Search the Community

This build was quite fun, I had my doubts about sword but after this build I am left with a more positive outlook on them. The kit has it's difficulties though. I go into more detail in the WIP thread: Anyway, without further delay, here she is, T.5 XS416: Here she is with my other lightnings And here she is with my other camo RAF aircraft Thanks for looking!

Not much to say yet as I only started today, seats are almost done... I cut some cloth to size to replicate "sheepskin" seat covers I'd say they look quite good! The sword kit does come with PE but I didn't feel comfortable using the seatbelts due to the rigidity, I sacrificed details for a more natural look, I still think they look perfectly acceptable. Work on the cockpit has also started but nothing to write home about (just yet). Exhaust has got some paint on it but not ready just yet Intake is done, although on the sword kit that's a rather easy thing to do.

Hi all,I plan to build this quite recent kit from Sword in Fleet Air Arm's colors during Operation Musketeer in 1956, cheers!

Hi all For this unofficial GB with @AliGauld @Winded Penguin and our illustrious leader @mark.au at this time hopefully @Dunnymight well come on board with one too, with others hopefully joining in, it will be good fun. I will be building the Sword 1/72 Spitfire PR Mk1D designated PR.IV AA810 . This Spitfire entered service on 19th October 1941 and was flown by several pilots but this build will hopefully honour the Brave (they were all very brave) Sandy Gunn(Alastair Donald Mackintosh) who was shot down by two ME109s on 5th March 1942 whilst trying to photograph the Turpitz. The two fighters from Lade airfield were awaiting his arrival and he reported to colleagues that his engine was giving him trouble upon his arrival. The fighters descended on to the unarmed Spitfire and one landed a hit damaging the oil system , Alastair dived away but more rounds found their mark an the Spitfire was soon on fire. Leaving it as late as possible he bailed out suffering burns to hands and face . He was assisted by locals but was soon captured and after being part of a large and famous escape via Tunnel Harry, where 76 men left the camp before the Escape was discovered. Riding underneath a freight train trying to get to the port of Sassnitz. After repeated interrogations for all the captured men Alastair was called in one last time on 6th April 1944, where he was seen to be taken away in a Gestapo car and unbeknown to his colleagues was murdered later ghat day, his ashes being taken back to camp, today he rests in piece alongside fellow murdered prisoners in the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetary in Poznan Poland. Brave persons all, The Spitfire was recovered on 2018 and some 70% of the aiircraft remained intact and remarkably preserved in the snow and Peat bog and is undergoing restoration. More info on this fascinating project and charity aims can be located here https://www.spitfireaa810.co.uk/news The potted history above , was taken from the instruction leaflet. This is the kit, I purchased this kit from @2996 Victor Bringing PE set I wasn't initially going to do a thread on this but the pressure of the GB won through. Fuselage joined after throttle quadrant and undercarriage selector built from PE Cockpit entry door cut out, I have a vacform canopy to add too Wings glued after U,C bay leg walls added Initially I made a schoolboy error in adding the armour behind the seat, however I was able to slice this off and clean up and repaint frame 11 ? This is where I stand at the moment Thanks for looking in Chris

Hannants has just posted this amongst its "Future Releases": #72089 - BAC Jet Provost T.Mk.5 - http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72089 #72090 - BAC 167 Strikemaster - http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72090 Sword keeps releasing really interesting subjects!

