Airfix 1/72nd Fairey Swordfish MkI

[Heather Kay]

I realised I hadn’t linked to the excellent walkaround Swordfish pictures on this very site. Here you go…

 

Now at least I can find it quickly when I need it!

 

Having kickstarted my day with a bowl of cornflakes and a mug of tea, and having fed and watered both Best Beloved and the cat, I sat down and contemplated the wings.

 

 

I think every Swordfish kit worthy of the name provides for the wings to be folded or unfolded. This kit is no different, and quite some thought had obviously been given to how to make a fiddly biplane wing fairly easy to build whichever option the builder chooses. I’m building with the wings ready for flight, so I made a point of striking through instruction steps I don’t need to worry over. Anyway, before I knew it, the wings were pretty much in this state! Carefully extricating the outer interplane struts so they didn’t snap was an exercise in careful logistics, but I managed it. Some care is needed to carefully clean mould seams and tiny bits of flash, because various joining surfaces have to fit snugly into holes later.

 

By the way, you may note I’ve glued the SBS inspection covers on the lower wing upper surface. Best to do that before other parts get in the way!

You can see the clever way the struts fit into slots and holes to ensure a firm attachment and alignment. You can also see the upper wing spar fitted to the centre section, another clever feature. If building wings folded, the spar is not needed. The spar, incidentally, will only fit one way round, so there’s no chance to get it wrong.

 

 

Now we come to a further victim of tight fitting. The inner struts - alternatives again provided for folded or unfolded wings - attach to the upper centre section by slotting into the latter. One side fitted fairly well, after a little gentle filing down. The other, though, was tight enough to force the centre section halves apart. I spent ages carefully filing and sanding and dry fitting, only to twig the answer was…

 

 

… to snip the tip of the long tongue off. Then the part slotted in place nicely. I think the moral is spend some time scraping out slots like this before assembling things, though you really won’t find the issue until it’s beyond that point!

 

 

The lower halves of the upper wings - biplanes are complicated when you try and describe things! - with the outer struts can be glued to the centre section using the spar. When the cement has set, I used Revell Contacta to fit the upper wing halves. Note how rebates have been moulded to fit the strut bases inside the lower halves.

 

 

Here’s the same thing upside down. The tiny struts under the centre section confused me at first, the instructions show them fitting into holes in the nose, just in front of the windscreen. I couldn’t find any holes, then I realised they were moulded at the base of the transparent part which I haven’t fitted yet. This isn’t a problem, yet, because I plan to leave the major assemblies separate so they can be painted. I can fit the windscreen, once it too is painted, before finally installed the wings.

 

 

Of course, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do a dry fitting of the wings. Good job, really, because it highlighted a couple of areas that needed attention. The top of the tripod (quadpod?) that supports the upper wing needed some filing to make it smaller so it was a good fit into the rebate hole provided. When I come to fit the top wing, I also need to be very careful about fitting the bottom of the struts into the lower wing stubs. They are a snug fit, and must be pushed home fully so the outer wing panels fit square. Again, just a few careful swipes around the location peg with a file helps.

 

Scarily, things have very quickly reached a point where I must contemplate painting. The only major assembly remaining is the undercarriage, so I’ll do that next.

 

[dnl42]

Looking wonderful, as expected! 

 

7 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Having kickstarted my day with a bowl of cornflakes and a mug of tea, and having fed and watered both Best Beloved and the cat, I sat down and contemplated the wings.

I'm hoping they either got the right bowls or sorted themselves out after... 

[Richard Tucker]

Looking good. I've had a look at the instructions and it looks like it goes together quite well and you have helped show the areas I need to watch out for when I build mine.

[AdrianMF]

Nice work! I’ve built ye olde Airfix and the FROG on floats, and I’ve promised myself to do the Revell repop of the old Matchbox one before I get to this one. Masochism really, the new Airfix kit looks so good.

 

Although one of the two I have has a bunch of short shots  

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Heather Kay]

On 23/08/2021 at 22:18, AdrianMF said:

Although one of the two I have has a bunch of short shots

That's not good. So far, fingers crossed, I’ve not had any short shots in my Airfix purchases. Let’s hope it stays that way.

