Fairey Swordfish MkII - Trumpeter 1/32

[KelT]

Made some progress, little bits that seem to take me a long time but I enjoy them so WTH.

 

Putting the two halves together there are a few little points I learned which may be helpful to others.

 

• I wouldn't have installed the rear gun in hindsight. It folds back pretty well out of the way as can be seen in the second image but it would be so easy to fit at the end there is no point risking damage.
• I have recently seen elsewhere someone who removed the barrel of the forward gun so that it might be attached after painting. This seems like an excellent idea and if it were not to late for me I would certainly utilise it.
• I had a slightly difficult time installing the rear frame (Parts E10/12). The opaque side was easy as I simply attached it to the fuselage, there is only one small locating pin for attachment which is not sufficient and it was necessary to glue the rear end to the fuselage too. The transparent side gave me some issues for two reasons;

1. I didn't want to glue it at the locating pin since (as can be seen in image 2 with the forward gun) even the smallest amount of glue becomes obvious discolouration in the clear fuselage. 
2. As the rear frame is going to be visible I wanted it to attach to the existing frame rather than simply float by itself which is would if affixed per the instructions.

To overcome the above I installed the cockpit into the clear half and then attached the rear frame to the cockpit frame using the locating pin for a guide on position. Unfortunately when the two fuselage halves were joined the frame swung about most often resting away from the fuselage itself. To overcome this I drilled a small hole in the fuselage (Image 1) and dropped some glue through it to fasten the rear frame.

 

{There is an increase indent but I can't find a decrease indent button}

•  Normally I wouldn't have to mask so much using brushes but this time I have a rattle can of Tamiya white primer so it is necessary, however I wish I had done it immediately after fixing the rear frame since by using the transparent side I learned quickly that any dust or dirt which enters will be visible, including the drill chaff from the small hole which I would (again with hindsight) have drilled before joining the two halves. I did get nearly all the debris out but I felt like I was attempting to huff and puff the third piggies house down. Which also raises another point: don't forget to clean and polish the insides before joining the two halves, I didn't forget, but it was a close call.
• The rudder and tail are currently only dry fitted, generally the parts went together very well, the beauty of design becomes apparent as most of the gluing can be done in areas which will later be covered by other parts (like the area where I drilled the small hole). The fit is very snug and precise, even my knicker elastic wiring caused me to have to compress the two halves the tolerance is so fine.

 

 

 

 

My Virago came today, three sprues and so tiny, I am really enjoying this build but I look forward to the simplicity of building the Virago as a change, one thing at a time though.

 

 

[KelT]

Just a quick note that may help others. I have spent the morning masking up the main body, I am not familiar with airbrushing but it seems to me that in using a rattle can primer along with the transparent fuselage I need to make the aircraft virtually airtight as even a little mist entering within could ruin my interior/transparency.

There are quite a few little holes most of which I plugged with a dob of bluetack but there are some which were more difficult and could have been avoided.

 

 

 

The holes shown above seem to provide absolutely no purpose apart from perhaps letting out the water if you are playing with your model in the bath.

 

The first image is a strange one and I can't think of a way to prevent it in advance (other than perhaps somehow filling it before affixing part A9) the lower half  (outside the pink square) is filled by part A9 (which on another note is a pain to fit with C22 attached but is quite easy if you thread it in from the side.) leaving just a small difficult to access square hole. I plugged this one with bluetack.

 

The others in step 9 were more difficult, the small rectangle is easy to fill with bluetack but the two circular ones have nothing behind them and anything pushed in will simply drop through to the floor of the cockpit and be visible through the transparent half. Since the holes don't appear to be used, in hindsight, I would fill and paint all three from the inside prior to fitting C16 to the fuselage. I've had to put masking tape over them as I can't think of another way unless I can find a bit of sprue or something to jam into them. I'm considering putty but the holes are quite wide, approx 5mm, and the putty would show on the inside. If I can find some sprue I can paint the end which is inserted, glue it in place and then cut it off on the outside. I think, still kicking around ideas just now.

 

 

 

 

[KelT]

Well I haven't forgotten about this build for another two years but I have run into a series of complications beyond my control.

 

The first: after the difficulty I had hand painting the white and metallic on the small cowl area I was a little terrified of doing the much larger fuselage and wings so I caved in... I bought the cheapest airbrush I could find on Amazon. I had a practice with it and broke it during cleaning, fixed it, broke it again, fixed it again and repeated the process once more. I think I know how it works now and it does seem to be going well. Of course I had to wait for delivery etc... which gave me my first break.

 

Comfortable with the airbrush I started painting the actual model, it was going well until... I ran out of paint. It's a huge model and takes so much paint I could do with a 1L can of Dulux. So then came the second and current problem. I'm not sure if it's a world wide issue but here in Australia it's impossible to get Tamiya products just now and has been for the past several months, so no X-2 for me and I have to wait. 