Hi all I started this as this unofficial GB with @AliGauld, @Winded Penguin, @2996 Victor, @ModelingEdmontonianand our illustrious leader @mark.au was good fun. I built the Sword 1/72 Spitfire Mk1D designated PR.IV AA810 . This Spitfire entered service on 19th October 1941 and was flown by several pilots but this build will hopefully honour the Brave (they were all very brave) Sandy Gunn(Alastair Donald Mackintosh) who was shot down by two ME109s on 5th March 1942 whilst trying to photograph the Turpitz. The two fighters from Lade airfield were awaiting his arrival and he reported to colleagues that his engine was giving him trouble upon his arrival. The fighters descended on to the unarmed Spitfire and one landed a hit damaging the oil system , Alastair dived away but more rounds found their mark an the Spitfire was soon on fire. Leaving it as late as possible he bailed out suffering burns to hands and face . He was assisted by locals but was soon captured and after being part of a large and famous escape via Tunnel Harry, where 76 men left the camp before the Escape was discovered. Riding underneath a freight train trying to get to the port of Sassnitz. After repeated interrogations for all the captured men Alastair was called in one last time on 6th April 1944, where he was seen to be taken away in a Gestapo car and unbeknown to his colleagues was murdered later ghat day, his ashes being taken back to camp, today he rests in piece alongside fellow murdered prisoners in the Commonwealth War Grave Cemetary in Poznan Poland. Brave persons all, The Spitfire was recovered on 2018 and some 70% of the aiircraft remained intact and remarkably preserved in the snow and Peat bog and is undergoing restoration. More info on this fascinating project and charity aims can be located here https://www.spitfireaa810.co.uk/news The potted history above , was taken from the instruction leaflet. This is the kit, I purchased this kit from @2996 Victor Built with some PE additions such as Thottle lever assembly, undercarrige selector seatbelts and cockpit access door from the Brengun PE set for thus model. Also the canopy was replaced apart from the windscreen, with the Rob Taurus vacform replacement. The model was brush painted using Humbrol Enamels and weathered using a prisma colour silver pencil and Humbrol and Mig weathering powders. I did fade the panels with post shading, but not sure you can really see it. Here's a link to the WIP Thanks to the fellow Unofficial GBers and those who followed and offered support and encouragement. I enjoyed it so much, I bought another from the trust. Thanks for looking in Chris

Fresh from building the Supermodel and FROG versions of this, I have now run out of obsolete kits, so i will have to build a modern one! This is available as a double boxing at a very reasonable price. You get two lots of parts like this: ...including a resin bit for the wheel well detail round the engine area. Neat. Decals are for a very generous seven schemes (one already used for my FROG build): The trailing edges of the wings are rather blobby on the inside surfaces so I have scraped them down (just the port one here): ...which results in a much thinner trailing edge (on the left): I have started assembly by gluing together the wings, air intake, cockpit, radiator and fuselage bulkheads: I've managed to get the first gluey thumbprint in already!

I finished this today. Lovely kit, glad it comes in a double boxing! The WIP thread is here if you are interested. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Hi All, I'm after a nice, uncomplicated build for the holiday period, so inspired by @AliGauld's lovely recent build I decided to purchase the Sword Avenger Mk.I. Here's the box art: I forgot to take any sprue shots as I just dived in this morning! I'm going to model this as an Avenger Mk.II JZ402 of 853 Sqn FAA in 1945, as shown on the below Xtradecals sheet: Although I cannot find any photos of this aircraft here is another Avenger Mk.II wearing a similar scheme (photo is of a 711 Sqn aircraft): As this is a Mk.II, and therefore an Eastern-built aircraft, the cockpit will be painted in standard Interior Green (as opposed to the Bronze Green of the Mk.I), with the engine bay in Zinc Chromate yellow. I shall also fill the groove in the cowling for the cowling gun (incorrect for the Mk.II), and drill holes for the wing-mounted guns. The Observer's position is also incorrect in the model, so I shall offset it to port, which will allow for a cutout in the bulkhead behind the Observer. I've marked up the area to be removed from the cockpit floor: Here's the 'after' shot with the bulkhead cutout: Here's a shot of the fuselage halves with Interior Green and ZCY applied: Here's a final shot showing the cockpit coming together: A most pleasant day inside with an eye/ear on the Australia-South Africa test match at the MCG (but not out, where it is 40C today!) Happy Holidays to all! Thanks for looking, Roger

