The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Hi guys. This will be my first go at doing a work in progress on one of my models. Inspired by "The Baron" showing his Matchbox swordfish w.i.p on here the other day. I'm a few weeks in and have taken some photos along the way but usually near completed sections so the first few pics are a big old jump, I will take more step by step pics now I know I'm doing this. Well here we go then. I am building as the title says Tamiya's 1/48 scale Fairey Swordfish. This is a big one for me as its my first ever String bag and only my fourth build since taking up my boyhood hobby again a year or so ago. not sure how long this will take to complete but its going to be fun. (for me anyway). {C} Here is the obligatory box shot with a little taste of the cave. Oh god the pictures are massive again.... Please shout up if this is a problem. Moving swiftly on, this was actually the first pic I got to take after the pit went together. I was happy with the way it was going but didn't want to use the decal belts. I had bought the PE parts and thought they came with belts but alas this wasn't the case so I thought I'd have a go at making some. Britmodeller to the rescue. OK I'm going to post this now and see how it goes. I just lost my internets and had to write this out again so It's bit at a time I'm afraid. Enjoy. John. Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Good luck with the build! You've a few more bits than mine to juggle with 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Hello John, looks like your off to a good start. The cockpit is coming along nicely. Joe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) That all seemed to work so I'll push on. I saw that some of you were making seat belts from Tamiya masking tape and wire. I had some 5 amp wire kicking about to decided to give it a go. Bloody fiddly and not really accurate but they worked for me. excuse the blurrrrrrrrr. They looked pretty good on with a quick wash so I made them for the rest of the seats. I added lap belts too. Not accurate but fun to do. Gotta go and make the kids some brekkie. So I'll post a bit more later. Have fun. John. Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Good luck with the build! You've a few more bits than mine to juggle with Ha. glad you found me. . maybe a few more parts but I like the amount of work you put in to making such a tiny thing beautiful. I have your build bookmarked. Hello John, looks like your off to a good start. The cockpit is coming along nicely. Joe Thanks Joe. Much appreciated. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 This is a kit that I have always meant to buy but have not because it is not in my main theme of FAA Fighter aces. I have done the 1/72nd (I might post a picture at some time) but have always fancied the 1/48 iconic FAA TBR.. Good luck with the model - hope it goes well and keep the updates coming.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thanks Grey. Glad you are enjoying the build.😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 A good start and nice belts! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Thanks for all the comments guys. Just one more before I have to cook dinner. After the pit was kind of done I moved onto the fuselage interior. I wanted to have a go at oil washing so Amazon ahoy to get some Windsor and Newton oils. I Gloss coated before giving it a wash, left it a while then rubbed off. It looked OK but I wasn't 100% happy but as it was inside it didn't turn out to be such a big deal. Here is the pit in place with the painted interior. I got a bit carried away with the oils but I really liked the effect. Jumping ahead a bit. ( I'll post the other pictures up to this point but I need some advice. ) I'm at the stage now where I am thinking of washing the fuselage / wings with oils. I am going to gloss coat before I do it BUT.... Do you usually decal after the gloss coat then oil wash? Decal before the gloss ( I did this on my Spitfire and the decals went wrinkled. ) ? Or decal at the end and weather to suit? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Anyhoo, I have to go make dinner. Take it easy you lot. John. Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Ha. glad you found me. . maybe a few more parts but I like the amount of work you put in to making such a tiny thing beautiful. I have your build bookmarked. LIkewise John. The detailing here is gobsmacking. Love the seatbelts! I'm no expert in the oils department but can only say I've used W&N oils both before and after both gloss and matt varnish layers and been pleased with the depth and translucency they can give; however I'm still very much learning myself from trial and error...The obvious thing to watch out for is that whaterver you dilute the oils with isn't going to react with the paint scheme or varnish. Tony Edited March 20, 2016 by TheBaron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thanks for the tips Tony. I used a white spirit substitute, B&Q I think. I had it down in the cellar and it seemed to work ok. I might try a test run first on some old decals. 