KelT

A beautiful job, looks amazing. I love the idea of displaying it on that glass table too, at first glance I thought it was on water.

I don't think the light is coloured, it's a landing light so a little like a headlight, I suspect what you are seeing is just shadow from the wing edge. Considering you didn't have a reference photo before I think your nose decal is impressively close.

I got the cockpit built up after a lot of fiddly work: Removed the plastic straps on the foot pedals and replaced with Band-Aid. Thinned out the pilot seat so it didn't look so much like it was made by Little Tykes. Made my own seat belts since the PE ones with the kit were designed for gnomes. For some reason they seem to come from the lower back region, it's like Trumpeter forgot to scale them up or something. Mine were made from Band-Aid since it already has the holes in it, has a material pattern, is self adhesive and is readily available for free at your local swimming baths. Thinned out the bucket in the TAG's pit. Removed the plastic handles from the spare magazines and replaced them with foil ones. The foil is from those little tea candles, it's my new favourite material even holds a rivet with a pin pushed into it from behind. I learned the hard way to wash it in warm water first though as the wax residue doesn't like paint. Hollowed out the handle on the drawer below the radio. Oddly Trumpeter don't provide decals for the radio, I toyed with printing my own but the raised detail on the part was so good a decal wouldn't have sat properly so I ended up hand painting it. Put a back on the radio and added some cables, my first for the loom and likely the longest. For the cables I used elastic from standard knicker elastic, I found that soaking it in hot soapy water for a minute allowed you to pull out extremely long lengths at a time. It's actually surprising how many strands of elastic there are in a 10mm wide piece. Don't use the stuff out of your own underwear though as it can lead to discomfort and chills. I have to be honest, despite all Trumpeter's errors so far this kit goes together extremely well. Several parts such as the pilots seat, the top of the stool and the joystick click together so well you don't even have to glue them. (Of course they'd fall off after you'd completed the thing if you didn't and spend the rest of their lives rattling around in the tail as you raced around the kitchen making airplane noises.) You could even attach the chassis without gluing as it goes together so effectively, which is great for test fitting. I'm finding that even though the parts click together like Lego bricks the tolerances aren't as fine as with my last kit, (the Airfix Club Specialist Spitfire Vb) which is actually a good thing as a little paint doesn't interfere with the joint nearly as much. The fact that they included PE is great but it's completely useless if it's not to scale which can be seen even in the instructions as you can see from the image in my previous post. Providing the transparent fuselage is wonderful too but they failed to refine many of the parts that will be visible if you choose to use it, such as no backs to the small canisters or toolbox. Now for a little more about LS247 for anyone who might be interested. Below is the image of LS247 which captured my interest: The caption below the image read: The caption isn't quite correct but we will get to that later. The image above isn't from R. M. Allnutt's collection either, I was fortunate enough to track down and make contact with the stepson of one of the crew aboard HMS Tracker at that time. He was kind enough to scan his copies of the series of photographs for me as it seems there were several copies given/sold to Tracker crew at the time. Below is a photograph of Maxwell Turner the crewman for whom I am grateful