Airfix 1/72nd Fairey Swordfish MkI

[Cookenbacher]

Beautiful paint work Heather, and you've found no shortage of fascinating 1940 subjects.

[Heather Kay]

2 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Beautiful paint work Heather, and you've found no shortage of fascinating 1940 subjects.

Thanks Cookie! It’s surprising, isn’t it, how much variety there is. I’m still amazed that I’ve found kits for a lot of them.

[Learstang]

Very nice work on the Stringbag! I have two of these kits, and done quite a bit of work on one of them, but the fiddlyness (and fragility of the struts) have put me off completing it. Just as an aside, I'd like to go back in time, find the chap that came up with the 'shadow' camouflage for biplanes, and punch him in the nose!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Selwyn]

4 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

 

Sub-assemblies, slightly out of sequence due to painting the main parts. The auxiliary tank, fuel I assume, is hung from the torpedo crutches. The instructions have you fit the crutches to the fuselage, then you have the option of tank or torpedo. The version I’m building wasn’t carrying a torpedo for the Taranto mission, so I’ve fitted the crutches to the tank. I’ve done the same for the bombs, and the other smaller ordnance.

 

At this point, I hope I can page @Graham Boak and @Selwyn regarding the correct colours for the ordnance. I know the larger bombs (250lb?) were a buff colour and often a bit scruffy, but Airfix would have the smaller ones painted matt black. I also wonder if the auxiliary tank, as something not often carried, was painted sky grey or some other colour. Guidance appreciated, as ever.

 

 

Heather the bombs would be either General Purpose (GP) HE bombs (They are the same shape and size) or I think more likely Semi Armour Piercing (SAP) bombs.

They would be both  more likely to be overall Buff colour but overall Deep Bronze Green  is possible!

Markings: sizes quoted are to  1.1 scale.

GP HE  1/2" Dia  Red band 1" back from nose,  1" Dia light green (Actually Eau De Nil) band 6" from nose.

SAP 1/2" White band 3" back from nose 1/2" red band 3 1/2" back from nose, 1" Eau de nil band 6 1/2" back from nose.

 

The smaller cylinder shaped stores are 5" illuminating flares which would be black overall and have a 1/2" red band 5" back from nose.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Selwyn

[Heather Kay]

32 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

Hope this helps,

It does, in spades. Many thanks!

[dogsbody]

Though this photo is from North Africa, you can see the different colours of the bombs and fins.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[PeterB]

Hi Heather,

 

Coming along nicely. Just to add to what Selwyn said, oddly enough I mentioned the colour change in RAF bombs in my Hs 123 thread a few hours ago - I presume it applies to FAA planes as well. The cream/buff/yellow colour was changed to Bronze Green in about March of 1942 according to my US bomb disposal booklets, though some would no doubt linger around for quite a while. If you are still going for 1940/41 then they would not be green I think.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Selwyn]

1 minute ago, PeterB said:

Hi Heather,

 

Coming along nicely. Just to add to what Selwyn said, oddly enough I mentioned the colour change in RAF bombs in my Hs 123 thread a few hours ago - I presume it applies to FAA planes as well. The cream/buff/yellow colour was changed to Bronze Green in about March of 1942 according to my US bomb disposal booklets, though some would no doubt linger around for quite a while. If you are still going for 1940/41 then they would not be green I think.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

The Buff coloured bombs appear to have lasted a lot longer in shipboard operations and were not weathered, probably because the FAA did not use carrier based bombs at the same rate as the RAF would, and they were not weathered as they would be stored safely away down in the ships magazines. The reason the bombs went green was that the RAF stored bombs in open stacks and they could be clearly seen on arial photos, Not a problem in shipboard magazines.

 

Selwyn

[PeterB]

That sounds reasonable Selwyn.

 

I have heard that some RAF "yellow" bombs had their upper surfaces overpainted green when stored in bomb dumps so there would have been some "half and half" ones about at least for a while.

 

Pete

Edited September 2, 2021 by PeterB

[Selwyn]

2 hours ago, PeterB said:

That sounds reasonable Selwyn.

 

I have heard that some RAF "yellow" bombs had their upper surfaces overpainted green when stored in bomb dumps so there would have been some "half and half" ones about at least for a while.

 

Pete

Absolutely correct.

