuated using a very dark wash, for this reason I wouldn't worry too much. Now I don't expect the best Japanese or Eduard style surface detail on the recent 1/72 airfix kits, but every kit has shown an improvement over the previous one from this point of view.

In any case, this is very likely to be the best 1/72 kit of the Swift to date, even in case the panel lines are not as good as desired, the pros of this one promise to outweigh the cons

Edited by Giorgio N
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Hi Guys

DO NOT worry, they are as fine as the latest Lightning kit in 1/72, possibly finer but hey I cannot even measure fractions of mm.

All honesty if you are / were happy with the panels on the Lightning, there should be no concern.

cheers Ali

Does this mean there might be some conversions for it :hmmm:

Robert

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I think the panel lines have been inked rather darkly which might be accentuating them. I'll still be buying at least two. More if some conversion sets appear. F7 with Skyflash hopefully.

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Ok, phew, sounds like the photos did it an injustice. Fingers crossed, I had high hopes for this kit.

It certainly does,he made it look like a patchwork quilt,one of the pre-shade everything

to death and then give it a wash because it's artistic gang there.

Airfix ought to sue him,he'll cost them sales of that.

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It certainly does,he made it look like a patchwork quilt,one of the pre-shade everything

to death and then give it a wash because it's artistic gang there.

Airfix ought to sue him,he'll cost them sales of that.

I'm quite happy with Airfix's panel lines of late, a slap or two of paint covers most if not all...however, given that the surfacer of a Swift was smooth, I'll be applying a fair amount of Mr surfacer on my line up...

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I think the panel lines have been inked rather darkly which might be accentuating them. I'll still be buying at least two. More if some conversion sets appear. F7 with Skyflash hopefully.

Mk 7 conversion yes please, maybe markings for the all black aircraft used in the TSR-2 program ( brake testing ).

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The pictures in Airfix mag make it look "orrible" so I am holding fire until a few of you get your hands on them.

Google search images and see if you can find one that looks like that.

Here is a nice one from 2012 on this site

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910179-supermarine-swift-fr5-xtrakit-172/

Panel lines are there but not obvious

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Didn't even know it was coming out until I saw the mag this morning :banghead:

Really cool, I'll be getting a couple of these!

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The pictures in Airfix mag make it look "orrible" so I am holding fire until a few of you get your hands on them.

Google search images and see if you can find one that looks like that.

Here is a nice one from 2012 on this site

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910179-supermarine-swift-fr5-xtrakit-172/

Panel lines are there but not obvious

It is indeed a nice model but it's not built from the same kit though. I don't think the Airfix Swift is available yet.

Personally I can see myself buying a couple, one to build OOB and one to convert in an earlier fighter variant

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The pictures in Airfix mag make it look "orrible" so I am holding fire until a few of you get your hands on them.

Google search images and see if you can find one that looks like that.

Here is a nice one from 2012 on this site

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910179-supermarine-swift-fr5-xtrakit-172/

Panel lines are there but not obvious

Erm,that's the Xtrakit Swift,not the noo shiney Airfix one old boy.

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The pictures in Airfix mag make it look "orrible" so I am holding fire until a few of you get your hands on them.

Google search images and see if you can find one that looks like that.

Here is a nice one from 2012 on this site

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910179-supermarine-swift-fr5-xtrakit-172/

Panel lines are there but not obvious

An interesting comparison between the two kits and how the different manufacturers tackle panel lines......very interesting indeed!

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Looking at the photos of the completed kit, the shape looks correct. That is what is important to me. Panel lines can be filled in or left, it's up to the modeller but as the width of "panel lines" on full sized aircraft were, in my day, 1/64th of an inch (0.016") or in 72nd scale 0.00022", I defy any model manufacturer to engrave panel lines that small and any modeller with average eyesight to even see them.

I'll have half a dozen - bound to be conversions up and down the marques in the offing.

Interesting - no belly tank. No matter, I understand that they were not used all that often.

Nice - where is it Airfix ? - you have a market all ready.

Dennis

Edited by sloegin57
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Looking at the photos of the completed kit, the shape looks correct. That is what is important to me. Panel lines can be filled in or left, it's up to the modeller but as the width of "panel lines" on full sized aircraft were, in my day, 1/64th of an inch (0.016") or in 72nd scale 0.00022", I defy any model manufacturer to engrave panel lines that small and any modeller with average eyesight to even see them.

I'll have half a dozen - bound to be conversions up and down the marques in the offing.

Interesting - no belly tank. No matter, I understand that they were not used all that often.

Nice - where is it Airfix ? - you have a market all ready.

Dennis

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for the poor modeller in the magazine. There aren't many shots of the kit parts in the article but he stated that he left off the belly tank because he liked the detail on the fuselage and didn't want to obscure it so, presumably, there is one in the kit.

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"4 Sqn moved to a succession of Germany bases including Celle, Wunstorf and then Jever for nearly 9 years until disbandment on 31 Dec 1960. However, the Sqn was reformed on 1 Jan 1961 after No 79 Sqn was renumbered as IV(AC)"

http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/4squadron.cfm

"On 15 November 1951, No. 79 reformed at Gutersloh as a fighter-reconnaissance unit. Swifts replaced the Squadron's Meteors in the summer of 1956 and were flown until it was renumbered 4 Squadron on 1 January 1961."

http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/79squadron.cfm

So you can see why a Swift in early 1961 might have both sets of markings.

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