KelT

Well I finally found time to do a little today, I removed and tidied up all the engine parts and did a dry fit but then I became distracted. I have seen several models where people add extra wires and pipes to the engine to provide more detail and I noticed the small lugs on the engine cylinders: I wondered what they were supposed to be and then I fell into the world of the Bristol Pegasus Radial Engine. Turns out the the MkI Swordfish were equipped with a Pegasus IIIM3 690HP engine. A very few of the first MkII's retained this engine but it truly was only the first few off the line as they were almost all fitted with the Pegasus XXX engine and any MkII you build which has the large oil cooler was certainly using a later version of the Pegasus. Excerpt from "Swordfish in Action" by Don Greer. As I began researching to determine what the little lugs actually were I was surprised to discover that none of the engines I found had the lugs. It took a lot of research and all the time I had allotted to building before I could actually satisfy my suspicions. The engine detailed in the Trumpeter kit of the MkII Swordfish is actually a Pegasus IIIM3 which was only ever fitted with the smaller oil cooler, therefore a MKI Swordfish engine. A trivial detail I know and it really doesn't concern me overly but interesting nonetheless. This IIIM3 taken from the service and repair manual shows the lugs and attached pipes: I have not been able to determine what the pipes do but suspect they are part of the oil cooling system, perhaps an engineer might have a better idea. Images of the IIIM3 were extremely difficult to come by, probably because there are none of them left. A Pegasus X: Another Pegasus X (I couldn't find an image of a XXX but all the X,XX,XIV etc I did find had the extra pipe missing). This next image though is interesting as the other engine in the back ground could actually be an earlier Pegasus II or IIIM perhaps: They really want to sort out their wiring issues at that museum though right? Oddly enough whilst researching I came across the refurbished W5856 and also discovered this video which wasn't released last time I was researching Swordfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVVAA7oJsuQ It's an interesting watch with lots of juicy information for anyone building the aircraft. I found it amusing though how they are selling the refurbished W5856 as a Mk1 when it is fitted with a Pegasus XXX engine and oil cooler, obviously either confirming my suspicions that there are no IIIM3's left or perhaps that they were under-powered for the aircraft in the first place and modern day restrictions wouldn't permit such a small engine to be fitted? Who knows. W5856 had already been refitted with a later version Pegasus and oil cooler when British Aerospace acquired it as can be seen when they are loading the parts onto the truck. With that replacement and all the other replacement parts it makes you wonder if it is actually even W5856 or certainly how much of it is. I absolutely do not mean to belittle what those guys did though its a remarkable job and wonderful to see a Swordfish still flying. Anyway, just trivial information I figured I'd share and the image above is a great colour reference for the engine itself. There does seem to be a lot of confused information on the Pegasus and even Don Greer's book (above) states that the Mk XXX was 750hp which seems unlikely in light of the other information I have found. For example the image below from a manual shows the earlier Mk XXII and states that it produced 1010hp, it seems unlikely they would reduce hp in later models, certainly not by as much as 250hp. Back to the model I didn't have the time for after my research... Despite most of the parts fitting together with a push and a click I found that the induction pipes at the rear of the engine didn't actually connect with the cylinder heads. Since these are visible from the rear of the engine cowling in the finished model my next job will be to sand down the center column on part D21 to bring the two pieces closer together. To be continued... but don't make me responsible if you hold your breath.