 

Selwyn

[Heather Kay]

Sticker time!

 

 

Yes, I had to be mindful of the loose struts, but supporting the upper wing assembly on some wooden blocks allowed me to manipulate the roundels into place. I’ve always found recent Airfix transfers a bit thick. This set isn’t too bad, but still needed some setting solution to nestle down. I’m afraid there’s still a tiny ring of carrier film - more obvious on the black strips, which I could have painted on. Hopefully, I can lose the edges with a coat of varnish.

 

 

The decision to apply the markings at this stage makes a lot of sense. There’s a pair of parallel black lines on the lower wing which would be all but impossible to align with the struts in place.

 

 

The fin flash needs shortening by 2mm. I think it’s supposed to sit over the bars at the base of the fin, but we all know that wasn't going to happen without tears. Luckily, although I’d attempted to fit the port side flash, I got it aligned and was able to roll a sharp curved scalpel blade across the base to trim it in place. The starboard side was cut to length before placing. The squadron codes and serial numbers have been laid on a coat of Humbrol acrylic Clear to - hopefully - lose the carrier film. The worst transfers are the fuselage roundels. On a simple smooth surface they’d be no issue, but they just have to sit right over the control cable exit points don’t they! Humbrol Decalfix made absolutely no difference, but Micro Sol is doing the trick. I thought Decalfix was much "hotter" than Microsol products, so go figure.

 

Hopefully, all will settle nicely and dry out so I can get protective varnish on. Then I can begin to think about assembling everything. Exciting times!

[Heather Kay]

 

Micro Sol has done the job. Time for varnish.

[Heather Kay]

Still not done the varnish, as I did a bit of retouching here and there and needed to let the paint dry.

 

 

I’ve entertained myself by detail painting bits and bobs. The Fairey-Reed prop has acquired its nose and the red stripes. The latter come as transfers, but I found it simpler to just paint them with a fine brush.

 

 

Airfix like us to paint bombs Humbrol 24, which is a fairly bright yellow. Rummaging in my paint box I found an ancient tinlet of Humbrol 94. I reckon that’s not a bad match (which also means I may need to go back and revisit already-built models to change the bomb colours…).

 

 

[dnl42]

Coming along nicely! 

 

Your hand-painted red stripes are head and shoulders above anything I could ever achieve by hand. 

[Heather Kay]

Today, I hope to complete the final assembly and detail painting.

 

 

First up, installing the engine and cowling. Thereby hangs a tail. Because I left the assembly in separate parts to facilitate painting, when it came time to fit the engine in the cowling - where it locates on the back of the gearcase and support struts attached to the exhaust collector ring - it all went spoggly. The tiny exhaust stubs on the engine prevented it meeting the back of the gearcase. The more glue and the more pressure I applied made it worse, and the tiny location tab got lost in a mess of soft plastic. To cap it all, the gearcase and support strut part pinged out. In the end, I worked out the alignment of the engine, which has to fit one way or the whole cowling sits off kilter, and glued the exhaust stubs to their mates inside the collector ring, and left it overnight to harden.

 

This morning, I managed to fiddle the gearcase back in from the front. Then tried fitting the prop. 
 

A tiny little peg is supposed to poke out from the gear case and glue into the back of the prop. I’m not averse to gluing props solid, and this method would have achieved this perfectly. I wanted the propeller to be movable, chiefly to avoid accidental damage down the line. I glued a piece of 1mm brass rod into the rear of the prop. It can be held with a drop of PVA or Copydex.

 

Finally, the engine assembly was glued to the front of the fuselage. I also painted the windscreen frame, and fitted that. There’s a little paint retouching to do here and there. The main wheels were painted and fitted. They literally only fit one way round. It’s a little disappointing the kit didn’t cater for an aircraft in flight by providing wheels without flats. Were there any aftermarket wheels?

 

 

Small details. With hindsight, I could have fitted the arrestor hook and the wing fold stays under the tailplanes prior to painting, but I didn’t read that far ahead in the instructions! 
 

 

The ring gunsight from SBS was glued into a tiny hole drilled in the upper wing centre section. It’ll get a deft stroke of matt black later.