Hi All, My first completion for 2023 is Sword's lovely little Avenger/Tarpon Mk.I, which I completed as an Avenger Mk.II of 853 Sqn FAA, flying from HMS Queen in April 1945. 853 were involved in anti-shipping operations off the Norwegian coast at this time. JZ402 was hit by another aircraft (JZ400) on 27th April 1945 - here's a photo of the aftermath (kindly provided by @Troy Smith) As this was an Avenger Mk.II, I filled in the cowling trough for the machine gun, and drilled holes in the wings for the wing mounted guns. As this would have been an Eastern-manufactured aircraft the interior was painted throughout in Interior Green, unlike the earlier Mk.I Tarpons which were partially Bronze Green. The cowling interior was finished in Zinc Chromate Yellow. Here's a link to the WIP if anyone is interested: And with that, to to the photos: Here's a final shot with another recent completion, another FAA torpedo bomber with a crew of 3: I've very much enjoyed building this kit, and although it is no shake and bake I think it builds up to a rather nice Avenger - highly recommended! I also love this unusual scheme, and have enjoyed the challenge of making it work. Thanks to all those who have offered kind words and encouragement along the way - it has been much appreciated! Thanks for looking, Roger

Hello all. Heres the latest from the shed finished over the Christmas period. This little kit requires surgery to make the RF version, a replacement transparent plastic nose section is supplied in the kit with camera ports and camera lenses nicely moulded on each half. All you have to do is cut the fighter nose off each fuselage half and replace with the recce front. I use the phrase lightly and let’s leave it at that! Lots of colourful nose art on the supplied decal sheet, all from the Korean war. Its painted with Humbrol 27002 aluminium and I used Flory panel lining wash and Tamiya powders to weather it up a bit. Hope you like it. It has large tip tanks fitted. Thanks for looking Pete

In September Sword (http://www.swordmodels.cz/) is to release new tool EE Lightning F.1/2 & F.3 kits - ref.72081 & 72082 Source: http://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=68170&start=4890 BAC/EE Lightning F.1/2 - ref.72081 TWO decals versions: F.1 - 74 Sq. RAF - XM137/D F.2 - 92 Sq. RAF - XN768/S Colored PE parts for cockpit interiors and details PUR parts of ejecton seat and jet exhaust Sources: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72081 http://www.aviationmegastore.com/bac-lightning-f12-sw72081-sword-859297772081-scale-modelling/product/?shopid=LM53c056b10982364d72a2bdddd0&action=prodinfo&parent_id=212&art=122811 BAC/EE Lightning F.3 - ref.72082 Two decals versions: F.3 - 111 Sq. RAF - XP740/J F.3 - 56 Sq. RAF - XR719/D Colored PE parts for cockpit interiors and details. PUR parts of ejecton seat and jet exhaust Sources: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72082 http://www.aviationmegastore.com/bac-lightning-f3-sw72082-sword-859297772082-scale-modelling/product/?shopid=LM53c056b10982364d72a2bdddd0&action=prodinfo&parent_id=212&art=122812 V.P.

Joining you with this US Navy trainer - derived from the T-33, that I'm also building. The first Sword kit that I've built - from several purchases. And I really like the hi-vis options

Whoa boy...I started in January and didn't finish until October of 2021. This is built from the Sword kit, and it was a fight from start to finish. Like any short-run kit, the parts were clunky, and imprecise. Fit was mediocre at best, and a lot of details were missing. The clear parts are very thick and fit especially poorly. What really made the whole experience unnecessarily frustrating were the poor instructions. Not only were they vague on where smaller parts should fit, they also had contradictory directions on landing gear doors (they want you to fit both kinds that are in the box, at the same time), and allude to details which are not part of the kit (e.g., drop tank sway braces). Its as if the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, as the kit was being manufactured. Disappointing as the kit and the project were, I'm happy I pushed through, as the final product is hideous and cool, and now I can say I successfully finished a short run kit.

