Hurricane and Swordfish - Airfix 1/72 - FINISHED

[Vadim]

Hey folks, here's another small update. All the wires are connected to the upper wing! Just need to connect two wires on the lower wings and two more wires to the front section of the fuselage. And then everything can be connected.

 

Here is just one picture for tonight:

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Vadim

[Vadim]

Hey! This is just to let you know I didn't drop this build... Simply family and work eat all the time. Even when a free hour appears - I just take a glass of something and stare on my stash...

The progress over the last month - I've managed to install the upper wing:

[Vadim]

Ok, lower wings are ready.

The plan for tonight is to install them and again... rigging, and more rigging...

 

[The Spadgent]

Nice to see her back on track. I thought my fish looked like she had seen some action. Yours looks well tatty. I love it! 

 

john

[Vadim]

The rigging as it is...

 

[CedB]

Good start Vadim - really tricky job at this scale - I hope it goes well  

[Horatio Gruntfuttock]

Just come across this post - great work on the Hurricane and those photos on the first page certainly show that the Hurri was not the clean aircraft so many of thought it was ( compared to the Spitfire, that is). Great progress on the Swordfish and I will interested in your rigging technique.

[Vadim]

The rigging is finished!

 

 

Here I was installing two final wires. The first wire should go from the lower outer ring to the top inner ring. Another from the lower middle ring to the same top inner ring. I decided to use one wire from the outer ring, then through the top, and back to the lower ring in the middle. You may see those small tubes are freely hanging on the wire, but later I shifted them to the top ring and fixed with cyanoacrylate:

 

 

Here is the final result:

 

 

Here you may see the general outlook. Although I think those tubes a little bit overscaled... However it adds some interest to the model and the overall result is pretty good I think. Also I really practiced this technique and may be in future will do another biplane with more complicated rigging scheme but definitely in 1/48 or even 1/32:

 

 

Now the most complicated part of the building is finished and I can switch to some final bits:

- Engine/Propeller

- Ordnance/Lights

- Antenna

- Some final weathering strokes (on tyres, propeller, bombs, etc.)

Ah... and my workplace now looks like after a massive shaving

 

 

[CedB]

Good job Vadim, that looks really good!

I agree the tubes look a little big in the close ups but I would imagine they're great from a 'normal' distance; any smaller and you would have driven yourself mad trying to thread the 'wire' through!

[Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen]

Pretty impressive stuff Vadim. I don't know how you have the patience?! Anyhow the string bag is looking amazing. The weathering, patched canvas and of course rigging look amazing. Looking forward to the next update.

 

Just curious, is cyanoacrylate simply superglue? 

 

JB

[Vadim]

On 5/13/2017 at 0:12 AM, CedB said:

any smaller and you would have driven yourself mad trying to thread the 'wire' through!

 

Thanks for your kind words. You are right Ced. I tried to use smaller tubes (0.4 mm) but that was impossible with the thread I got (0.2 mm). May be could manage with a hand magnifier but I don't have any. Thus decided to use 0.6mm tubes.

 

On 5/13/2017 at 6:53 AM, Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen said:

Just curious, is cyanoacrylate simply superglue? 

 

Yes, you are right. It's a super glue  though cyanoacylate sounds more professional 

And thanks for your nice comments - it's true - I nearly lost my patience. Never do this again in 1/72

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by Vadim

[Vadim]

I've decided to rename this topic and get rid of 'Stress relief build' words... The first part with Hurricane was really relaxing... But Swordfish - looking back to the entire process - it's far away from being 'Stress relief'. Actually I became more stressed while doing rigging 

[The Spadgent]

Very nice! 

 

Johnny

[Vadim]

Yesterday I was busy with the bombs and engine cowling.

 

Bombs are glued, sanded and sprayed in yellow. Propeller tips have been yellow sprayed as well. Engine cowling is masked and painted (in the center of Tamiya table):

 

 

 

I found a good reference photo to weather bombs:

 

Also, I decided to add some more interest and made two panels on the engine cowling in different colour, pretending those were replaced from another aircraft dew to damage of original ones.

