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Tamiya Fairey Swordfish Mk.1 Floatplane 1/48


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Finally finished this one after ignoring at it on my bench for 5(!) years. The photo-etch rigging totally owned me and I cried mercy before getting it all on there. Would love any tutorial references you may have for photo-etch rigging techniques, though don't know if I'll be attempting it again any time soon, haha. Overall a fun build, but definitely challenged me a good deal.

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Superb job and the rigging looks pretty good.  I just finished the Mk II with the photo etch rigging and it fought me all the way.  I wish I had advice but all I think in retrospect might be to glue one end and leave the other to slide somehow until everything is completed.  However, I have no idea if this would actually work.  

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Very nice looking aircraft. I believe every build I've seen has mentioned the rigging. The only way I could get mine to work was to remove the lower attachment point. I then glued the top to the wing and let it set. I then gently lifted the bottom, place a small dab of CA to it and let it free fall into place. Not perfect but the best I could achieve.

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Great build. These always take a real effort to build, but it looks like it was worth it. I'm glad I didn't splash out for the rigging set after your comment.

Edited by Greg Law
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5 hours ago, Scoobydoof said:

Looks very nice, could a Swordfish carry a full bomb load as well as a torpedo? I thought it was 6 bombs or a torpedo?

@Scoobydoof – I definitely do not think that it could, haha. Just thought it looked cool fully loaded up, even if it wasn't a possible arrangement. 

 

20 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Brilliant work, I got one of these recently so this is a real inspiration to get cracking.

@Duncan B – Awesome! Can't wait to see your build. Did you go w/ the floatplane or normal version? 

 

20 hours ago, phildagreek said:

A stunner!

@phildagreek – Thank you so much!

20 hours ago, 85sqn said:

Absolutely superb!

@85sqn – Thank you! 🙏

13 hours ago, Harold55 said:

Superb job and the rigging looks pretty good.  I just finished the Mk II with the photo etch rigging and it fought me all the way.  I wish I had advice but all I think in retrospect might be to glue one end and leave the other to slide somehow until everything is completed.  However, I have no idea if this would actually work.  

@Harold55 – This was more or less my tactic, but boy did I still struggle. The pieces that get inserted and run front-to-back near the wing posts didn't even come close to touching the other wing. Most definitely builder-error, I'm sure, but still, good grief. I Also had a hard time getting one side to set with super glue unless I'd use a pretty big dab of it, mucking up the wing a bit. Zip-kicker seemed to help a bit, but juggling it all was a bit of a nightmare for me. Props to you for getting it all to jive! 💪

11 hours ago, fubar57 said:

Very nice looking aircraft. I believe every build I've seen has mentioned the rigging. The only way I could get mine to work was to remove the lower attachment point. I then glued the top to the wing and let it set. I then gently lifted the bottom, place a small dab of CA to it and let it free fall into place. Not perfect but the best I could achieve.

@fubar57 – This was my technique, but still struggled getting the wires to reach the proper areas once the wings were all on there. I think I also need a lesson in how to get glue to dry fast without spraying zip-kicker all over and making a mess. 

 

11 hours ago, Vinnie said:

A beautiful job there, Robb, Much respect for your perseverance with the rigging.

@Vinnie – Thank you! I really appreciate it.

 

9 hours ago, BerndM said:

Awesome result. The challenge was rewarding.

@BerndM – Thank you so much. 🙏

 

8 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Great build. These always take a real effort to build, but it looks like it was worth it. I'm glad I didn't slash out for the rigging set after your comment.

@Greg Law – Thank you. There was still some good that came from the photo-etch besides the rigging, IMHO. On the engine, there a few finicky pieces that are a bit tough to apply but really help add scale to the model, (IMHO). I also liked a few pieces in the cockpit. Also, as mentioned here in this post, there's probably a good way to manage the rigging but I just have not quite yet managed to understand what it is, haha. 

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53 minutes ago, fubar57 said:

I take the spritzer out of the zip-kicker and use a micro brush to apply

Yes, thanks for this. I find I go through about $30 of micro brushes when I go this route, but maybe that's what ya gotta do. Good to hear I'm not the only one destroying their micro brushes by the truckload, perhaps, haha. 

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What type of super glue did you use? I had a very hard time sticking Ezeline when I was rigging two bi planes until I worked out you shouldn't use the thin Ca. When I changed to Zap-gap which is thicker

I had no problems.  Just a thought.

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That is a thing of beauty. Thanks for the heads up on the rigging. I have one of these in the stash, and will approach with caution!

 

Cheers

 

John

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