Sword spitfires 1/72 - cockpit issues

[AndySG]

Hi. Apologies if this post or something similar has come up before. I have the 3 in 1 set of Mk XIV spitfires by Sword. I saw great reviews about the quality of Sword spitfire kits and thought I'd take the plunge a little while back. However, started to build one the other day and I've been a bit disappointed by it. Most notably the cockpit set up is a real fiddle and the parts for the floor and instrument panel don't appear correct in anyway.....have others come across this as well? do I just have faulty kits? or is this just accepted and good modellers (of which I am not one!) just take it in their stride.

[Graham Boak]

One regular problem with short-run kits is that the cockpit parts can be a bit of a fiddle, and indeed there's no easy way out other than fiddling about and maybe gaining a few more skills that you claim to lack!  You may find (I haven't looked recently at Sword Spitfires) that introducing a new floor (not a complete flat base for Spitfires)  or at least a few connecting pieces will help.  There's no excuse however for being totally wrong.

[AndySG]

43 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

One regular problem with short-run kits is that the cockpit parts can be a bit of a fiddle, and indeed there's no easy way out other than fiddling about and maybe gaining a few more skills that you claim to lack!  You may find (I haven't looked recently at Sword Spitfires) that introducing a new floor (not a complete flat base for Spitfires)  or at least a few connecting pieces will help.  There's no excuse however for being totally wrong.

Thanks for the reply Graham. I think I was hoping that this kit would be a bit more plain sailing but I guess not!

[Graham Boak]

The first Sword kit I had was their first, the Hurricane, and it had been moulded with a slight misalignment between the moulds, so almost every piece wasn't quite moulded perfectly.  That look a lot of work - although nothing terribly difficult in itself - to produce something acceptable.  It looks OK now, and was almost less work than the following Airfix one!  However since then Sword kits have improved considerably, and have a good reputation.  I have a couple of their Spitfires so must take a look at the cockpit interiors, though I now must admit that isn't a part of the model I take any great interest in.

 

PS the Sword kit was later released by AZ, but they aligned the tools properly.  

[Giorgio N]

The cockpit in the Sword Mk.XIV follows a style quite common with short run Czech Spitfire kits, like the previous AZ ones. It's not a solution that leads to ease of assembly, the instrument panel and the bulkhead behind the seat often need to checked and trimmed if necessary to properly fit. Worse of all, once all the parts are glued together, the whole assembly is very fragile and it's not easy to fit the block in the fuselage without having one or more parts falling out of alignment.

There's little that can be done, just check, trim to fit if needed and use plenty of care

[AndySG]

Thanks Giorgio

[malpaso]

I have a few Sword 1/72 Spitfires to build (none done yet) in the stash, but the parts and instructions look suspiciously similar to the AZ/KP cockpits which I’ve built several.  It’s all a bit of a “ house of cards” but I build up the cockpit parts loose on the fuselage side as a jig, glue together, then paint.  The assembly usually remains flexible enough to fit between the fuselage as you put that together, some insert from below after the fuselage is built.

Apparently I used the “insert from below” method on this KP Vb.

Hope this helps

Will

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

The first Sword kit I had was their first, the Hurricane,

The first Sword kits were the Northrop N-9MA and Vultee P-66 Vanguard in 1998, the Hurricane was no 12 released in 2000.

I built the Vanguard when it first came out and was really impressed with it, coming complete with resin, PE and a couple of good Vacform canopies. The injection parts were very well done and I don't recall any problems with assembly. 

[AndySG]

58 minutes ago, malpaso said:

I have a few Sword 1/72 Spitfires to build (none done yet) in the stash, but the parts and instructions look suspiciously similar to the AZ/KP cockpits which I’ve built several.  It’s all a bit of a “ house of cards” but I build up the cockpit parts loose on the fuselage side as a jig, glue together, then paint.  The assembly usually remains flexible enough to fit between the fuselage as you put that together, some insert from below after the fuselage is built.

Apparently I used the “insert from below” method on this KP Vb.

Hope this helps

Will

Thanks Will. The actual floor with pedals is similar but the instrument panel is different. Where the 2 tabs are on your instrument panel this has a more block like arrangement. The floor simply doesn’t fit in any way properly to the instrument panel housing plus the instructions indicate a tab on the floor to lip onto the panel housing. That isn’t there either! I don’t like cutting up kits to force them fit as such but  guess I’ll have to. If you have a chance have a look at your sword kits and see if you have something similar. 