for these photographs and whose stepson Keith I am greatly indebted to for taking the time to scan them for me. So how did LS247 come to end up in the Atlantic in the first place? Below is an excerpt from A Sprog Goes to War, the story of Norman Alvey who was the radio operator onboard HMS Tracker at the time. The photograph below shows Norman receiving the Ushakov medal at the age of 92 for his service with 816 Squadron aboard HMS Chaser escorting convoy's in the Arctic: You can read the rest of Norman's story here, it's a lengthy read but very informative and interesting and you can read about his award here. So an accident on landing. Careless? Well I did a little checking and found that during the four months 816 squadrons Swordfish were aboard HMS Tracker there were a total of twenty reported accidents, nineteen of which were during landing. It's not really surprising, I've worked in the Atlantic the weather is fierce and quickly changeable, the swells can be huge. A small vessel such as HMS Tracker would do more bobbing than an apple festival. When in combat the often joked about sluggishness of the Swordfish was a great advantage but perhaps when approaching a rapidly bouncing flight deck it was a severe disadvantage. For LS247, only four months old herself, it meant the end. Imagine going out to work each day, a dangerous job where you may well be shot at and killed. Bad enough in itself but what if you stood just as much chance of being killed when returning home and driving your car into your drive? These men did this time and time again in the defence of shipping convoys and we should never forget their bravery. I will reveal more interesting details to the story of LS247 in further posts. Swordfish accidents aboard HMS Tracker between Aug-Dec 1943. 25.8.43 LS261 816 Sqn Tracker. Heavy landing 25.8.43 ( S/L A. E. White); 26.8.43 DK683 816 Sqn Tracker, Night DL, over side Tracker, Cat Z (S/L AE White unhurt; S/L R Boakes & LA GN Jenkins killed) 4.9.43 HS645 816 Sqn, Tracker ran into another a/c taxying on deck Tracker 4.9.43 (S/L A. Muir); 4.9.43 HS641 816 Sqn Tracker ('B') 7.43; HS643 crashed through barrier into HS641 4.9.43 (S/L R. F. Creighton); "Miss Blandish" 4.9.43 HS643 816 Sqn Tracker, missed wires, through barrier into HS641, tail unit wrecked 4.9.43 (S/L R. F. Creighton); 4.9.43 DK697 816 Sqn ('M') Heavy landing (S/L JF Mason) - Aircraft repaired sent to 766 Sqn 3.44 30.9.43 LS238 816 Sqn Tracker, heavy landing, ship pitching 30.9.43 (S/L C. N. S. Bissett RNZ ) 3.10.43 LS247 816 Sqn Tracker. Bounced landing in gale, swung over side (S/L C. N. S. Bissett RNZN OK; observer S/L J. V. Stretton killed). 11.10.43 LS294 816 Sqn Tracker, u/c collapsed landing on rising deck 11.10.43 ( S/L E. B. Bennett); 27.10.43 HS674 816 Sqn Tracker broke port u/c landing Tracker 27.10.43 (S/L R. F. Creighton); 27.10.43 LS248 816 Sqn Tracker. Slow response to DLO's signals, damaged 27.10.43 (S/L A. Muir); 27.10.43 LS324 816 Sqn Tracker movement of deck landing 27.10.43 (S/L . E. White); 29.10.43 LS238 816 Sqn Tracker. Movement of deck while landing (S/L R. E. Cocklin & LA A. Liddell OK). 31.10.43 LS156 816 Sqn Tracker Violent manoeuvre of ship while hook engaged, rose 6ft, stalled, broke port oleo caught wire, Tracker, Cat X1 (S/L PJ Beresford) 6.11.43 LS248 816 Sqn Tracker movement of deck, damaged 6.11.43 (S/L F. H. Boriace); 26.11.43 HS674 816 Sqn Tracker landed with drift, went over edge 26.11.43 (S/L A. Muir OK). 17.12.43 LS321 816 Sqn Tracker; roll of ship, crashed on landing Tracker 17.12.43 (S/L R. E. Cocklin); 19.12.43 LS164 816 Sqn Tracker u/c collapsed landing on rising deck Tracker 19.12.43 (S/L E. B. Bennett); 21.12.43 LS169 816 Sqn Tracker. Crashed on landing (S/L P. J. Beresford OK). 21.12.43 LS248 816 Sqn Tracker u/c collapsed on landing 21.12.43 (S/L J. F. Mason);

