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Xtrakit Swift 1/72


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I've been working on this Swift for about a year or  year and a half. I'm a serial starter and have too many kits on the go. I've been working to finish a few kits which are in more advanced stages before I crack on with some of my other kits. E.g. the Aeronavale Lancaster which I also have a WIP up for (not forgotten!)

 

Meet the Swift. Here it is a few months ago on the painting pile before I finished my Dutch Meteor F8. 

 

ObBpwa2h.jpg

 

More recently I splashed some paint on it. Gunze H330 for the green, H331 for the Dark Sea Grey, and Humbrol Acrylic PRU blue for the undersides.

 

The black frame behind the cockpit is the rear frame of the canopy. I'll be building the aircraft with the canopy open. 

 

cqFLQrzh.jpg

 

It was about this stage I took a closer look at my decals and realised Xtrakit had made an error. The aircraft I'd chosen was meant to have silver undersides, not PRU blue. I put out a call on the forum for spare decals from an Airfix kit and @FZ6 came to my rescue with the serials for WK281. I'm very thankful for his help and will be able to keep the PRU blue on the aircraft. 

 

This brings us to today. I've been repainting the dark green and dark sea grey so that they better matche the profile on the Airfix sheet. I'll need to strip the tail-planes as the pattern can't be fixed with some modifications. Today's job is to touch up the PRU blue forward of the front landing gear where I've needed to do some sanding. 

 

Hoping to turn this around quite fast now. Looking forward to having this in the cabinet next to my Meteors (F8, NF11) and Hunter.

Edited by Magua87
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Today's work. Touching up the PRU blue. 

 

kQZ7glHh.jpg

 

You can better see the corrected green and grey scheme here compared to the photo in my first post. 

 

S3E3wLnh.jpg

 

1BWTBeFh.jpg

Edited by Magua87
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4 hours ago, Beard said:

I think you really ought to finish that Spitfire XIX too... 😉

 

Next in the queue. Even thought I started that before the Swift. 

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Looks a very nice and crisp build so far, lovely finish.

 

Given how good the base kit looks, I'm surprised Airfix released a Swift, glad they did as I'm one of those odd people that prefers the look of the Swift over the Hunter.

 

That Meteor looks great as well.

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On 5/14/2017 at 0:01 AM, 71chally said:

Looks a very nice and crisp build so far, lovely finish.

 

Given how good the base kit looks, I'm surprised Airfix released a Swift, glad they did as I'm one of those odd people that prefers the look of the Swift over the Hunter.

 

That Meteor looks great as well.

 

The kit takes a bit of work in a few areas. E.g. the wing to fuselage join was really poor on the underside of the aicraft and required a lot of filing, filling and sanding. There were also some big gaps between the top of the fuse and wings I filled with plastic card, filler, and sanded. I opted for the Xtrakit aircraft as it has finer surface detail than the Airfix kit.

 

Here's the RFI on the Meteor if you're interested. 

 

 

I have had a bit of a set back today. While applying the gloss coat I dropped the kit!

 

AgYdJysh.jpg

 

TP81fHmh.jpg

 

Damage is thankfully confined to the nose area. I'll try and slip some card inside the nose to strengthen it before I start putting it back together. Frustrating, but not too hard to rectify! 

 

Oh well! This arrived. Will keep me occupied while I'm sanding and painting the nose area.

 

3ZTbgRqh.jpg

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Alright, the nose is back together with some superglue and a bit of sanding. Will need a bit of scribing to reinstate some panels forward of the windscreen and behind the camera port. 

 

I'm working on the camera port with some putty and a toothpick. Not sure how I'll fit a new camera lens in there. Although that's a problem for future Duncan. 

 

Will be interesting to see how the paint goes down over a half finished gloss coat. I'll try to respray via panels so it will have a more natural look. Four painting sessions coming up: PRU blue, dark green, dark sea grey, and Tamiya's flat aluminium for the front wheel bay.

 

8VKoq5oh.jpg

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First coat of DSG on the nose. Noticed a few depressions that needed to be filled. 

 

Dropped a bit of grey paint on the wing! That's been sanded and masked ready for when I lay some green on the nose. 

 

dEGUixPh.jpg

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Hope it's ok to join in and follow along?

 

I too like the Swift, lovely lines on this early jet.

 

I was thinking of buying this kit today when browsing the yellow 'H'. Now you've helped me decide. It's a 'yes'; I see what you mean about the surface detail - nice :).

 

Youve done a fine job on the paintwork, the Gunze colours look great too.

 

Good save on the nose; it's fighting back but you're winning :thumbsup: 

 

Best regards

TonyT

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On 5/26/2017 at 2:27 AM, TonyTiger66 said:

Hope it's ok to join in and follow along?

