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Xtrakit Swift 1/72


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On 8/20/2017 at 11:21 PM, FZ6 said:

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

 

I ended up buying an Airfix Swift. The plan is to buy the Alleycat conversion kit to build the air speed record setting F4. Thanks very much for the offer, but I think I should be good this time. 

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Mate, those early photos where it was grey/green camo, it still looked superb. The standards on this site are so high it's making think of giving up modelling again, I can't come close to anything I've seen on here.

 

Is anyone rubbish and just builds out of the box for fun and ease, and just paints with one coat of Tamiya out of a pot!? 

 

I'm out of my depth aren't I. 

Edited by Lord Riot
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On 10/2/2017 at 2:25 AM, Lord Riot said:

Mate, those early photos where it was grey/green camo, it still looked superb. The standards on this site are so high it's making think of giving up modelling again, I can't come close to anything I've seen on here.

 

Is anyone rubbish and just builds out of the box for fun and ease, and just paints with one coat of Tamiya out of a pot!? 

 

I'm out of my depth aren't I. 

I was quite happy with that, too! See post 15, it all fell apart with a gloss coat that cracked the underlying paint across the whole model. 

 

Does anyone have any shots of the underside of a Swift? I'm interested to see where it leaks oil and builds up grime. There's a great shot of XD907 in the Warpaint book, but I'm hoping to find some other shots to help. 

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H330 applied without any dramas. The only touchups I had to make were blending the windscreen in with a bit of Mr Surfacer. 

 

I've just given it a few coats of Gunze H30 clear and have left it in my cabinet to dry. 

 

We're basically back where we were in May! All going well I reckon I'll done by the end of October. Should be able to crack on with the decals this week. 

 

RaxunZvl.jpg

HO0fqIAl.jpg

kpiSjTol.jpg

 

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On 01/10/2017 at 4:33 AM, Magua87 said:

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. 

Nice model coming along there. I know the Airfix kit sort of eclipsed the Xtrakit a bit but the latter still has the most accurate decal sheet of the lot, including the CMR kit. 27" roundels all round and a red thin box around the 74sqn markings

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This is looking promising. I've stuck with Gunze for the gloss coat. No issues so far. Decals this weekend. 

 

zvxcpHch.jpg

BGfg7txh.jpg

 

Other projects get a look in while we wait for paint and gloss coats to dry.

 

Ekzl2JMh.jpg

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All decals on except for the serials and those on the tailplanes and landing gear doors. From here I need to gloss those small parts and place a protective coat over the main aircraft. The fit of the tailplanes isn't perfect, so I think I'll mask up the area, fill, smooth and spray before I place the serials, as that's the area that needs the most work.

 

I moved away from the Gunze gloss coat to Tamyia X-22. I've found that Gunze's gloss doesn't seem to cure. Not sure what the issue is. Not the first time I've had it happen either. Maybe I'm laying down the coats too fast? Anyway, X-22 came to the rescue and dries rock hard. 

 

xhtrjdTh.jpg

5oZFrmYh.jpg

YkhgL1eh.jpg

 

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Oh, and I'll need to mask and spray the end of the K on the underwing serials. Not a perfect fit as they're meant for the Airfix kit. I see I've missed a stencil from the underside, too. 

 

Looking forward to having this sitting next to my Meteors and Hunter! 

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Are Swifts always glossy? I’m about to paint mine, was going to use Matt Dark Sea Grey and Tamiya XF81 green, would that be wrong? 

Edited by Lord Riot
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20 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Are Swifts always glossy? I’m about to paint mine, was going to use Matt Dark Sea Grey and Tamiya XF81 green, would that be wrong? 

You've got the correct colours. Looks like the Swifts were mostly flat or semi-gloss, but a nice glossy coat is needed for the decals. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The tailplanes have been superglued to the fuselage. It's a pretty poor fit, so I made an attempt to blend them in with filler. However, the seams are going to need a little bit more work. 

 

almost left them as is, but after all the work I've sunk into this airframe I knew I'd regret it. So there may be a bit of localised spraying to do, but hopefully with some careful sanding I can hand paint most of it. It should blend in with the gloss coats and flat coats to come. 

 

Also, I can't speak more highly of X-22 gloss. I left it a week to dry and it's rock solid. Most importantly there's zero cracking! 

 

yp3ECikh.jpg

RGC1BxAh.jpg

tqq9Gueh.jpg

 

 

Edited by Magua87
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One side finished. Looking pretty good. You can see where the paint is matte. Will give the area another gloss coat. When finished. 

 

xD1YovHh.jpg

 

Port side to be done. Getting the rear canopy ready first so I can spray at the same time. We almost had a disaster here. I used masking tape over the squadron bars and I lifted one of them in three pieces! I managed to remove them from the masking tape with my scalpel and reattach. I'll be using silly putty to mask when I spray the green paint! Gloss coat will be needed here, too, to seal the decal.

 

99fkQoTh.jpg

 

I've hand painted the underside. Looks pretty good. I despise Humbrol's acrylic PRU blue. It's horrendous and I won't let it near my airbrush again. 

 

HwnE3jOh.jpg

 

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Now that I've pinched the decals from my Airfix kit, I need to decide which Alleycat conversion to buy.

 

We've got the F1, F2 - F4, and F7 conversion kits available. I'm ruling out the F7 (weird looking aircraft), but I haven't decided between the F1 or F2 - F4.

 

I like the idea of the silver F1, WK207. Perhaps contrasting the unsuccessful first Swifts with the most successful FR version. WK198 is also interesting. The world world airspeed record beater from 1953. Not sure about the colour scheme though!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sneak peak! The flat coat is on and I'm moving onto the canopy and bang seat. I bought the Quickboost replacement, but it seems to dwarf the kit seat.

 

Original.

nFqpMCgh.jpg

 

Quick boost

tC0uLnzh.jpg

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Might try some surgery and see if I can cut it down as it sure looks the part. 

 

A few small things to tidy up. Landing gear and doors, a few aerials and a few touches of paint with the brush. 

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