@dogsbody Sorry to drag you over here dogsbody I didn't want to hijack Alan's thread. Do you have any idea what this part is supposed to be: D23 in the Tamiya kit and E7 in the Trumpeter one. Tamiya seems to have it attaching to the upper part of the cockpit where Trumpeter don't seem to know what to do with it. I've been unable to find it in any images or figure out what it might be, they must have included it for something right? In the images I have the place where is connects to the cockpit floor has a blanking cover on it but no lever. I'm considering just leaving it off myself but I would be interested to know what it is and then perhaps why they included it.

Thanks for that dogsbody it answers a question I asked in my own build, I couldn't identify what the pipes function were.

Actually, if you're interested, I just did a quick search and here is an image of your particular aircraft. L7647/'4H' of No 820 Squadron from Ark Royal flying near Gibraltar in 1940. (Topham via FAA Museum) It seems it has the straight through breather so if it's easier you could replace your broken one with the spare.

Looking good, that exhaust looks great. You got those decals on very nicely too, I'm a little worried about those especially the ones over the rudder cable area I hope I can do as good a job. Shame about the breather, breaking off parts I've already fitted whilst trying to fit or fix other parts is one of my failings. I haven't dropped one yet though, what a horrific moment that must have been. At least it's an easy one to repair.

A lovely looking model, I had to go double check on the scale, very impressive.

It looks great. You certainly picked yourself a challenge for a return to the hobby, I thought I was bad for leaping in at the deep end. You finished it though, well done and did such a wonderful job of it too. It should be all downhill into modelling paradise from here so long as you don't pick something even more challenging of course.

A lovely looking model and a nice splash of colour for a welcome change from camo or silver. I'm new to all this but I read that yellow was extremely difficult to paint but if that's the case then it certainly doesn't show here. Great work.

Wow that's a big model, what on earth do you do with it when it's finished?

I'm currently building the MkII and it seems Trumpeter got a lot of things wrong but what the hell, you build it so that you can admire it yourself and it looks pretty great so far. In my own build I'm trying to get the colours "right" but just for the heck of it and because I enjoy the research, but often it's harder work than building the model and certainly not worth the effort unless you enjoy that kind of thing. Besides often there seems to be no definitive answer and the more you delve the more contradictions you find. Plus, should I get something wrong who really cares, not me that's for sure, the whole trick is to have fun. However, all that said it's always great to get feedback even if it is too late to fix it since it's the best way to learn moving forward.

Looking good. It looks a lot quicker using an airbrush than I imagine it's going to be hand brushing but I am looking forward to the challenge of the final painting. Most of my fuselage will be spray painted thankfully so just the camouflage with need brushing. As you mentioned earlier though I'm already seeing just how much more paint something in this scale requires and masking tape it seems.

You don't have to be old to ride a Triumph. Nice photo and bike, I love the flared jeans :). I had the CB125 twin it too was a beautiful bike but I left most of it in a dry stone wall.