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 22, 2016 Author Share Posted March 22, 2016 (edited) Did a decal test the other night and decided how I'm going to wash the fuselage. Thanks for your help. Anyway I have 10 mins this dinner time so I can do a quick update from work. Started on the engine. I had the PE parts so I added these and painted everything before assembly. The parts came together really well. Had a lovely day when the two fuselage sides came together with the pit enclosed. I managed to fit and mask the canopy, do a under spray of the main lines and add some shiny where I was going to try my new chipping fluid. Really felt like everything was coming together. just have to choose the colour scheme and whether or not to add invasion stripes. Bugger. 2:00 pm gotta fly. I'll see if I can add more tomorrow and get this thing up to date. Bye. John. Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Nice donk! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 22, 2016 Author Share Posted March 22, 2016 Nice donk! Thanks! I did have to Google that though. 😅 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 This is going to be a bit of a masterpiece! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Looking good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta7 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Very nice, I really enjoyed building this a while back, only issue is to watch the lower wings alignment, they tend to droop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 22, 2016 Author Share Posted March 22, 2016 (edited) Very nice, I really enjoyed building this a while back, only issue is to watch the lower wings alignment, they tend to droop Thanks for the positive comments. 😀 I'm at the bench right now. Honestly if I knock that little bit off at the top of the tail again I'll go bonkers😫. I'll look out for the wings. That's the next bit so thanks. I'll get this bad boy up to date tomorrow. Edited March 22, 2016 by The Spadgent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) I had bought some AK chipping fluid and decided to give it a go on the nose and on the wing tips after spraying the hull white. I thought it looked rather nice but I didn't want to go too over the top with it. Next was a masking job to spray the black line and some camo on the rear fin and wing stubs. I think I need to find a better way to mask off as this was a right old pain. I think I should plan it out instead of just adding more tape. Better luck next time. Here is a gratuitous shot of the cave. it's dark up here but I love it. Any way back to business. The spray went on well, I added some white to the base camo colour and re sprayed the center of the panels to bring them out a bit. A tip I got from this site. It worked really well, not as though you can see it on these photo's I'll get better shots of the wings when I get there. Tape off and everything is looking nice, i made a mistake by chipping before I did the black but I will fix that later on. Once again hindsight is a wonderful thing. I'm a little bit further along now after a few more hours at the bench but I need to upload the photos. Hopefully I can get them uploaded tonight and then it'll slow down a bit as I'll post as I go. Hope you are finding this as fun as I am? Bye for now. John. Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Looks good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 Coming along really nicely John. Is that the great Tom Baker looking down benevolently at your work? 🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Coming along really nicely John. Is that the great Tom Baker looking down benevolently at your work? 🤔 Thanks, I'm really enjoying the build. I sent the newest pics over tonight so hopefully we will be up to date tomorrow. Yes it is indeed Tom. I had the pleasure of meeting him a fair few years ago. Lovely chap. I was a little star struck, I guess meeting "your" Doctor does that to a boy. 🤓 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 (edited) Hello again. Looks like I can get this build up to date and start slowing the posts down a little. The wings on this thing look amazing and I can't wait to get stuck into the PE rigging. I'm contemplating masking the markings but as I'm a little unsure of what I'm doing I thing I'll stick with decals and mask off some of the line work to ease myself in. I base coated and under sprayed the wings. Before I got to painting those lovely wings I decided to give the fuselage an oil wash so I could decide exactly how I was going to go about working on them. This was the point earlier where I was asking about whether or not to apply decals first, top coat, then wash? As you can see I decided to do it this way and see how it goes. Cutting out the decals is something I learnt from BM to stop the edges silvering, it's a bit tricky but worth it, My Mossie suffered from this error on the wings "don't walk" boxes. After the decals (not many) I gave the whole thing a top coat and prayed that the aforementioned items did not wrinkle to buggery. Phew! Everything went well. We are now up to date. I have been trying to get my oil wash on now for a day or two but alas life gets in the way. Hopefully some time over the next few days I can get on the bench. Oh and this arrived today. I had a bit of a wallet malfunction, and decided to break out of my all Tamiya diet. WOW! Edited July 18, 2017 by The Spadgent 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrease Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Great work so far John - looking forward to more! John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I am liking the progress on this! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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