I used Vallejo Aged White (same as for replaced canvas on the fuselage). The colour has a subtle yellow (aged) effect and looks really as 'aged white':

 

 

[Vadim]

Another small update.

 

Here you may see all the final bits are ready for painting in black and bombs require some yellow on the inside (where cocktail sticks were used for the first coat):

 

 

Engine is ready to be installed. It's waiting for the propeller. I used flory models wash (black) as was a little bit lazy to make an oil one:

 

 

And this was the last airbrush painting session for this model. Only final satin coat remains when everything will be glued in place and weathered:

 

 

 

[Vadim]

Hoorah! Now I can consider this one as finished.

It took several days to fix all the final bits. Then I realised that few touch ups are required here and there. Then machine gun with a tiny sight... then landing lights... I thought it will never end...

However at some point you should stop. And here are few quick shots made on mobile unless I do a proper photo session of both 'Sparks of Liberation' (Hurri and Stringbag) for RFI:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CedB]

Very nice Vadim - those details are superb, well done Sir!  

[rob85]

That looks excellent! A really nice finish, every thing looks just right.

 

Rob

[AdrianMF]

Very nice Swordfish. The weathering is excellent and the detailing is marvellous. I'm always surprised about how chipped and worn bombs look - you would think people would be more careful with them!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[PZRGREN]

A work of art!!  I have to aim for this level of quality when doing rigging now!   

[The Spadgent]

Absolutely brilliant. That rigging is something else. It's been a pleasure to follow along. 

 

Johnny

[dogsbody]

Very nice. I like the weathering. If I may be allowed to state one small dislike, it's the rather bright copper/bronze of the exhaust collector ring and pipes. In reality, these would be heat-stained steel. You can see what I mean be looking on GOOGLE for images of restored and flyable Swordfish and Gladiators.

 

Other than that, a superb build!

 

 

Chris

 

[Vadim]

Thank you all guys for your kind words!

 

On 5/23/2017 at 11:50 PM, CedB said:

Very nice Vadim - those details are superb, well done Sir!  

 

Thanks Ced. I was really tired of this build which I though would be a quick one. But couldn't drop it unless all details are there

 

On 5/24/2017 at 6:26 AM, rob85 said:

That looks excellent! A really nice finish, every thing looks just right.

 

Thanks Rob

 

On 5/24/2017 at 9:01 AM, AdrianMF said:

I'm always surprised about how chipped and worn bombs look - you would think people would be more careful with them!

 

True! Especially when you see how they keep them prior to fitting onto an aircraft

 

On 5/24/2017 at 9:42 AM, PZRGREN said:

 

A work of art!!  I have to aim for this level of quality when doing rigging now!

 

 

Thanks mate! The only downside of such rigging - it takes ages to complete

 

14 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Absolutely brilliant. That rigging is something else. It's been a pleasure to follow along.

 

Thank you Johnny! Your builds are also always a pleasure   It's interesting that despite of the fact that rigging took really long time and I was mad about it... Now I'm thinking of making another one, probably later this year and probably in 1/32

 

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Very nice. I like the weathering. If I may be allowed to state one small dislike, it's the rather bright copper/bronze of the exhaust collector ring and pipes. In reality, these would be heat-stained steel. You can see what I mean be looking on GOOGLE for images of restored and flyable Swordfish and Gladiators.

 

Thank you Chris! Yes you are right, and I agree it should look more faded. And to be honest I knew that. I'll try to do something with it... May be pigments or oils. 

 

 

[Vadim]

Hello everyone. 

I came back to my Swordfish yesterday night to deal with this too shiny collector...

I used some pigments and then blended with few oil drops... Have a look. Does it look better?

 

On 5/25/2017 at 2:18 AM, dogsbody said:

In reality, these would be heat-stained steel. You can see what I mean be looking on GOOGLE for images of restored and flyable Swordfish and Gladiators.

Hey Chris, @dogsbody do you think now is better or it still requires some work?

 

[dogsbody]

Way better! Nicely done.

 

 

Chris