Well you probably thought I'd abandoned this build/thread again but I did warn that progress will be slow. Thank you for the kind responses they are very much appreciated. @bigbadbadge I did consider following the panel lines but I want to stay away from straight and square with the transparent viewing window since the Swordfish isn't a very square aircraft. I'd even like to feather the edges of the paint if I could but not having an airbrush will likely make that impossible. @Terry I took a quick look at your Vosper thread Terry, amazing work, to be honest I'd seen your submarine first, it too looks amazing but I couldn't help think "Oh for something as simple as that" then when I saw all the scratch stuff on your Vosper I just sat staring at the screen in awe. I haven't had a proper chance to look through any current threads on the forums but it's perhaps for the best as the standards here can be more than a little intimidating at times. Very informative though and with tons of great ideas. @Chief Cohiba Four years is a very long time, I'm guessing you built other things in that period though rather than a complete break right? Mine would have been buried under dust after fours years I reckon, you can still see one of the cobwebs in the photos. Anyhow. I have done a little, baby steps. I added the fire extinguisher tank and another which I was unable to identify. I took some liberty and placed the fire extinguisher on the starboard side rather than the port since that's the side which should be visible. I also added a couple of junction boxes and terminated the elastic cables I've had dangling about for over two years. I realise that most of the work won't actually be visible but I enjoyed it and that's what counts, it's also an easier re-entry working on parts that won't be visible as my mistakes shouldn't be either. My objective was simply to make the compartment front of the fuel tank look a little busy as it actually was rather than just an empty space. In the end I build from front to back although I did have to break off my frame extension to get things to fit, in hindsight I should probably have extended the frame after putting all the other parts together. I fit the new frame around the firewall simply by cutting a couple of the struts and sliding it in. Fortunately, and uncharacteristically, the whole fuel tank/firewall assembly seems to have quite a lot of leeway when it comes to fitting most unlike the other parts so far. Perhaps it's down to the parts being added later to give something to look at with the addition of the transparent sides. Right, a little more on the story of LS247 and her crew. The last image showed the aircraft just after impact with the TAG and observer just starting to exit the cockpit. This next image is the first indication of just how quickly HMS Tracker was moving assuming the photographer was winding and clicking just as quickly as he could. It's difficult to make out exactly what is happening around the cockpit in this one but it does appear as though both the pilot and TAG are helping John Stretton out of the cockpit. Of interest though is the liferaft compartment, remembering that this is pretty much a brand new aircraft, we can see that the panel was popped open as the liferaft began to inflate (Top right wing near the center) triggered either by the immersion switch or the pilot himself. We can also clearly see gas of some kind streaming from the compartment, I think it would be fair to assume that this is the air which should have been inflating the liferaft. The port wing had taken a bump as the aircraft fell of the carrier but this can be seen on the very tip of the upper wing and doesn't look particularly severe. So then, a faulty liferaft, on a brand new aircraft? Another point which is also quite frightening is just how quickly these aircraft go down once in the water. Now I'd like to talk a little about the pilot Sub Lt. CSN Bissett. Clifford Norman Smyth Bissett, born on 1st March 1915 to Mr. and Mrs N. A. Bisset, was an ordinary man, like most of us. He was born and lived, prior to the war, in Dunedin, New Zealand and at the time of the LS247 accident was almost 29 years old so quite mature for most servicemen of that period. Before the war he was working as a simple school teacher in NZ with a degree in Psychology and partial qualification in accountancy. Almost immediately after the start of the war Clifford volunteered his service and joined the NZ army as an infantryman on the 3rd July 1940. His potential must have been recognised as he transferred to the New Zealand Air Force on the 29th March 1941 for training as a pilot. Quite the jump from teaching school kids to flying aircraft in just eight months. The Air Force wasn't the end of Clifford's bouncing about though as he then transferred to the New Zealand Navy six months later as Acting Sub Lieutenant and was immediately transferred to the British Navy at HMS Daedalus presumably for his flight training. The following years saw Clifford bouncing between several land based RN bases these being HMS Jackdaw, HMS Condor and a return posting to HMS Daedalus. In February 1943 he was assigned to 781 Squadron but still land based. Clifford hadn't finished his bouncing around though as three months later he was transferred to 816 Squadron on 17th May 1943. At the same time Swordfish DK706 was transferred from 833 squadron to 816 squadron and became Cliffs first Swordfish although still land based. Up until this point the only aircraft I can link him to is a Percival P-28 Proctor serial number P6076. I have to admit I haven't, so far, tried to find any information on this aircraft which might reveal a little more about what Cliff was up to since being a different model to the Swordfish I am building its a whole different search area. Finally Cliffs training was over and on 15th August 1943 he joined HMS Tracker as part of 816 squadron. Here he was assigned his third aircraft Swordfish LS238. So from schoolteacher in NZ to his first real ship and aircraft in the Fleet Air Arm in just three years, he'd spent nearly twice as long training to become a teacher. An ordinary bloke but an extraordinary three years. Two weeks after his posting aboard ship Clifford experienced his first accident landing LS238: 30.9.43 LS238 816 Sqn Tracker, heavy landing, ship pitching 30.9.43 (S/L C. N. S. Bissett RNZ ) Try and put yourself in Clifford's shoes for a second or two, all that moving about, all that chaos and within two weeks of his arrival onboard a real ship he has his first accident. As I mentioned in an earlier post accidents were not a rare occurrence aboard HMS Tracker during that period. If it were me LS238 wouldn't have been the only thing taking a heavy landing, my confidence would have come down with a bump too. All this occurred before the accident with LS247, which occurred just three days later. Reading this you might suspect I am about to be a little hard on Cliff regarding the accident which resulted in the loss of LS247 and the life of Sub Lt. John Victor Stretton but you couldn't be further from the truth. I give you this background on Cliff so that you might sit for a while and try to imagine his journey, his mindset up until the point of the LS247 accident. He'd only been onboard ship for six weeks and judging from the accident reports it wasn't a gentle holiday cruise around the Mediterranean, conditions were rough and he was inexperienced. I don't mean to suggest that Clifford was different to many others merely to give an idea of just how he (and others) arrived where he did. So six weeks aboard ship, one accident under your belt already, first to return and land on a heavily bouncing deck, your aircraft topples over the side and into the cold water, your Observer is injured, a huge intimidating aircraft carrier looms over you churning the cold water even more than it already is and your aircraft is sinking FAST. What would you do? Well we will find out exactly what Cliff did in future instalments, but please, ponder on it for a while, out of respect for those men.

