Tommy's Swordfish ***FINISHED***

[Martin R]

Yer on the home stretch now, Tommy! Go to it!

[MerlinJones]

Yeah...who needs shadow camo anyway?

Regards,
Bruce

[Tommy]

Shadow camo? Is that like the Gloster Gladiator where you have lighter colors on the lower wings and fuselage? I am with Merlin on that - I am going to skip it.

My Swordfish only has two crew members (only two came with my kit) and it seems a little empty in the middle seat, so scratchbuilt a 60 Imp Gal auxiliary fuel tank from Evergreen Styrene tube and strip stock. The filler pipe is Contrail rod with a thin disk of styrene for a cap that I made using a little punch/die tool. The filler pipe is not fixed yet. After all the painting is done and I am ready to install the unit, then I'll attach the pipe to the appropriate height.





I'll paint it like the one on the cover of the Squadron book of the Swordfish.

Tommy

[Tommy]

Moving right along, I got up early and masked the Sea Gray areas and then painted the Slate Gray. Once its dry, I'll remove the masking and then re-mask the upper surfaces and then paint the Sky areas. Since most of the aircraft is painted Sky, I decided to apply it last.



Tommy

[Dirkpitt289]

Great work Tommy

[JohnRatzenberger]

Was shadow camo used at this time?

I'm away from my refs, but shadow-shading was not universal nor was it in place for each theater or for the entire war.

[Tommy]

Great work Tommy

Thanks Dirk!

When I got back home tonight, I pealed off the masking as seen in the photo below. In the morning I will mask off all of the areas that won't be Sky and then after that I'll paint the remainder of the model Sky. The Townend ring on the cowling will be painted tomorrow as well.


Tommy

[Jagewa]

Wow looking smooth Tommy, great work spraying with the wings in place. Any trick to that?

Cheers
Jim

[Tommy]

Wow looking smooth Tommy, great work spraying with the wings in place. Any trick to that?

Cheers
Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks!

Well the trick is lots of masking. I got up early again, and just masked off all the areas that weren't going to be Sky. It was time consuming - about 2 hours to do but it worked out ok. I work in little strips and patches of tape that I cut on my plate glass work area. The photos below show the masking completed and then after the Sky was applied.





I'll remove the tape tonight.

Tommy

PS: I am pedaling as fast as I can Bruce!

[MerlinJones]

Oooooh...talk about making it harder for yourself!
...And all those little areas of possible bleeding!

Good luck!

Regards,
Bruce

[Tommy]

Oooooh...talk about making it harder for yourself!
...And all those little areas of possible bleeding!

Good luck!

Regards,
Bruce

Yes, Bruce its the "Macho Man Masking Method"

When, I returned home, I put on my nitrite gloves and went to work removing the tape. It all came off without a hitch. At this point I was able to install the cowling/engine assembly, the long range gas tank, the arrestor hook, and all three wheels. The torpedo is just press fitted and holds on nicely without glue. I'll put on the gloss coat (Gunze-Sangyo) tomorrow morning. Below are pictures. The long range gas tank can be seen best in the middle photo.







Tommy

[BWP]

Nice!

[Dirkpitt289]

That is looking really sweet. I like the color combinations.

[jssel]

Looking very smart.

[Tommy]

You must be nearly finished, Tommy, surely.

Brews, you must have ESP or something, cause, yes ... I am finished!

I spent the last two days doing decals, flat coat, rigging, and installing the details. I finished up this morning. The decals had to be scrounged pretty much - only the "ROYAL NAVY" decal came from the kit. I did the wash on the figures as was suggested. I used Tamiya Smoke. I hope it does the job. I made a wind screen from a scrap canopy front from my scrap box.























Thank you to all the builders in this build as I learned a lot from all of you.

Tommy