Hi Everybody, its been a while since my last posting so here is my latest offering. A Harrier T.MK.4N by Sword, the first model I have built by Sword and probably the last! I would have to say this is probably the worst produced model I have ever built, the flash was awful, parts that didn't meet and very little in the way of location tabs, to be fair a more experienced modeller would have enjoyed the challenge but to an amateur like me it was not an enjoyable experience, unfortunately with my OCD I have to carry on until its finished. I would like to say it was a labour of love but I'd be lying 😂. As much as I like a winter camouflage scheme I'd lost the will live with it by then, so this one is pre Winter exercises. Anyway here it is, please be kind and apologies to those who have enjoyed building Sword models. As usual all criticisms and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking

Konnichi wa shinai naru modeler! Here's my latest finish for the 'Turning Japanese' GB here on the forum. The build thread is here but to recap: Kit: Sword U-125A kit number 72127 Scale: 1/72 Build: OOB (5g weight in nose) Paints: Tamiya Acrylics, Klear, panel line wash, Satin varnish Decals: From the kit The lower fuselage paint should be more green/sky than sky and the decals (printed by Technod) had a terrible time accepting any kind of curves...,lots of shattering/splintering on the nacelles followed by touch-ups with blue paint. The u/c gear fit is also a bit iffy. But despite all that, really happy how it turned out and can't wait to build their Sabreliner kit! Thanks for looking, take care and happy modelling Dermot

Konnichi wa shinai naru modeler! I'm going to jump in with this one.. Sword_U-125A_JASDF_Box_top by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Will be OOB, built in the 40 year anniversary scheme. Sword_U-125A_JASDF_Box_rear by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Good luck with your builds. Cheers, Dermot

Finally I’ve managed to haul this one through finishing school for your delectation. As you can see, she is a Republic RF-84F Thunderflash of the Elliniki Aeroporia (Greek Air Force). More specifically she is a RF-84F-15-RE, an early block number, serial numbered 51-11294. Credit: Public Domain The Greeks operated at least 36 of these machines, gained through US MDAP deliveries following services with other European or US operators, varying from the USAF through other air arms such as those of France, Germany, the Netherlands. This machine was from US stock and had seen service with the regular air force as well as the 154th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Arkansas ANG, being delivered to Greece in 1958. Throughout her Greek career she was operated by the 348 Mira (or Moira) from Larissa Airbase. Finally, she succumbed to progress and was retired to the Larissa dump in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I wanted to build one of these as a memory jogger for two trips I made to Larissa in 1982 while these aircraft were still active. Also in the same year my mates and I saw 53-7682 fly in to Athens for maintenance. Here is the only photo I ever managed, taken from the flight deck of our 737-200: Edit: I found a photo of “11294” on the Larissa dump in July 2013 For a taste of how they looked in operation here is a short video: The build thread is here: I chose to build this machine simply because I had a good image of her (above). The model is built using the Sword kit which is a reasonable basis for getting an “okay”-looking ‘flash. It is, however, known that the kit is slight short in length – depending what reference source you have and believe – and requires a fair bit of fettling to get something that looks as it should. I am no expert but I have tried a close representation. For those out there who fancies building one of these kits I suggest the following as some of the modifications that you could/should undertake: 1. Use an Airfix nosewheel leg. This would need more detail too but it sits better than the kit parts. What is must have is the compression link ahead of the main strut. 2. Make up a tail skid from plastic rod. 3. Add more detail to the intakes. I used plastic sheet cut into the BL plate and the small vortex generators. 4. The tailplane should be pivoted. I used 0.5mm brass rod. 5. Drill out the wing gun ports 6. Add more detail to the coaming area 7. Add fillers to get the wing tanks to sit proud of the pylon, ensuring there is a small gap. Also add vent pipes. The tanks also need filler caps to the rear. 8. The canopy needs the four latches along the lower edges. I made these from plastic card. 9. The rear of the fin needs the nav light housing and two lights. It also needs the small rudder balance (is that what it is?) on either side. 10. The rudder and ailerons need trim tabs. Again, I used plastic card. 11. Consider the very noticeable putty around the canopy and rear glazing on these aircraft. I painted mine and masked them prior to adding the main masks. 12. If you are very particular, add a clear part for the dorsal nav light housing just ahead of the fin. I got too far and so opted to use silver decal. 13. Add new canopy struts 14. Add a mirror on the canopy 15. Add wingtip Nav lights In terms of what I used otherwise, it was the following: 1. Kit – Sword (SW72116) in 1/72 2. Decals – the Icarus set for F & RF-84Fs (72008) and the serial was printed by Arctic Decals following Giorgio’s drawing @Giorgio N. 3. Paint – Humbrol US SEA colours (two greens, tan, gray). These are numbers 28, 116, 117 and 118. Otherwise she had various greys, reds, blacks, metallics. All of these were Humbrol enamel. She is finish with Humbrol Satincote. I used a Montex mask. 4. Weathering – Flory washes (Dark Dirt and Sand), Tamiya Weathering Powders and a Prismacolor Silver pencil. After the washes I used a brush and Tamiya Weathering Powder - Sand all over to give her a bit more of a dusty look. 5. Aftermarket – none And here are a few shots of her: I hope you like her Martin