 

The more the merrier. Hannants' will be happy with my advertising!

 

Steady progress with the repairs. New panel on the port wing. You can see the patch of green with a different sheen. Should disappear under the gloss coat and then the following flat coat. 

 

EzE4CkOh.jpg

 

Nose repaired and repainted.

 

PgiE8t8h.jpg

Db0pUdUh.jpg

 

This brings us back to the starting point on this thread, a PRU Blue touch up of the nose. Will probably end up a job for next weekend. 

 

VO3S9Dxh.jpg

 

Looking forward to cracking on with the gloss coat, which I think I'll brush paint this time, and the decals. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Right, not sure where to go with this build at the moment. 

 

I finished my painting and added a gloss coat. Brush painted kleer. The coat went on fine and the kit has an excellent sheen. However, where the kleer went over the gunze acrylics, they've cracked. No cracking over the Humbrol PRU blue. 

 

It's worse in some areas than others. It's particularly prevalent on the starboard wing. 

 

uiscfgPh.jpg

 

You might be able to see it in these photos, too. Hard to capture, but it has spread to all surfaces of gunze, both the Dark Green and DSG. 

 

PPPdDOGh.jpg

 

I think it might be time to take the nuclear option and strip all the paint and start again. I've tried over-spraying, but the new paint layers continue to crack. I had a similar issue with gunze's shine red and kleer on my recent Meteor F8. It was minor and only confined to the engine nacelles, so I wasn't too worried. This, however, is all over the top side! 

 

I feel like this thread is becoming Duncan's tale of woe! I hope to have some better news to report soon.

Edited by Magua87
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Bummer about the dropped model - but all I can say is ;

" call that cracking? - THIS is cracking!"

What happened when I sprayed Tamiya Satin clear over  Humbrol and White Ensign greens when it was a bit cool and the humidity was a bit high!

DSCN1207_zpsqrploqy7.jpg

And wait, there's more!!

DSCN1210_zpsy6dqia7p.jpg

I have been able to very gently sand it all smooth and you will note that the decals are unaffected so these will be masked and some very careful repair painting will be done when the weather improves - probably in about three months' time!

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Ok, team. 

 

I've done some testing. Looks like we'll be able to save it with some 2000 grit sandpaper and a bit of a polish with some toothpaste. I think I'll focus on the wings to start with, as they seem to be the worst affected. 

 

Worst comes to worst, we'll do some localised respraying. We're back on track! 

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Horatio, that's pretty brutal. I think most of the cracking on my bird should disappear under a flat coat. Time will tell. 

 

I've finished my sanding. I'll crack on with some painting on the weekend.

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Progress on the painting. 

 

p5MAnVth.jpg

 

Touch ups of green are all done. The worst of the cracking has been dealt with. We'll see if any of it reappears. I also took the opportunity to better fair in the cockpit windscreen with a bit of putty and painted it green. 

 

AJlZlc8h.jpg

 

Tailplanes have been touched up with PRU blue. I've also added some plastic rod to help make a good connection with the fuselage. I snipped off the kit's locating lugs as they were misshapen blobs of plastic. 

 

6liJXyeh.jpg

 

Hope to crack on with the DSG tomorrow. Though I might crack on with painting another kit. We'll see if I can get some masking done tonight. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I was umming and ahhing over the paint on the Swift for a long time. Eventually I noticed some cracking on the underside of the fuselage and decided it was time to start again! 

 

I feel like I've been sanding for an eternity, but today I was finally able to lay down some paint. Tamiya X-1 as a base layer and I'll build up the camouflage over the top. I think I might have some sanding to do first to tidy up a few areas. Nothing major. Pretty happy with how it's turned out so far.

 

Avk0zcYh.jpg

 

f0EbKrOh.jpg

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Well done :clap: .

I like it when people don't give up. It's often just taking time away to recoup, then enjoying working on the model again.

 

Christer is right, that's a great finish you've got there :thumbsup2: 

 

Keep going! :)

Best regards

TonyT

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Sorry to hear about your mishaps with this one but glads you're making progress. Projects which suffer setbacks like this can languish for a while. Are you ok for the decals or do you need any more?

 

Regards,

 

Mark

 

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  • 1 month later...

After some sanding where the cracking returned I managed to get a finish I was happy with. I left it a week and we were good to go with some new paint this morning. 

 

kDuFDS6l.jpg

 

jETiFuHl.jpg

 

I think I'll try my hand at some post shading before I move onto the green and grey upper surfaces. 

 

Honestly, I'm surprised I've got this far. Guess I'm more patient than I thought. 

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