 

Anyway here's a couple of images of some of the progress I made before the enforced delay.

 

I removed the two mirrors and brackets since they looked like lifting points rather than mirrors. I used 15 Amp fuse wire for the brackets and cut the end of a pocket click from an old biro to make the mirror. It doesn't look like it in the photo but you could comb your hair in it in the real world.

 

Replaced the wing lock release handles again with 15 Amp fuse wire.

 

Ah this next one was fun. I fitted the posts to the upper wings. They left a huge gap and I complained profusely as I filled it with Tamiya putty. It was a perfect job until I discovered the gap was intentional and the slot was where the photo-etch bracing wires fitted. So digging into my putty I eventually managed to fit the wires and re-putty the much smaller gap using Mr Surfacer 1000. The wires are masked with liquid mask in case anyone wonders what all the gunk is.

 

This is just the spay on Tamiya primer. I used AK camouflage putty to give the smooth lines. There was a point where I seriously considered just leaving the final model in Primer as it looked so good but there were spots where it was still a little thin and it took an entire can so I didn't have any left. Now I have seen the gloss of the X-2 I think I prefer it although I do still wonder.

 

The main wing lights were modified by Trumpeter and don't seem to have the detail the Tamiya version does instead just providing a small lump of clear plastic. I modified the housing (can't show those since they're still masked), hole punched a couple of foil circles for reflectors then cut and glued the mushroom section of the Trumpeter lights onto them. Not sure about the hand drawn ink bracings but in reality they are so small they don't look as bad as in the photo.

 

So this model is still on hold and I've finally given up the wait and moved onto building my Virago, but once the COVID effect is over and we can get Tamiya paint again I shall resume.

 

 

 

[Dunny]

28 minutes ago, KelT said:

Well I haven't forgotten about this build for another two years but I have run into a series of complications beyond my control.

 

The first: after the difficulty I had hand painting the white and metallic on the small cowl area I was a little terrified of doing the much larger fuselage and wings so I caved in... I bought the cheapest airbrush I could find on Amazon. I had a practice with it and broke it during cleaning, fixed it, broke it again, fixed it again and repeated the process once more. I think I know how it works now and it does seem to be going well. Of course I had to wait for delivery etc... which gave me my first break.

 

Comfortable with the airbrush I started painting the actual model, it was going well until... I ran out of paint. It's a huge model and takes so much paint I could do with a 1L can of Dulux. So then came the second and current problem. I'm not sure if it's a world wide issue but here in Australia it's impossible to get Tamiya products just now and has been for the past several months, so no X-2 for me and I have to wait. 

 

Anyway here's a couple of images of some of the progress I made before the enforced delay.

 

I removed the two mirrors and brackets since they looked like lifting points rather than mirrors. I used 15 Amp fuse wire for the brackets and cut the end of a pocket click from an old biro to make the mirror. It doesn't look like it in the photo but you could comb your hair in it in the real world.

 

Replaced the wing lock release handles again with 15 Amp fuse wire.

 

Ah this next one was fun. I fitted the posts to the upper wings. They left a huge gap and I complained profusely as I filled it with Tamiya putty. It was a perfect job until I discovered the gap was intentional and the slot was where the photo-etch bracing wires fitted. So digging into my putty I eventually managed to fit the wires and re-putty the much smaller gap using Mr Surfacer 1000. The wires are masked with liquid mask in case anyone wonders what all the gunk is.

 

This is just the spay on Tamiya primer. I used AK camouflage putty to give the smooth lines. There was a point where I seriously considered just leaving the final model in Primer as it looked so good but there were spots where it was still a little thin and it took an entire can so I didn't have any left. Now I have seen the gloss of the X-2 I think I prefer it although I do still wonder.

 

The main wing lights were modified by Trumpeter and don't seem to have the detail the Tamiya version does instead just providing a small lump of clear plastic. I modified the housing (can't show those since they're still masked), hole punched a couple of foil circles for reflectors then cut and glued the mushroom section of the Trumpeter lights onto them. Not sure about the hand drawn ink bracings but in reality they are so small they don't look as bad as in the photo.

 

So this model is still on hold and I've finally given up the wait and moved onto building my Virago, but once the COVID effect is over and we can get Tamiya paint again I shall resume.

 

 

 

Lovely work Keith - I've recently finished the 1:48 Tamiya MkII and can really appreciate the extra detail in 1:32! Also feel your pain on Tamiya shortages,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

Sorry to hear this is on hold due to the paint shortage.   It does look good in primer and its great to see it go together.  This will certainly be an impressive beastie when complete.

Chris 

[KelT]

Would you look at that! I have waited for months but the day after I posted the above and we get Tamiya X-2 in Australia! Unfortunately they don't have the model kit I was hoping to buy along with it to reduce postage, so I may wait a little longer and continue with my Virago but it looks like the drought may finally be over.