Been fancying a Gannet for a while, wasn't sure whether to go for a Revell AS machine or the Sword AEW, have read that both have their issues. Not that I'm likely to notice, mind, as long as the end result looks and smells like a Gannet I'll be happy 🙂 Due to a birthday list mishap I actually have two of these, which may well be fortuitous! This is my first attempt at a 'short run' kit, as well as my first use of PE and resin for the interior. Its going to be an education! From what I've read the decals can be very thin and awful - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Have found a couple of YouTube videos covering building this with a few useful hints - if anyone has any others to offer please feel free to do so! The obligatory box and sprue shots: I think I'm going to go with the yellow and black markings for my first attempt.. Those PE seat belts are *tiny* - I can see the carpet monster working up an appetite here.. Also there's a 'film' sheet which goes under the PE - not entirely sure what to do with that? The resin for the operators interior (not the cockpit). Assuming I don't make a complete hash of assembling this, I'll be doing the side hatches open so its at least partially visible And that's about it. Not sure I'll get much done this side of Christmas with the impending chaos, and there's a chance I might be redecorating the modelling spare room in the new year which may cause some disruptions, so no holding of breath please! Apologies to my pair of Lightnings (and the rest!) that have been in the stash for months and were promptly overtaken by the Gannet almost as soon as it arrived 🙂 Al.

Hello all, here’s the latest from the shed. The Sword kit comes with four schemes so the first job was to decide which to do. I plumped for the French aircraft in Suez crisis colours as it was based in Akrotiri during that time and I liked the squadron emblem on the nose. Being short run there are no locating lugs and holes but that doesn’t matter as the kit goes together very well. I added brass rod to the U/C legs to make them a bit more sturdy, other than that its OOB. The engraved detail is also shallow, but in the end did manage to hold a wash over the paint work so I was happy. The aircraft depicted is an RF-84F of E.R. 4/33 during the Suez Crisis in 1956. Its finished with Humbrol 27002 aluminium and Xtra Colour enamels, Flory wash and Tamiya weathering powders. Hope you like it. Thanks for looking Pete

Sword is to release a 1/72nd Fiat G.55 Centauro kit - ref. SW72104 Model contains 2 complete kits with 2 tails versions Source: http://swordmodels.cz/cs/home/122-sw72104-fiat-g55-centauro.html Box art & schemes V.P.

Hello all, Look time lurker and I stand in awe of the quality that I see on here. I make no claims to be a high class modeller but I enjoy myself leaving gluey fingerprints on bits of plastic and crawling around on the floor looking for that the teeny tiny bit of plastic that pinged out of the tweezers. So here goes, Sword 1/72 Spitfire Mk XIVc. Out of the box apart from some Eduard seat belts which are now hidden and the whip aerial (which may or not be right, the painting instructions show it, the box cover doesn't) made from a decorating paintbrush bristle. Painted with Vallejo Model Air. I had a bit of fight with this one, I couldn't get the front cowling right, its been taken apart and put back together with a variety of plasticard tabs and as a result one set of exhausts sits out further than the other. I didn't deal with the flash on the intake properly and ended up filling it with sprue gloop and drilling it out. Oh, and the tail wheel covers hide the bodge where I broke the tail wheel off trying to stick it into a hole that was too small. Apart from that it was a breeze. Learnt quite a lot about building Sword Spitfires doing this which is fortunate as there's another two in the box... Also noticed that I need to touch up one of the prop blades. There's no hiding with the photos, is there? It really doesn't look as rough from the other side of the room😁. Quite please with it, its a mean looking beastie. Simon

