Airfix Fairey Swordfish Mk.I (A04053B) 1:72

[Mike]

Fairey Swordfish Mk.I (A04053B)

1:72 Airfix

 

 

 

Of the hundreds of types that saw service during World War II, the Fairey Swordfish was one of the handful of aircraft that can be said to have passed from history into legend.  The large ungainly fabric-covered biplane flew for the first time in 1934 and entered squadron service with the Fleet Air Arm in 1936.  Designed as a torpedo bomber and spotter-reconnaissance aircraft, the Swordfish was also used for other roles such as anti-submarine warfare. Despite its antiquated appearance and some unsuccessful attempts to replace it, it was still in squadron service at the time of Germany’s capitulation in May 1945.

 

Nicknamed the ‘Stringbag’ because of the wide range of loads it could carry and the profusion of rigging-wires holding it together, the list of key actions the Swordfish was involved in is the stuff of legend.  It took part in the attack on Taranto Harbour and played a pivotal role in the destruction of the German battleship Bismarck, fatally damaging its rudder with a torpedo. Engagements such as these demonstrated not only the tough, dependable qualities of the Swordfish, but also the professionalism and bravery of the crews that flew them, often in the face of heavy losses.

 

The Kit

Packed into a long top-opening box are four sprues of grey plastic and a single, small clear sprue. Together they hold a total of 125 parts. The sprues are cleanly moulded with reasonably fine attachment points. A quick examination of the sprues reveals that the level of detail Airfix have achieved with this kit, both in terms of moulding and engineering, is outstanding. The panel lines, few that they are on a Swordfish, are reasonably subtle. Airfix have also taken great care to achieve a realistic stretched fabric texture on the flying surfaces and fuselage, and they have done so very successfully.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the interior that is made up of no fewer than eighteen parts including the internal framework structure, crew positions, a beautifully detailed radio, a moveable Lewis gun for the aft cockpit (along with spare magazines), the forward-firing Vickers gun, and a decal for the instrument panel. The radio set features some lovely moulded detail that will come up well under some careful dry-brushing, and this all makes for a highly detailed cockpit for a 1:72 scale model.

 

The cockpit assembly is placed into the fuselage halves after adding a number of clear windows and the forward-firing machine gun for the pilot’s use. The short lower wing stubs are fixed to the fuselage underside insert before it is fixed in place, and a deck behind the rear gunner’s position is also slotted in.  The lower wing supports are short and thick, inserting into sockets on the fuselage and lower wing, next to the oil cooler that is a prominent feature of the starboard front fuselage and is superbly detailed, as is the engine and cowling. The cowling itself is made up of four parts, which may seem a little over-engineered to some, but as mentioned above this kit seems to have been designed for enthusiasts and so fewer shortcuts have been made at the expense of detail. The cabane struts and windscreen are added to the top of the fuselage behind the cowling, the motor and its detailed cowling are joined together, followed by the single part prop with spinner and a pin in the rear that can leave the prop loose if you’re careful with the glue.

 

Moving onto the flying surfaces, Airfix haven’t made any compromises here either, with both the elevators and rudder all fully poseable and featuring nice hinge detail. The tailplane strut is moulded in one piece for ease of assembly, although this has left it with a small sink mark on the underside, albeit in a very easy place to fill. The kit can be finished with wings extended or folded, which is where Airfix’s clever design really comes into its own. The interplane struts are joined at the bottom so that the parts form a square U-shape. The horizontal part that helps align the vertical struts is then partly hidden between the upper and lower halves of the upper wing. This method of construction ensures that everything joins up at the correct angles and the finished model should have more strength as a result

 

If you decide to build your Swordfish with the wings unfolded, a separate spar must be inserted in the centre wing section. If you want to build your Swordfish with wings folded, this spar is omitted and the two jigs that can be seen on the sprues above are used to align the centre wing sections while they are glued together. This makes a complex stage of construction as simple as possible for all those biplane phobics out there - me included.  The lower outer wing panels are joined to the centre stubs with an additional strut either in-place for extended wings, or as a separate assembly that is joined to the wing at an angle for the folded option.  A small insert is fitted inside the upper wing centre section to tidy things up.  Two folding V-shaped clips attach to the underside of the tail fins either pointing aft when not in use, or forward and attached to the folded wing to keep it in place on the pitching deck of a carrier.  The landing gear struts were installed around the same time as the wing, and two wheels in separate halves are fixed onto their rectangular pegs.

 

Just the fiddly parts are left, and I’m ignoring the rigging because it terrifies me, and Airfix don’t provide a diagram for you, but there are bound to be some out there.  The torpedo is moulded in halves, and you’ll need to drill two 0.8mm holes to attach it to the underside of the airframe later.  A set of perpendicular fins and the screw are inserted in the rear, and there’s a three-part trestle glued under the belly of the beast onto which the torp fits.  If you want to put the torpedo on the included trolley however, just forget about drilling the holes and build up the trolley from the four parts in the box.  With the model inverted, you can fit the racks to the outboard panels of the lower wing along with the clear landing lights that are recessed into the leading edge.  The crew step, hand-crank for the engine (surely not?) plus the arrestor hook in the tail can also be glued in while she’s inverted, then with her placed back on her wheels, the single Lewis gun with plate mag are clipped onto the mount in the gunner’s enclosure.

 

 

Markings

There are two/three options on the decal sheet in this boxing, one of which appears twice in different schemes that gives the modeller a wider choice.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• W5984/H flown by Lt.Cmdr Eugene Esmonde VC, DSO Operation Fuller (the Channel Dash) No.825 NAS, RAF Manston, England, 12th Feb 1942
• K8386/945 No.824 Naval Air Squadron, FAA, HMS Eagle & RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong, China Station, May-Nov 1937

 

 

 

There is conjecture whether option A was actually over-painted with black paint before take-off, in a manner that was described as hurriedly, although spelt wrong!  Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

Apologies for the rough looking top profile, but it isn’t available online, so I had to scan in the instructions.

 

 

Conclusion

This is a welcome re-release of a great little kit (I use the term little, as I’m a 1:48 guy normally), with tons of detail moulded-in.  It’s short a rigging diagram, but other than that it’s a handsome model, so give it your best shot.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[William_The_Legend]

The kit does look lovely. I will certainly be picking one of these up. Cheers for the review Mike.

 

I am however slightly disappointed with the lack of pilot figures/crew. I know that airfix's pilots certainly aren't the best offerings out there, but I do think it would be nice if the kit gave you the option to include them.

[Maginot]

Wow! The included wings folded option is very appealing. I might have to review my preference for other scales and grab one of these. A Swordfish trio of 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72...  

[Steve Coombs]

Does anyone know if Eduard is going to re-release the 2012 photo-etch (or even an update) for this kit? That would go down most nicely.

[Fukuryu]

On 3/20/2022 at 1:28 PM, Steve Coombs said:

Does anyone know if Eduard is going to re-release the 2012 photo-etch (or even an update) for this kit? That would go down most nicely.

 

If not, the Marabu Design set is still available: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MUDM72010?result-token=EtKni

 

About the rigging: SBS has a PE set, https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SBS72050?result-token=EtKnij to make things easier, and given that in the real aircraft it was done with galvanized steel bars, 38x14 mm IIRC, more realistic even.