Michaelvk Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 (edited) To keep the Lanc fresh I decided to jump onto the Airfix Swordfish.. Lovely little kit, adorned with some of the Airwaves PE stuff for the old version. Although the oil cooler did decide to disintegrate when being painstakingly assembled over the course of a few hours.. I decided to say sod it and used a few of the bits to pretty up the kit one instead... The collector ring was done with alclad dark aluminium with a layer of Valleyo brown glaze and Citadel Gryphonne sepia wash.. I didn't really want to paint it copper or old bronze, because I feel the pigments in anything other than alclad would look out of scale. I just need help with how to position the wings.. So here's soe piccies.. Edited May 4, 2012 by Michaelvk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 That collector ring looks just perfect..On the 'Fish the ring is steel so copper isn't really the correct colour..... Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 wahey! I got something right for a change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Take 5 good pats on the head and have a stiff drink.....Nice one.....Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Thats a cracking start there! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Beautiful paint work on the exhaust collector. One of the best I've seen in years. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Thanks guys.. I spent the other night with a pin vice and the tiniest drill I have drilling holes in the wings for rigging.. First time I've actively decided to add rigging, and the whole biplane thing is really screwing my head up on how to properly plan things.. I think I've got it.. Now, what do you chaps recommend as 1:72 rigging wire? I was briefly considering hair courtesy of Herself.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIRAGEF1 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Ladies hair extensions (the pony tail version...they are long and straight) is a good one....you would have to check the thickness for 1/72 scale...they work a well for aerials etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Jellyfingers Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) A really good source of extreamly fine wire can be found in old radios and CB's. If you can find some your looking for the inductors in the tuning section. Little square metal cans, once removed from the PCB you'll find a neatly coiled bobbin of wire, very fine wire, so fine it can be used to detail the pits and IP's in 1:144!! It takes a little time and care to find the pin with the end on then just unwind it. Another good source is old CRT monitors. These have similar bits in plus some nice big, high voltage coils in the HT section. These have all sorts of gauge of wire in them, lots of old electronics are very useful for modelling!! BTW excellent progress, and that collector is perfect! Si. Edit : Here's a pic of some of them:- Edited April 26, 2012 by Dr.Jellyfingers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 Those are excellent tips for rigging wire, and I'll definitely be pulling apart some coils in the future. For now I settled with some nylon monofilament. I also made do with field grey instead of slate grey, which is a bit greener. I freehanded the camo pattern, and it's going to need a bit of tweaking in places, but I've run out of air. I'll be getting a compressor soon, though. Here's some more pics.. After seeing the pic posted above of the collector, I decided to add a little blue to the exhaust.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Coming along nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 I've noticed that the overspray seems a lot clumpier in the pics than on the actual kit. I'll hit the whole thing with some grey to blend it all in, me finks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwakou61 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Wow! That exhaust assembly looks magnificent. Very convincing. Great work Michael! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 (edited) Nice-looking Stringbag, Michael! I just got this beautiful kit myself so I'll be interested to see how the rigging goes. That's what really scares the **** out of me - the thought of rigging this. Regards, Jason Edited April 29, 2012 by Learstang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted April 29, 2012 Author Share Posted April 29, 2012 (edited) Thanks guys.. Jason, so far I haven't experienced anything too tricky with rigging it, other than that it throws a massive spanner in my usual workflow. For sanity reasons I'm (for now) omitting the cables for the rudder and elevator. Edited April 29, 2012 by Michaelvk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Well... I learned a few things last night.. 1: When rigging, fix the wires AFTER both wing levels are fixed.. 2: Monofilament nylon loves superglue.. 3: When tamiya acrylics decide to go tacky, they stay tacky.. Pics to follow.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 Well, she's 90-95% done.. There are a few struts and stores that still need to be added, as well as some more weathering done to the lower wings.. Oh, and the prop.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eccles Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Great job. How did you do the weathering? Is it a wash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 (edited) Thanks.. Yeah, amongst others.. I started with a light overspray of very thinned buff, then tiny dots of white and naples yellow oils with the odd black dot, blended together, dusted back with some very thin dark sea grey, over that a blended wash of black.. Layers of matt coat went in-between those.. ..forgot airbrushing on some Citadel badab black wash in places. It's great for shading. Edited May 4, 2012 by Michaelvk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forlornhope Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Wow that is a really nice Swordfish you have there, I hope I get mine looking as good when I get to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 She's coming on a treat, you are doing a grand job on the old 'Fish'. I am looking forward to this one being finished...... :thumbsup2: ....Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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