Had this mostly built gathering dust on the shelf for a couple of years. If it wasn't for the fact that this was mostly built up, it was too advanced in build to enter into the Interceptors GB but since as I'd just done the MiG, I thought it was only right that I should complete its western counterpart Finally got it done & at last got to grips with Alclad as opposed to the Vallejo Metal Colour on the MiG. Added another pic of them both side by side for size comparison & comparison between the metal finishes. So this is the Sword kit which is a short run kit & should be treated as such. The seam lines on the underside were a pain to ensure that they didn't show up after priming. There was a lot of filling & priming involved but the underside join still faintly shows through. Sword provides a resin insert for the two Avon exhausts which are quite nice only once in, they're not a perfect fit. Either a fine shim inbetween the fuselage halves is needed, or a little bit of filler around the resin is needed. Talking about the resin exhaust, would have been good if they had produced a resin nose ring. The kit halves around the nose were short shot, so it would have taken some sprue filler to correct that, so I added the Quickboost resin nose ring for the Trumpeter kit which fitted exactly & improved on the overall length of the model. I also find that Sword kits in 1/72 have very shallow fine panel lines, so I usually give them a going over to slightly deepen them. Decals are a mix of the kit decals & used some stencil data from the Airfix F.6, only those that applied, similar to what went on the F.3. Thankfully the Sword tail fin markings actually fit the tail fin which was a bonus as a lot of the time with large dcals, they're not always exact in dimensions. Everything else is just out of the box. First success using Alclad over their gloss black base. Used some Vallejo Metal Colour for picking out some individual panels. Used Ammo Mig red for the spine, custom mix Klear gloss & Ammo PLW. English Electric Lightning F.3 XR719 D Wattisham Summer 1965 And a couple for size comparison. Thanks for looking! Martin

Hi all In the latter part of last year I asked a question in tge Cold War section of the forum re the above aircraft and was very pleased with the results, I have always wanted to model one of these but been wary of all of the differences etc and could not find too much on t'internet etc, so was very thankful to @72modeler @mick b @Our Ned @Junchan @Seahawk @Harry Lime @Troy Smith and a special thanks to @71chally. Thanks guys you helped turn something I was scared I would not be able to do justice to, into a very enjoyable project. So armed with the info I needed I started the build. Thank you also to those who have supported and encouraged me on my build too. I really appreciate it. This is the Sword 1/72 Skyraider AEW kit and it is a really nice kit, it's a short run kit bit the fit is really nice. The Aircraft modelled is WV106 which was attached to HMS Centaur during the first 6 months of 1959, as part of 849 Squadron D flight. My Dad was aboard Centaur during this time and loved the look of these and would often mention them , hence why I wanted to build one really. I was fortunate enough to locate a Model decal sheet which contained the WV106/427 option so was able to complete. Some extras have been added to tge model such as Radome support braces, static Discharge Wicks, tail aerial from stretch plastic cotton bud tube over some .33mm brass rod, the underwing aerials are bristles from SWMBO's toothbrush , just checking she's not looking over my shoulder!!! Otherwise the rest is included with the kit. The model is brushpainted with Colourcoats and Humbrol enamels and chipping with a pencil and staining from tge exhaust is with powders. Anyway enough waffle from me here's some photos. Build thread is here part of a multiple build thread I apologise for the photos I even waited until it was sunny this morning to take them but they still came out this way. I hope you enjoyed them I certainly enjoyed this model. Thanks for looking in Chris

Reggiane Re.2001 CN 1:48 SWORD First finished model this year. Night Italian Reggiane Re 2001 CN fighter in 1:48 scale from the company "Sword" in paint from "234-2", 234a sq. Night Fighter Unit, Rimini, 1943. The model itself is very nice to build, the fit of the parts is very good. I hardly used any putty, in a few places I used it. The decal is very readable, soft responds to liquids and has set up nicely. It's just a pity that the manufacturer didn't give a decal sheet with the stripes and the instrument panel. The biggest challenge was painting the black camouflage, and you can see how it came out in the photos below. Enjoy watching.