**** DONE: 1/48 Fairey Swordfish MK.I - Defense of Britain/Atlantic.

[Wurger]

Not too bad, Geo.

 

[fubar57]

Merci, mon ami. As suspected, my transceiver is all but invisible, the TAGs seat has yet to be installed. The brownish object above it, so I have read, is a life raft, which I thought was in the upper wing, just to the left of center, seen in the photo below. Aircraft from Yarmouth, N.S..

Geo

 

[Wurger]

Yep.. that's the dinghy compartment. Also there was a compressed-air cylinder for blowing up of the life raft. The process could be started manually or automatically.
It seems that the cover of the basin for the dinghy could be sealed with fabric ( paper?) strips and dopped with , not necessarily , the camo paint.

However there were planes without a such sealing seen too... but these edges of the covering seems to be protected as well.

The blowing up of the life raft is started..

 

[fubar57]

Great shots, I'll have to figure something out. Maybe lighten the camo color or dirty up some greyish white on decal paper. Anyhoo.....I did come across the cockpit fit problem after all in 3 places. The black box on the right half is mounted as high as it can go and the part the arrow is pointing to on the left half is molded in. Both were filed down slightly and the tub slotted in.

The other problem is that the bottom of the tub doesn't follow the slight curve of the fuselage, producing about a 2mm gap. I've started filing down the tub and so far have reduced the gap to about 1mm but I'm outta time. Another weekend over, time to pack and get the bus. Have a good week everyone.


Geo

 

[Wurger]

I went through a couple of builds at Polish forums and nobody claimed a such trouble. I have found only one guy who mentioned a problem with putting both halves of the fuselage together because of slightly moving moulds. Also I have found that the fabric covered areas were primered with an undercoat paint of the red-brick tinge like the Wimpy interior.

An original panel off the rear of a 1941 built Swordfish showing the green and red dope ....

The pics source : Swordfish interior colors - WWII - Britmodeller.com

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Wojtek, unfortunately I'm limited to English. Google translate sometimes butcher the language. One of the builders had a problem with the two small attachment pins. Since my last post, I filed down two round pieces that are molded into the cockpit tubular parts near the rear....½mm to go. As for the fabric color, one book mentions the brick color and it tended to fade to a buff color. Another book said this was done only to pre-war aircraft and the fabric was a clear doped color, FS:33717, which is what I went for.


Geo

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice stuff coming out here Wojtek and Geo. Have you hired Wojtek as your on site project manager per chance George!

 

[Wurger]

Thanks Wojtek, unfortunately I'm limited to English. Google translate sometimes butcher the language. One of the builders had a problem with the two small attachment pins. Since my last post, I filed down two round pieces that are molded into the cockpit tubular parts near the rear....½mm to go. As for the fabric color, one book mentions the brick color and it tended to fade to a buff color. Another book said this was done only to pre-war aircraft and the fabric was a clear doped color, FS:33717, which is what I went for.


Geo

Roger...

 

[ozhawk40]

Great progress Geo, I like it.

 

[le_steph40]

Great progress Geo, I like it.

I second that

 

[T Bolt]

This is really looking nice George

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Geo!

 

[Airframes]

Nice work so far Geo, and great reference material from Wojtek. Love that shot of the CO2 bottle activating the ditching sequence !

 

[Crimea_River]

Ditto. Great info accompanying this thread and good work so far Geo.

 

[Wayne Little]

good stuff so far George.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys

Nice stuff coming out here Wojtek and Geo. Have you hired Wojtek as your on site project manager per chance George!

You have to admit the man is a genius when it comes to reference material. I think he likes it when I go to camp and he can relax. Vacation starts today....21 days off and travel plans have fallen apart so it's modeling and a mini vacation at the end. One thing I dislike is adding clear parts before painting. These have been clear coated and will be added tomorrow. Just some final sanding of the cockpit tub and there will be a seamless fit of the fuselage halves. I have to add the I.P. and fuselage mounted M.G. and make sure these don't interfere.



Geo

 

[parsifal]

Just love the work on a stringbag. It on my definite to do list one day.

 

[Wayne Little]

Got one and seriously thought about it too...

 

[JKim]

Great work on the pit and the engine!

 

[fubar57]

Thanks John. Finally managed to put the books down briefly and get on with this. The I.P. went in with just a little fiddling to make sure it didn't interfere with the fuselage. The fit of the cockpit tub is tight enough that I don't have to glue it in. It looks like no putty will be needed on the fuselage....

Geo