Thank you to both of you. This is likely to be a very slow journey to completion, just catching up on all the background is keeping me very busy and I continue to find new information I missed the first time around. I can understand why I put the model away two years ago as I had reached a point where I can only cease to refer to the instructions as such and have to begin calling them a guide instead. In deciding to use the transparent side for the Starboard it invariably means much will be visible which Trumpeter neglected to include, in particular all of the equipment in the front engine bay. It looks like I am going to have to fabricate my own for a while, a daunting task for a beginner. I am hoping to put aside the "Instructions" and instead construct the entire chassis as a complete unit which can then be inserted whole into the fuselage, in this way I can add whatever I like before it gets encased. My main concern - which probably isn't a big deal but I am managing to procrastinate over more than adequately - is how to assemble/align the pilots console and gun. The second is how I am going to address the frame (my extended forward frame) passing through the firewall. I will get there but nerves and caution are making it a slow process and I keep getting caught up in the story of the aircraft instead, well it serves as an great excuse anyway. I never intended to use the transparent starboard side as a whole making half of the aircraft clear but instead "hope" to be able to create a more flowing view window. I was struggling to visualise how this might work and what exactly would be exposed so today I took two sets of photos, one with the transparent shells and one without. By placing the opaque image in a layer above the clear one in Photoshop and then using a brush to erase the general area I am hoping to keep clear I was able to get a better idea of what I am aiming for and what can/can't be seen. The Port image is clearer due to lighting which is typical since it's the starboard I will be making clear. The port does show how much extra work would be required to complete the rear of the equipment on that side, fortunately the starboard doesn't have the same problems.