 

After a few days of reasonable painting weather, I got five fence panels painted! No modelling occurred at all. Then a spot of ill health - nothing serious, just an ongoing niggly annoyance that occasionally knocks me sideways - and a lovely day out visiting the Brooklands museum over in Weybridge. It wasn’t until today, halfway through a bank holiday weekend, that I got anything done to any plastic models.
 

 

Swordfish wings and fuselage, prop and cowling, plus a visiting Breguet 693, got some rattle can primer. I hope the stuff will stick so I can begin to get basic colours blocked out. Although the French plane has a nice fussy camouflage finish, the Swordfish is likely to give me most grief. It’s got the shadow shading camouflage, as well as a wavy demarcation between the lower sky grey and the upper colours. That’s going to be a proper fiddle to work out as far as masking is concerned.

 

Time to let the primer dry, and force myself not to touch anything until it has!

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

A fair coat of ColourCoats Sky Grey on all the under surfaces. I think another light coat tomorrow for a bit better density. Then to figure out the order of the rest of the colours. 

[Heather Kay]

 

Another coat was definitely required. Looking okay, so I’ll start thinking about masking for camouflage.

 

I realised I’ve rather made a problem for myself. The large bracing struts that transmit the undercarriage forces through the lower wing roots to the fuselage really should have been left off until the wings are painted. It’s going to be a bit of a bind getting the camo colours behind them now. According to the instructions, there is a dark walkway transfer to go on, which will help, but will still be a nuisance to apply in among all the spars. Ho hum.

[dogsbody]

I bet that was a definite " Oh ! " moment.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Heather Kay]

3 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

I bet that was a definite " Oh ! " moment.

More of a headscratcher, really. Looking at things, I will get away with using the hairy stick to get paint in there.

[Heather Kay]

Remind me that we do this for fun.

 

 

Masking the fuselage. Oh boy! I’ve used offcut Oramask to work out the wavy demarcation, and filled the rest in with tape. I haven’t bothered running tape along the edges of wings to protect the underside colour. Perhaps I should. I’ll regret it if I don’t!

 

I am busy with life stuff for the next few hours, so I hope to get one colour applied topsides later on. 

[Edge]

Coming along nicely, Heather. Such a pity that biplanes aren't satisfied with a jumble of struts, wings & wires but all too often insist on being coloured-in with a larger than necessary number of paints!

 

Edge

 

[Heather Kay]

 

Dark Slate Grey on the upper wing and fuselage, Light Slate Grey on the lower wings for the shadow shading. There is a difference in the flesh, just not visible to the camera under this lighting.

 

Many years ago now I built Special Hobby Blackburn Roc. It’s still one of my favourite builds, and I have the matching Skua to build one day. I painted the Roc, as was my preference at the time, with Xtracrylix Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey. It looked okay to me. 
 

Then I got switched to ColourCoats, and last year, during the Battle of Britain 80 Group Build, I built a Fairey Fulmar.

 

 

Here are the Fulmar and Roc, as a comparison. The Xtracrylix Dark Slate Grey (that’s the green one. I know, it’s confusing with all these greys) seems, well, darker. I am not an expert, but I felt the ColourCoats was lighter when I painted the Fulmar. In fact, I almost assumed I had chosen the wrong shade and picked the shadow shade variant by mistake. I note the Hannants pots are labelled "RAF Extra Dark Sea Grey" and "RAF Dark Slate Grey" - but I didn’t think there was any difference between Air Ministry and Admiralty paint specifications for aircraft.

 

I reckon Jamie is correct and I’m not going to claim anything otherwise. It’s probable Hannants are not correct, or I simply bought the RAF temperate sea scheme colours in error. It’s just annoying that the Roc will be the outlier in my collection, although it still looks the business. 

[Dave Swindell]

10 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

I didn’t think there was any difference between Air Ministry and Admiralty paint specifications for aircraft.

There isn't

Both Air Ministry and Admiralty chose colours from paint specifications supplied by the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) 

RAF EDSG & DSG and FAA EDSG and DSG are the same MAP colours.

[Heather Kay]

1 minute ago, Dave Swindell said:

There isn't

Thanks Dave! I guess Hannants are a bit off with their paint mix then.

[Heather Kay]

Masking, masking, masking. Somewhere under all this is a model aeroplane.

