<> **** DONE: 1/48 Fairey Swordfish MkII - WW1 / WW2 over Water. (1 Viewer)

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

The fairing has been shaped and the missing fasteners replaced on both sides. These will be filed down once the glue has solidified.

17031801.jpg


The leading edge slats now get attention. This starts with scoring along the panel line with a fine razor saw. Here you see one of several that I used.

17031802.jpg


With the slat carefully removed, the next step is to add spacers under the cut so that the upper wing surface does not flex. These also act as support points for the cut styrene sheet inner surface that will be added. Also seen here is the upturned slat with the rough inside shown.

17031803.jpg


The styrene sheet piece has been glued in and shaped into an airfoil and the inner surface of the slat has been scraped using a curved x-acto blade.

17031804.jpg


After final shaping the slat looks like this. It's important to get the trailing edge very thin.

17031805.jpg


The slats will now be set aside and will not be glued in place until very late in the build as the supports will be delicate and prone to breaking. Thanks for looking in.
 
Wow! That's too much of a challenge for my skills. You're a fine modeler (and a brave man :)) to have attempted to rectify the way the slats should look. Do you happen to know how those leading edge slats were controlled? On one modern (more or less modern) jet - the A4 Skyhawk - the pilot had no control over them - they drooped at low speeds and were thrust back in due to air pressure.
 
Not sure but likely just air pressure from forward movement Michael. At a certain speed, insufficient pressure on the spring loaded slats would allow them to deploy. The system I'm thinking of was, I believe, patented by Handley Page and the Bf109 used the same idea as did others.
 
Andy and Wurger,

Thanks for the quick answers to my question. The first paragraph on the page that came up from my Google search confirmed exactly what you'd told me. It's from British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development & Service Histories by David Hobbs. Here's what I copied from that page:

33531644516_6e324f1771_b.jpg
 
I didn't include the full story above. His initial attempt to bail out of the cockpit was near impossible due to high "G"s and airflow, when he went over he was flung into the rear cockpit and with great difficultly he was finally able to extract himself from the aircraft and bail out a second time.
 
Thanks all. Made some more headway over the last few days.

The exhaust pipe had the end hollowed out. Though Tamiya did attempt the effect I felt that the opening had to be made deeper and the edges thinned. I did not attempt the small ports as my tolerance for self-induced pain is pretty low at the moment.

17032201.jpg
17032202.jpg


The first PE struts have been installed on the horizontal stabs. Good fit.

17032203.jpg


Before gluing the rider on, I wanted to address the towing shackle which is moulded as a solid part at the bottom of the rudder. The part was cut off and replaced with a piece of bent wire per the following pics.

17032204.jpg
17032205.jpg
17032206.jpg


The windscreen MUST be attached before the upper wings are put on as it has two holes into which a support for the upper wing must go. I've therefore masked both inside and outside and attached the clear part.

17032207.jpg


The outer wing braces received their PE wires and have been ID'd for port and starboard to keep them straight.

17032208.jpg


This being my first bi-plane, I have to think about sequencing the work here and have opted to paint the wing surfaces before final assembly. The outer braces have been glued to the upper wing and their stagger checked for consistency. All of the lower surfaces in the photo below have been sprayed with a thin coat of Tamiya surface primer and will be sprayed white when this is dry.

17032209.jpg


Thanks for checking in.
 
Very nicely done Andy.
That towing shackle brought back memories of when I had to tow the RNHF Swordfish on a grass taxi way - the crew were worried I might damage the tail if I went too fast (walking pace in low box !), and I was more worried that the weight of the aircraft would pull off the rear cross member of my Land Rover !
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back