I managed to paint up the fuel tank although I had a little trouble determining the colour for this part. Trumpeter labels it as Model Colour H3 (Red) and indeed there are countless models on the internet with a bright red tank, however I could only find one aircraft with a red tank: This isn't a wartime aircraft but a more modern reconstruction as you can see the red tank has a little sparkle and texture to it. Checking out the images of HS491 in Malta again a little red can be seen in the top right of the tank but it appears to be exposed due to paint rubbing off. The Swordfish tanks were aluminium construction with a self sealing design, this is only a guess and perhaps someone has information I haven't found but, I considered that the red coating was part of the self sealing rubber designed to react with the fuel and re-seal the tank. It is likely, as in several other photo's I have, that this coating was then painted over with the standard aircraft interior colour. This is what I decided to do if only since a bright red tank stands out like Julian Clarey in a military parade. I thought about having a little red showing through for effect like HS491 but since my aircraft is only a few months old I figured it'd be unlikely. I added some fill caps and a couple of steel pipes which will eventually join up with the engine if all goes to plan. In the end I did manage to overcome my problem of chequer-plate texture for the cockpit floor. I embossed some kitchen foil over a standard wood file then glued it to the cockpit floor using PVA. Once dry I rubbed it down into the features with a cotton bud and cocktail stick. After painting it with XF-71 and letting it dry I gently rubbed a thinner soaked cotton bud over it to reveal the tin foil beneath. It still needs a wash for a little grime but I'm quite happy with the results. The steering wheel was subjected to some of my finest sewing with black thread before being painted with PVA then Tamiya semi-gloss black. I'm not completely happy with it and I am still trying to come up with a way to add a little shine to the cotton. This too needs a little distressing once it's complete. The wire is just some copper filament painted black and will eventually join up with the main loom, again if all goes to plan. For those of you that are thinking "hey that there's some mighty fine sewing and I got my brothers wedding coming up soon. Perhaps this fella will make me a tailor made suit an all." Forget it! I also painted up the chassis and again had problems as there seems to be no two aircraft around today which agree on an internal colour scheme. They range from everything in "cockpit green" to most of the cockpit in "cockpit green" and the chassis in a darker green, "cockpit green" and what looks like medium sea grey, "cockpit green" and black, I even found one with "cockpit green" and brown. In the end I decided on the "cockpit green" (a given) and the slightly darker chassis simply because it adds a little contrast for the models aesthetics. I made the darker green using Tamiya XF-71 (cockpit green) and adding XF-81 (dark green) at about 1:1. (I get a dollar every time I use the words "cockpit green" by the way) So which aircraft did I decide to model. Well by sheer co-incidence, or perhaps not as it was brought about through researching HS158 but unlike HS158, my aircraft did serve with 816 squadron, it was aboard HMS Tracker in 1943 and it did wear the squadron code "B". Below is a photo of her aboard HMS Tracker taken in 1943 by a naval photographer Lt Oulds. The aircraft is LS247. I know this despite not being able to see the serial since Lt. Oulds was only onboard the Tracker for a couple of months, it is indeed likely that he flew out in one of the brand new Swordfish as they were delivered to 816 squadron. In fact it's also likely that he flew out because the Swordfish were brand new and also because they were using a new classified weapon. The Swordfish MkII was introduced in early 1943 with the metal protective plate under the wings allowing the first use of rockets on the aircraft. This new design was first put into service two or three months prior to these photographs and so the rocket technology was still very much classified, in fact the images at the time were censored. The photograph below is not the one that inspired me to model LS247, I will get to that one later, but it is an excellent image and I show it here because - a little more speculation here - I suspect that this image, commonly available on the net might be the one that further consolidated the HS158 fantasy precisely because it is 816 squadron, "B", onboard HMS Tracker in 1943 and you cannot see the serial number. I'm not sure where this photo is from, there are so many copies floating about, but the copy on IWM describes it as: "Striking down" or folding the wings on a rocket firing Fairey Swordfish of No 816 Squadron Fleet Air Arm after it had landed on board HMS TRACKER from an anti-submarine sweep in the North Atlantic.

Superb job and an interesting story to go with it. What was the motorcycle by the way? I have this image of you on an old Triumph with a dozen boxes of models all bunjeed to the pillion.

Well done with those strips, I always mix my brute force 50:70 with ignorance. Your interior is beautifully done, I hope I can produce something near as good. Thanks for the pics, they help me visualize what might be visible with the transparent side too.

Hi I also read recently that placing the part in a bag and leaving it overnight in the freezer will cause the superglue to go brittle and make it easier to break the bond. I never got to test the theory since it would have meant putting the whole model in the freezer for me and every bond would have been loosened but it I read it in several places and it sounded feasible.

Hi Alan Thanks for the info. I had given up on the cockpit floor after having tried several things the best of which was PVA gluing a piece of stretched nylon stockings to the floor. This actually wasn't too bad apart from the fact the I'd then need to cut perfect circles for the bomb hatch and other fixtures. Do you get a clear fuselage with the Mk1 kit? To be honest I'm trying not to think about the PE, I've never done it before and I am leaving it completely out of mind until I reach that point then I'll do some reading. I just found your WIP thread, I shall follow along for sure.