[FinnAndersen]

I was kind of disappointed with the cockpits of the XIV series. One of them is currently being part of my MM660, a XIV with a Spiteful wing. Short of discarding everything and putting in an Eduard cockpit from a IX, you just have to bite the bullet at give it your best. As I recall the 'pits are similar to their V series, i.e. not very convincing even when covered by a hood.

 

Not very helpful, I'm afraid, but there it is. I still hope that Eduard makes a Mk I to V and a XIV. Then we will have a decent kit of these, if not ultimate.

 

/Finn

[AndySG]

11 minutes ago, FinnAndersen said:

I was kind of disappointed with the cockpits of the XIV series. One of them is currently being part of my MM660, a XIV with a Spiteful wing. Short of discarding everything and putting in an Eduard cockpit from a IX, you just have to bite the bullet at give it your best. As I recall the 'pits are similar to their V series, i.e. not very convincing even when covered by a hood.

 

Not very helpful, I'm afraid, but there it is. I still hope that Eduard makes a Mk I to V and a XIV. Then we will have a decent kit of these, if not ultimate.

 

/Finn

Thanks Finn...yes, disappointing is the word! I guess I'll have to try and give it a shot...not great when you consider the cost of these kits nowadays.

[Paul J]

I have gone the way of some modellers and decorated the interior of the cockpit sides joined the fuselage and inserted the rest of the cockpit from below.  That  way  it ensures everything remains in line. Also that's the beauty of having a nice big opening to make the cockpit assby easier.

[112 Squadron]

16 hours ago, Paul J said:

I have gone the way of some modellers and decorated the interior of the cockpit sides joined the fuselage and inserted the rest of the cockpit from below.  That  way  it ensures everything remains in line. Also that's the beauty of having a nice big opening to make the cockpit assby easier.

 

I can only second that method. It is simply the best way not only to deal with KP and Sword 1/72 Spitfires but also with the Airfix Spits in that scale that have a more sophisticated cockpit such as the Mk I and the Mk 22. I learned that lesson the hard way a couple of years ago after messing up one of the latter.

 

16 hours ago, FinnAndersen said:

I was kind of disappointed with the cockpits of the XIV series. One of them is currently being part of my MM660, a XIV with a Spiteful wing. Short of discarding everything and putting in an Eduard cockpit from a IX, you just have to bite the bullet at give it your best. As I recall the 'pits are similar to their V series, i.e. not very convincing even when covered by a hood.

 

Not very helpful, I'm afraid, but there it is. I still hope that Eduard makes a Mk I to V and a XIV. Then we will have a decent kit of these, if not ultimate.

 

/Finn

 

Another alternative would be the Fujimi Mk XIVs which have a rather simplified cockpit but are much easier to assemble. On the other hand, this kit has also some other shortcomings such as the tailwheel and the fact that the wing panels have to be revised if you want to create a correct XIVe.

 

Since the two models have identical measurements a crosskitting in order to overcome the drawbacks would not be so difficult:

 

https://www.hyperscale.com/2016/reviews/kits/sword72095reviewmd_1.htm

 

The final strategy that I could recommend is using the Pavla Spitfire cockpit that was created for the Airfix XIX which fits in quite neatly into the Sword fuselage:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/de/kits/pavla-models-c72085-spitfire-prxix-vacu-canopy--153236

Edited August 10, 2022 by 112 Squadron

[AndySG]

Paul and 112 thanks for your replies. I have done a Fujimi high backed spit xiv and did quite enjoy it. One thing that was not so great was the mirror on the canopy which was a bit naff as well as the tail wheel. Hopefully some one will manufacture a really good kit soon!

[MACALAIN]

On 09/08/2022 at 14:40, malpaso said:

I have a few Sword 1/72 Spitfires to build (none done yet) in the stash, but the parts and instructions look suspiciously similar to the AZ/KP cockpits which I’ve built several.  It’s all a bit of a “ house of cards” but I build up the cockpit parts loose on the fuselage side as a jig, glue together, then paint.  The assembly usually remains flexible enough to fit between the fuselage as you put that together, some insert from below after the fuselage is built.

Apparently I used the “insert from below” method on this KP Vb.

Hope this helps

Will

I do the same for nearly all my Spitfire.

 

Alain