 

 

To mask for the Dark Sea Grey (and Extra Dark Sea Grey) I use Copydex. It’s a latex-based glue, but is a lot cheaper than the proprietary masking fluids if you’re covering large areas. The downside is it kills brushes, so I use a cotton bud to apply the basic edges and the brush attached to the pot's lid to block in the space. The other downside, as with every quick-drying latex gloop is it dries very fast and brushing over an area will lift it.

 

 

Anyway, the greys (various) are now airbrushed on. I’ll let it dry enough I can begin to remove the masking. I don’t like leaving Copydex or masking tape on a painted model any longer than it needs to be.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

 

 

 

Well, I think I can call that a success. No paint lifting at all. Even I’m impressed. Some hairy stick action will be required to tidy up here and there, and to apply the shadow colours to the wing roots as discussed previously. I’ll review things in daylight tomorrow before deciding how far to take things. I suppose it would be sensible to consider applying transfers while things are in this state, before contemplating the final details and assembly.

[Dave Swindell]

49 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Is it just me, or is the slate grey on the lower wings darker than on the uppers?  They look wrong way round to me. 

I didn't comment earlier on your Skua / Fulmar comparison, but to me the Skua looks more like what I would expect contrast wise for the temperate sea scheme. Xtracrylics have reputedly got some colours not quire right, and @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies has a good reputation for colour accuracy, however it looks to me like the slate greys used here should be swapped to give less contrast on the upper wing and more on the lower wing?

[Heather Kay]

24 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Is it just me, or is the slate grey on the lower wings darker than on the uppers?

Perhaps I’ve confused things by posing the lower wings in front of the upper set. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

11 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

Is it just me, or is the slate grey on the lower wings darker than on the uppers?  They look wrong way round to me. 

 

Hi Dave,

 

Heather has this the right way round for the S1E scheme. The difference in the Extra Dark and Dark Sea Greys is much more obvious. Light Slate Grey is actually lighter than Dark Slate Grey but the difference is almost nothing in it in terms of Light Reflectance Value.

 

What is more distinct about them is that Light Slate Grey has a relatively strong green component which is weaker in Dark Slate Grey, whilst Dark Slate Grey has a slightly stronger yellow component.

 

At any rate, it's my personal opinion that the names and adjectives contained therein are complete misnomers for both colours!

 

 

[Heather Kay]

42 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

At any rate, it's my personal opinion that the names and adjectives contained therein are complete misnomers for both colours!

Amen!

 

While the paint I lay down might not look like my perception of what it should be, I know that the stuff in the tinlet is not just thrown together from random ingredients. I have not regretted the switch to Colourcoats. In Jamie we trust. 
 

Today's plan, while I’m here and after breakfast and some life chores, is to gloss coat and get some transfers applied while areas are still accessible.

[Heather Kay]

 

Just a little paintbrush work, smoothing edges and tiny spots of over/under spray, painting the main wing struts, that kind of thing. The lower wing roots have also had the required colour brushed on. They’ll need a second coat, but brushing CC enamels means a longer drying time than airbrushing, so thing will slow down again. Still, there’s a load of small assemblies to deal with, and now would be a good time. 

[Heather Kay]

 

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 Kay]

 

[Graham Boak]

I think the smaller weapons are flares not bombs: I don't know what colour they would be painted.  Modern (OK, 70s) examples were the same colour as the bombs.

 

The 250lb bombs would have been Buff prewar - which looks like yellow in period colour photographs.  Wartime ones were one of the dark greens: I think Deep Bronze Green but can't be certain.  Hopefully Selwyn will oblige.  Unless the FAA used some other colours, but I doubt it.  You can sometimes see a mix, where the body of the bomb can be a one and the tail the other, which would add a spot of difference if you added that to one of them.

 

The underfuselage tank may well have been Sky Grey but for Taranto it would surely have been overpainted Night/black?

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Graham. As I’m building for my 1940 kink I’ll stick with a yellowish-buff for the bombs, with a bit of scuffing to show they’ve been kicking around a bomb dump before being shipped on Eagle and Illustrious. I’ll see if I can find any photos showing flares.
 

On 02/09/2021 at 18:06, Graham Boak said:

The underfuselage tank may well have been Sky Grey but for Taranto it would surely have been overpainted Night/black?

 

That’s a good question. I’m following the Airfix instructions, and it’s standard camouflage according to them. I know they have a bit of a reputation for occasional errors, but generally their research is pretty good.

Edited September 4, 2021 by Heather Kay
Historical inaccuracy