That's amazing. It must have been difficult to break apart a perfectly good kit but the results are well worth the sacrifice. My only comment is that you forgot the little yellow flowers near the starboard intake. 🙂

@Grey Beema I already have the aircraft I will be building and it's complete history, I'm just waiting on the pilots service records from NZ, but I will no doubt be looking for help and advice as I go so thank you for the advice. @amblypygid Thank you, I've already printed the decals I need, I got lots of practice at that with my last kit but this time at least I only need black lettering so it's easy. I spent a day studying the instructions both the Trumpeter ones and the Tamiya ones. There are a few obvious differences besides the Trumpeter model being bigger of course. The inclusion of the PE bracing wires in the Trumpeter kit (the Tamiya ones are an extra purchase) and the option for a clear fuselage and one or two other clear parts. Tamiya has the aircrew included where Trumpeter doesn't, Trumpeter offers a couple of minor optional parts such as variety of pitot tubes and this one: I have no idea what this part is, if there is a Swordfish expert looking in perhaps you can enlighten me, it looks like some kind of breather tube or vent. It is directly above the oil tank so perhaps it's related to that? It's not even labelled on the Haynes cutout drawing. Before opening the plastic bags my very first problem became apparent. Trumpeter were kind enough to include clear fuselage certainly and to help make what you saw if you use them more appealing than simply empty space they included the fuel tanks, oil tank and the firewall between the engine and the tanks. They were also kind enough to include chassis parts for the tail end of the aircraft. What they - for reasons only they can possibly know - omitted to include is the chassis for the front of the aircraft around the fuel tanks. So using this image of the dismembered HS491 now residing at the Maltese Museum I bought some styrene today and had a go at re-creating the framework. The angles aren't perfect I know, they were better until I test fit it and realised I had to work around the Trumpeter fuselage moulding so I had to cut and alter it a little. I left the vertical bar which terminated the original Trumpeter chassis for strength and also because it contains the locating pin for the fuselage. The round members are also 0.2mm to fat but I'm not worried about that especially since Trumpeter moulded the top rail as a rectangular piece instead of round anyway. I've only done the starboard side as that's the only side I'm intending to use the clear fuselage on. My next problem is this part: The one on the left is the Tamiya cockpit floor, the one on the right is Trumpeter's idea of a copy. As you can see the Trumpeter one doesn't have the texture detail of the Tamiya part, are there any of you expert modellers reading this that might be able to give me an idea as to how to reproduce the texture on the Trumpeter part? I will say that from my experience so far, perhaps I was a little spoilt with the beautiful precision of the Airfix Spitifire VB kit, there has been a lot of seam cleaning so far on this kit. Nothing major, not big globs of plastic or anything but enough to keep me busy, every single side of the chassis parts had a seam line to be cleaned. Not the end of the world but I hope it's not indicative of things to come.

