Dazzled's Silverfish

[Dazzled]

At last I can upload pictures so I can join in this GB.

I'm building mine pretty much straight from the box. I will be rigging it and adding some seat harnesses but these are the only additions I have planned. I've just taken delivery of some EZ line. The nice people at Models R Go even sent me a sample of a heavier gauge line for comparison. I'm rather looking forward to trying this material out. It is black which I know is not correct for the steel rigging used on Swordfish but, then again, it's also round in profile whereas the original had aerodynamically sectioned flat rigging lines. If it looks too far out I may try a little metallic grey or aluminium paint on it after installation. If the EZ line does turn out to be that good then my Handley Page 0/400 could emerge from the stash.

I'm building the Taranto boxing but going for the pre-war silver option for an aircraft from HMS Courageous with the nice blue stripe and blue cross on the upper wing. I love the look of the pre-war Swordfish and wanted one with a torpedo armament, albeit, in this case, a practice torpedo. I'll keep the extra bits though as a Taranto raider model would certainly not be out of the question.

Trying to stick to the instruction sequence, I started with the interior sidewalls.



I'm out of acrylic interior green so this was painted with enamels. The flesh coloured linen is actually Games Workshop Elf Flesh.

I gave the interior a thin wash of Tamiya Dark Earth and set to building the cockpit tub.



Again, I used a mix of enamel and acrylic paints so painting had to be planned around drying times.

The cockpit tub is a bit fiddly, as I'm sure we all know by now, but is a little gem. I used "Cockpit" by Donald Nijboer as a reference source. Not that Airfix leave you much to reference of course but it was nice to know which side the gun button should be on

This is the finished tub.



I'm pretty much ready to close up the fuselage now. The small side windows were put in with Clearfix yesterday and I've painted around the MG aperture. Just a final coat of paint on the gun itself is required. That said, a test fit revealed the need to trim the cockpit tub locating lugs and fuselage mountings a little but it all seems OK now.

[Ian]

That's a good looking interior!

[PaulBradley]

Nice start, Daz!

[Old_Tonto]

That is a very nice interior Dazzled & it looks like a really good kit,

I might have to get one. It could sit next to my Skua (if I ever finish it. :LOL:).

[splash]

Nice work dazzled its coming along fine.

Regards Splash

[Dazzled]

Well the fuselage is together. Despite being an undoubtedly fine kit I, inevitably, had to resort to some filler. There's a dip in the rear deck at the centre join. A check up revealed that the rear deck of the Swordfish was actually flat so the dip was filled and smoothed off. I also had to fill a little at the lower sides at the underside joins.

I drilled out holes for the control cables and the rigging wires in the nose and fin. While I was about it I put some holes in the wings too.



With the fuselage set aside to cure for a while I set about the engine and wings.



These are progressing nicely. The engine has been painted with reference to "How to Build Tamiya's Fairey Swordfish" by Geoff Coughlin. This shows the pushrod tubes at the rear to have aluminium covers. Everything was given a dry brush and a dusting of pastel chalks to matt things down.

More progress soon.

[jssel]

Great work so far. Lovin' it.

[Dazzled]

Clothes peg city!!!

[Dazzled]

I haven't been idle with regard to the Swordfish and have been progressing gently and in short bursts since my last update.

I fitted the windscreen and rear deck, fully assembled the mainplanes and built up the tailplanes and fin, placing the elevators and rudder at nice, jaunty angles to give the model a sense of animation.

I've masked it and have just put on the first colour coat-Tamiya X-11 chrome silver using the trusty Aztek.



When this dries it'll be more masking and the second paint colour.

[Dazzled]

And just when everything was going well....



A previously unnoticed gap in the wing-fuselage joins on both sides.

Out with the Green Stuff.

[MDT]

Great going so far! I too had a some issues in the same area...I'm relying the heavy struts over that area to cover it well...

[Dazzled]

I'm afraid I'm rather stalled with my build at the moment. Work and home commitments have put the brakes on my modelling activities

[Dazzled]

I'm going to have to call time on this one. I'm exhausted from work and home commitments, not to mention a hefty study load. I'm just not getting any modelling time in at the moment .

On the bright side this has had some positives. I was inspired by the GB to build my Swordfish rather than leave it to fester in the stash, and I've discovered some of the frustrating issues with the kit that I'll take forward when building the second Airfix Swordfish that I bought after starting this GB.

So, not a finish within the time constraints but one that will be finished and followed on from .