 

 

And so, time to attach the upper wing assembly. I carefully scraped paint from the various attachment points, very much bearing in mind the tight tolerances. With breath held, and heart in my mouth, I located the pyramid stand into the square hole in the wing, made sure the tiny struts slotted into the front of the windscreen, and ever-so-carefully squeezed the inner strut locating parts into the lower wing stubs. The locating pegs there did need some careful cleaning up to push home. It looks horribly fragile, but it isn’t. I’m impressed.

 

While the glue sets on that, I’ll tidy up and fit the ordnance under the lower wings, and then they can be attached. More paint retouching hither and yon, and then I may be in a position to begin installing the rigging. 

[Heather Kay]

Pretty much complete, as Airfix intended.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am pleased with that. Nothing broke while being attached. I shall let various spots of paint dry properly until tomorrow. Then I shall dive into the PE rigging.

[Cookenbacher]

That's a beauty Heather.

[Greg Law]

Really nice work Heather. It's turning out to be a real winner. 

[Ravnos]

Looks fantastic Heather! I've got one of these on my to do list, if it looks a fraction as good as that I'll be happy

[DaveyGair]

Just catching up with this Heather and she looks a beaut! 

I totally ignored the 'shadow' lower wing colours on my build and really don't obsess with colour shades as I determine it relies on who painted with what batch and what they were thinned with, let alone determining shades of paint from the different quality and exposure of B&W photo's.

 

 

 

Davey.

[Heather Kay]

Cheers Davey! not quite finished, as I’ve got to string the Stringbag.

 

 

Setup, tools and materials. I’ve found using PVA to place and hold the fine metal strips ideal, with CA to fix if I think it needs it. My usual bench lights are pretty bright LED, and I use an Optivisor to give a closeup view. The model was prepped a long time ago by drilling holes following the directions from SBS - more on that later. Fine tweezers to manipulate the rigging, for which I prefer the curved fine point ones, and a curved scalpel blade to cut the parts from the fret.

 

 

SBS assign letters to each part of the rigging, and it pays to follow the stages carefully. You can just make out the first parts running from the nose to the centre wing section. The second and third parts are fitted to the outer interplane struts. My technique has evolved to dipping end of the piece of rigging in the PVA, attaching it to a location point and then inverting the model to let gravity drop the other end into more or less the right place. A drop of glue in the other location point and careful manipulation with the tweezers follow to fix the part in place. I tend to do one part on one side, then do the opposite part on the other side. This gives the glue time to go off a little bit so the first part doesn’t just drop off again. I do find that parts occasionally need careful trimming to fit. This may be down to my error in making location holes, or the wings aren’t quite as accurately assembled as SBS expect.

 

The other important thing is to take your time. Don’t rush anything. Don’t even think about rushing anything. 
 

 

 

 

Methodically working through, taking my time.

 

 

 

And that’s the wings done. Just the tail braces to fit.

 

 

With those done, I need to break out the elastic thread to rig the rudder and elevator wires.

 

More soon.

[Heather Kay]

The secret to using steel PE for rigging is not to drop the model…

 

Happily, it only slipped off a block I was using to support things at a useful angle. It did, however, dislodge a couple of PVA glue joints, so I had to spend a few frustrating minutes wheedling thin bits of metal back into place. PVA has actually been reinforced with CA now.

 

 

The final job was fitting the control cables. I was going to use elastic thread, but photos of albeit preserved Swordfish show the Bowden cable is galvanised. I’ve got a reel of fine tinned copper wire that I’ve owned since 1981, and which I used to rig a Matchbox Stranraer when I was much younger, which fitted the bill nicely. It took me longer to locate my dividers so I could measure things off than to do the job!

 

Time to clear the deck for some photography.

[dnl42]

Very well done on the rigging.

 

I have 6 mil ceramic fiber that I use similarly. I used UV fly fishing glue to good effect on my last rigged model (F2F). Snap the fiber into place, apply glue, and light it up. The UV glue also makes a nice transparency.

[CliffB]

Great rigging Heather 

I happened to be looking at Cosford's Gladiator a couple of days ago, complete with its metal strip rigging.  It does look slightly odd when you first see it.

 

Cheers

[dogsbody]

That looks fantastic, Heather! Well done!

 

Don't forget to straighten up the aerial post on the vertical fin. It has a slight lean in the aft direction.

 

 

 

 

Chris