So this is my next model and the one I really wanted to build since I discovered this fascinating pastime. My wife started all this with a gift at Christmas but I think she prefers it when I finish a kit rather than when I just start one. Finishing means she gets the temporary return of her nail scissors, nail clippers, hair dryer, tweezers, nail files, cotton buds and sewing box. It also means that the spare room is permitted to be vacuumed without risk of sucking up a fallen part, but as I am happy to remind her, she only has herself to blame There are a lot of sprues so I won't photograph them all but the one above is of particular interest since it offers the option for a clear fuselage. This is something I hope to take great advantage of but if you can see all the innards then they need to be done well, right? Hmmm. Hold that thought. This will be a slow build, it is my intention to add a lot of extra detail to the model most of which is probably way beyond my skill level but you know what they say... he who dares ends up with a sticky mess. I will write a little of the story about the aircraft I chose to focus on as I go along this time and patch it all together for the RFI at the end since I have already done a lot of research. As the photo shows the kit presents two possible aircraft and I fancied attempting the white one HS158 designated 'B' of 816 squadron, so as is my wont I began looking up the aircraft itself. Well, it turns out HS158 never went anywhere near 816 squadron, in fact it is highly unlikely she was ever designated 'B' either, the closest it came was as '4B' during it's time with 813 squadron. It's history is as follows: Deld 28.5.42; 813 Sqn ('4B') 12.42 - 2.43; 860 Sqn from 9.43; Evanton SS 11.43; 825 Sqn, night landing, hit barrier, Vindex, Cat Y1 31.12.43 (S/L DG Trussel); ATA Ratcliffe to W&E Flt RAE 3.7.44 (Harvest Moon tests); 778 Sqn Crail/ Arbroath 14.8.44; Left 3.2.45; 731 Sqn Easthaven ('E3E') 3.45; Fast landing, sheared off u/c, off barrier into sea, Cat ZZ 30.8.45 (Lt RH Ayrton OK) So I wondered how Trumpeter could possibly have such a simple piece of information wrong? It turns out the Trumpeter kit is heavily based upon the Tamiya 1/48 kit which also offers HS158 of 816 squadron designated 'B' even daring to place it aboard HMS Tracker in 1943 which of course it never was. The closest it came was when it was aboard the newly completed HMS Vindex at the end of 1943 long before Vindex joined HMS Tracker for the Atlantic operations. So Tamiya have it wrong also, curious. I delved deeper and the first instance of HS158 wearing the designation 'B' is this one by Airfix from 1958: Neither the packet nor the instructions make any mention of it being part of 816 squadron or HMS Tracker. The only images I have been able to secure of HS158 are the two below. As you can see she carries only a pilot and has no squadron designation whatsoever since these images were taken during her test flights carried out by test pilot H.P. Wilson. It seems likely that these images were the source of the original HS158 models and since modellers were probably a lot less particular in those days Airfix simply gave her the letter 'B' designation because they could. Over the years different manufacturers have carried on the tale of HS158 embellishing it with extra details as they went, it does seem peculiar that none ever took the time to check their facts but I guess that's big business for you. Not convinced that these images were the basis for Airfix's original perversion of HS158? Well then check out this third photograph from the series which I cannot post here since it appears to be copyrighted, compare that image with this one from a later Airfix kit (1966) with clearer box art, does that man look familiar I have to say someone did a very poor job of drawing in the TAG and I have no idea what kind of gun that is but if he doesn't at the least need some serious dental work after firing it then it looks likely to blow the poor guy out through the prop. Third Photo So, anyway, since the story behind the model HS158 is one of fabrication the brothers Grimm would have been proud of and hundreds of modellers had already built this imaginary plane I decided I would focus on a different aircraft altogether, which one I will reveal in my next posts. Please be patient.

That is beautiful. I'm no judge of details or precision so I can only go on looks and for me one of the big sellers is when the model ceases to look like a plastic kit and looks more like a metallic replica. You've certainly achieved that look here.

I really like that. I admire your perseverance too, I think if I shelved one of mine it would likely be a very deep dark shelf, to keep coming back and giving it another go until I produced a fine looking model such as this is beyond my patience. I really enjoy and appreciate the background to the aircraft too, it makes them more than just a model. Great work. My next model is a Swordfish so I hope I can demonstrate some of your skill while building it.

@Spitfire31 Thank you. I don't think the photos are lying what they show is how it is. The Airfix instructions gave the angle for the wheel legs at 93deg which is virtually vertical. Since the joint was such a weak one I went with laying the wheel cover against the aircraft body to give it a little more strength. I don't have any way of measuring it accurately but I'd say it gives more like 95deg a difference I didn't think would really show, I guess I was wrong. The negative camber on the wheels was something I wasn't even aware of or looking for I just glued the parts together as they fitted so that is a new piece of information for me. I shall look out for these things if I build another Spitfire and indeed on other aircraft in general. For the yellow wingtips I admit to my guilt 😳. Having experienced lots of issues in other areas I was pretty much over it at that particular point and I didn't so much paint the prop tips as dunk them into the pot. A method which doesn't work very well by the way since the paint tends to run away from the edges. I do agree that 2.12mm is a little anal but then as the old saying goes, "take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves". The more of these little things, especially simple ones such as these you have brought to my attention, that we can get right the better the overall appearance. I don't think I ever want to worry about such minute details but why not get them right if it's an easy thing to do. Thank you for the information and help.