Well I just returned to this thread and, hopefully this model, having done neither posting nor modelling in the interim. Thank goodness for Britmodeller as reading through my own posts has been the best reminder of what I had in mind for this aircraft. I was hoping to do a search and find dozens of other Swordfish builds completed since my last visit so I might have used them as guides but sadly that doesn't appear to be the case. This was only my second model back in 2018 so I knew very little back then and I have forgotten twice as much so the road to continuation is likely to be a slow and very bumpy one. On the upside time and a little dust seems only to have added to the effects of the so far completed sections. @Fogold Sorry I wasn't here to respond to your post and now you are likely not here to read my reply but wth. I agree the rudder pedals do appear, in the model, to have been built for someone with legs three times their body length. Looking at the image below though where the pilots knees are virtually touching the instrument panel they may not be as unrealistically far away as the seem. They were also adjustable according to the Aircrew Manual (the text snippet below) so despite how that were possible not being obvious in the actual model perhaps the distancing from the seat is not actually so bad. Now I have hundreds of images to study again and lots of PDF's to re-read and that's before I look to see if all my paint has gone solid. I'm looking forward to continuing this build but I am also very afraid to do so, I just keep reminding myself, it's all about the fun. Hopefully this thread has not only been severely necromanced but will also be filled with new life over the coming months.

The rigging looks great, your troubles are not doing anything to ease my own concerns but your eventual success does give me hope. I shall have to get back to my build sometime soon, I seem to have taken a little unplanned break. You're pretty close to an RFI thread by the looks of things, I'm looking forward to seeing her complete.

Looking good. I hope I don't have to buy one of those things to get the PE off.

Great work. I just finished one of these myself (it's the Airfix Club Specialist right?) and even for a beginner the kit was a joy to put together; apart from the undercarriage, as you say, although mine is holding out so far with lots of glue and hope. I agree the cannons look much nicer, did you replace the exhausts too because that's an incredible job you've done of hollowing them out if you did it yourself.

Odd isn't it because without the resin kit sitting there you'd say there was a lot of detail in the actual kit. Thanks for the comparative photo I like to use these examples from the extras for ideas of what to scratch and add myself. If I wasn't on such a budget I'd probably buy the extras but for now while I still have so many paints and tools to acquire I have to make do with imagination and household goods. Looking forward to seeing it painted up.

Hey good to see you back Alan. That rust and gun residue is very effective, good work.

A great story. I was never fortunate enough to have models in my childhood and reading your story makes me a little envious. Nicely written and nicely built.

@Ex-FAAWAFU That's very interesting. I knew nothing about Swordfish, the FAA or the men who were part of it prior to starting this model so my knowledge is limited to what I can find on the net. With every piece of information I discover my respect for those men grows and studying a small group in particular, such as the crew of LS247, makes it very real and somehow personal for me. I read about the lives and see the faces of men such as John Stretton who never made it into any painting or onto the pages of books but were no less brave than those that did and it humbles me. I feel both sad and honoured to learn about people like J. Stretton who would otherwise have gone unnoticed and, with the passing of Cliff Bisset, forgotten. In his short life he features in several photographs, the one above and the series on the crash, and yet it is the photographs themselves that have garnered the attention not the men in them. At the same time it is those same photographs that have preserved their memory for those like myself who are prepared to look a little deeper. Yet there are many others who did not stand in front of the camera but who were no less courageous and just as deserving of remembrance, until I began this modelling a short time ago I was one who remained shamefully oblivious. The war does not interest me, nor the aircraft or armour that fought in it, but coming into contact with the lives of the men who lived in those times somehow makes me more appreciative of my own life and gives me cause to look at those around me, both elder and younger, with a little more respect. Thank you for sharing some of your Dad's memories and experiences.

Got some more fiddly stuff done. Modifications made to kit: Filed out the bracket which holds the Vickers, drilled through and inserted a cut-down pin. The gun now rocks back and forth, couldn't figure out how to make it rotate though, not without fabricating a whole new bracket. Bored out the barrel of the Vickers. Removed the ejected cartridge capture bag as it looked like one of your grandad's old socks. Left the magazine off the Vickers as it is unlikely to have been left loaded while the aircraft is unmanned. Made a new tarp above the radio out of rolled up masking tape as the original looked a little blobby. Trumpeter again don't include any decals for the instruments in the observers pit or the pilots, again I toyed with printing some but ended up hand painting them instead. Removed the lump of plastic that was supposed to represent the seat belt guide bar on the bulkhead above the pilot seat. Replaced with some 15amp fuse wire and passed my seatbelts through it as they should go. Used the rest of the pin from the gun mount to make a T-bar for the fuel valve (that was the most fiddly part by far, gluing two pieces of 1mm steel pin together) and some extra knobs and buttons. Added a foil cutout around the thrust levers to give them a little more depth. Completed cabling on port side, although I still need to add some piping for the rudder controls. To be honest it felt like I did a lot more but these tiny bits take some time, I have been very thankful for my magnifying lamp that's for sure. Now a little more on LS247: There were three crew members aboard when she went over the side, the pilot (Sub Lt. Clifford Norman Smyth Bisset), the observer (Sub Lt. John Victor Stretton) and a TAG whom I have been unable to identify. John Stretton, shown below writing at his desk a few days before the accident, unfortunately lost his life in the crash. John - son of William and Annie Stretton {Watkinson}, of Creswell, Derbyshire - was 21 and only recently qualified as an observer, in fact this posting onto the Tracker a mere two months prior to the accident was his first active posting. Sub Lieutenant Stretton wasn't killed by the impact of the aircraft hitting the water but he was injured by it, his injuries proved to be too much as he struggled to stay afloat while awaiting rescue. Unfortunate indeed but even more so than normal as we will see in further posts. John Stretton writing at his desk aboard HMS Tracker. Also in the photo are Sub-Lts Duncan and Richardson. For now though you might be interested to take another look at the last photo of LS247 I posted. The Swordfish was fitted with an immersion switch in the engine compartment of the nose, upon sustained contact with water it was designed to automatically inflate the aircraft's liferaft. As you can clearly see from the image, with the nose well immersed in the cold Atlantic, this didn't happen. John Stretton is remembered on the FAA war memorial at Lee-on-Solent on panel number 4.

That looks really good, the cotton bud made a huge difference, although I didn't see the "Before:" at first and I sat thinking it looked just like it did last time until I scrolled down :)

I agree I'm also not a fan of the extended wingtips but you've made them look amazing. A beautiful looking job, great work.

Is that a clever pun? I've had no problem with the paint so far and I've given up worrying. Time will tell I guess. I'm just glad I found a way to work with the Vallejo as I really like the way they lay down and as you mentioned the lack of fumes is a big bonus. I did read that the Revel Aqua range were pretty good too but we don't get those in this dark corner of the world. For brush painting though I can't recommend enough watching Plastix's video, it's like watching someone paint, but it's worth watching all the way through, I learned so much from it. The only mistakes I made outside of what I learnt from Plastix were the ones where I didn't follow his advice due to lack of confidence in my own ability, I soon discovered that taking the leap and just giving it a go his way actually worked. No primer, no masking (for most of the job), thin layers and a confident hand. Of course I have a long way to go but Plastix's advice shortened the journey. Oh I should mention though that the Future as a thinner was my own idea, not from Plastix, so if you do try it and it doesn't work then I'm the one to direct the law suit at

Yes Future is the clear polish, I believe it's Pledge Wax or something like that in the UK, it's actually something completely different down here. It's basically an acrylic polish and I found it helps give the Vallejo paint a little more resilience as I had problems with it scratching off very easily with my first attempts. My last model had something like twenty one coats of paint in the end, not all at once of course I was removing them between trials. Using the oven cleaner took off the Tamiya primer too so my last paint job was effectively without any primer and I had no problems whatsoever but I was thinning with Future rather than water. I was fortunate enough to get a lot of help and advice from Plastix who is also a brush painter and does incredible work, he also said that he doesn't use primer although he is using Humbrol water based acrylics for the most part.

I too prefer Vallejo (Model Colour) now that I have the hang of them. The first time I used them it was over Tamiya Fine White Primer and the paint just wouldn't adhere to the surface. After some experimenting I now thin them using Future and avoid using any kind of primer, they work exceptionally well but it is better to thin the paint and build up the layers. I could imagine that being quite tedious with your mottled pattern though. I am looking forward to seeing your progress with reducing the intensity of the green.

Very nice indeed.

Oh I've done much, much worse with paints as a fellow amateur believe me. I possibly did better mottling than this as well at one point except it wasn't supposed to be mottled. At the time it was a cause for frustration and disappointment, quickly I came to appreciate the sheer amount of learning I derived from my errors, one kit provided more education than a dozen well done ones might. Now I'm not saying that your work is anything near that level of error but I am saying that since it's your first then you shouldn't place too much pressure on yourself and just enjoy the learning experience. I found during my own tribulations that with a little oven cleaner you can go right back to the plastic as though you'd never even touched the model. You of course don't need to do that but my point is that nothing is irreversible (well almost nothing, leaving it too close to a fire might be a challenge to recover) it all depends on how far back you want to go. Which paints did you use? A little Tamiya thinners or something like on a cotton bud would probably allow you to remove light coats, just don't press too hard or it goes through everything quickly. The hardest thing to overcome is that feeling of "just wanting to get it over with". To me is was suggested I start something else and return to it but I didn't have anything else. In the end what worked was to give up on my expectations and simply treat the kit as something to learn as much as I could from regardless of the outcome. The final result was not too bad at all to be honest but by that point it was an unexpected benefit.

That's really very good. Perhaps a tad too dark as you say but only just and once you have all the extra bits on and the decals it'll blend even more. Although it's only a little too dark when held against the printed page, without that page I'd never have known. For brush work that's a pretty wonderful job.

Simply stunning. Amazing work, I really like the base plate too.

A decal lovers dream come true. Beautiful job, a very striking colour scheme.

Wow another 1/32 Trumpeter I'll definitely be watching, I'm interested to see how it compares to the Swordfish kit.

I did some reading on Flory washes out of interest. Your staining may have arisen from not having a glossy enough finish, the wash then adheres to the rough surface. It can also do the same if your gloss coat hasn't had time to dry completely (24hrs apparently). I read that Windex applied very lightly (just to the top coat) will remove the staining as shown here. I have used Windex to try cleaning the paint off my last model where I went through a huge learning curve with paints. It wasn't strong enough to remove the paint (in the end I used oven cleaner for that) but it is quite gentle and easy to use, in other words a single drop doesn't turn your model back into plastic. There are varieties of Windex though and you need the ammonia based one. You could try it on one small area if you were inclined but I also know well the feeling of not wanting to completely ruin the work done already. I have learned that almost nothing is irreversible but it does depend on just how far back you are prepared to go in the process. Learning and having fun are not always synonymous, I've been there a lot recently, eventually I reached the point (oven cleaner) where I stopped worrying and it did become fun again and turned out okay in the end I thought. I was offered a lot of support at the time for which I was grateful, it can be hard when there are so many incredible models on this site and you feel yours is not going the way you envisioned it but at the end of the day it is just a model and fun is the motivation. So long as you are enjoying it then it was well worth opening the box and twiddling with tiny bits of plastic. Having said all of that I don't think the wash has ruined your model at all, it still looks great, just a little heavier on the grime than I personally would like, but hey I'm using Band-Aids and Knicker elastic so I'm no authority.

I know nothing about Flory wash so when I saw that first image I just thought OMG! I figured you might have dropped it again, in the local swamp. Once cleaned up though it has quite a nice effect, a little strong for my taste but it has certainly added depth to the aircraft. Do those washes come in different strengths, most of my aircraft will be white and I think that would be a little too much distressing? The bluing on the exhaust is great.