So the Swordfish is complete...
I used to hate biplanes with a vengeance - horrible trying to get the wings on and lined up without everything turning into a horrible gluey mess, fragile when finished, impossible to paint. The idea of rigging one never even occurred to me. The one exception I recall was an Airfix (I think) Swordfish in white plastic. It was still a sticky mess, but it was actually robust enough to last the course.
So as a bit of a challenge - having got most of the basics to a passable standard - can I get a biplane together and rig it...? At that point memory pointed me in the direction of a Stringbag and here we are...
The rigging element was a lot of thinking and planning first. I ended up painting all the wing halves individually, assembled the lower wing upper surfaces and the upper wing lower surfaces onto the fuselage, getting all the wiring done (Uschi line - impressive stuff) through predrilled holes, then sticking the outer surfaces on to hide the grot. Somewhat stressful, and I can't say I'm desperate to do it again, but I know the theory works now!
Anyway - the pics...
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Booo! Pics don’t link. I need to see.
EDIT: now they link and it looks epic. Really nice rigging on a great build. 👍🏼
Nice.
Is that a fuel tank between the pilot and gunner? 😯
That's stunning, excellent work!
Is that a fuel tank between the pilot and gunner?
Yup. Battle of Taranto they apparently left the observer behind in preference for a bodged in tank of juice!
I've just started a Swordfish. It's going back in the box now...
Stunning work. Is that 1/72?
That looks fantastic. I’m with you on biplanes though.
And god forbid sailing ships
Stunning. The mind boggles at the prospect of sitting in one of those going up against Bismarck! Every single one of those airmen deserved a VC I think!
That's a lovely Kit JonEdwards, you must be well chuffed.
Speaking of Swordfish, reading the other day, on raids into Taranto to torpedo the Italian fleet, on the way in, they cut their engines, and glided down to to 150ft to drop torpedoes, thinking that they Italians wouldn't her them coming. Then re-start (keep you fingers crossed!) and escape...Madness.
Is that 1/72?
It is…
The mind boggles at the prospect of sitting in one of those going up against Bismarck!
Yup. Even flying one onto or off a ship in good weather must have been terrifying. Let alone at night, including finding the damn ship in the first place to land on. As for fighting from one 😳
Speaking of Swordfish, reading the other day, on raids into Taranto to torpedo the Italian fleet, on the way in, they cut their engines, and glided down to to 150ft to drop torpedoes, thinking that they Italians wouldn’t her them coming. Then re-start (keep you fingers crossed!) and escape…Madness.
You see in the first pic - there’s a black handle poking out the side between the engine and the lower wing brace? That’s the inertia starter crank. Wind it up and a big spring/flywheel can then be released to turn the engine over. So restarting in flight is limited to how well wound the clockwork is! Terrifying!
Which kit? I've got the Revell which is nowhere near as detailed.
I did think after asking, "no way that's 1/72" but, wow! Well done again!
Wow 1/72!
Top marks, I've strung a few 1/32 biplanes (had a things for the old Revell kit series) and it was a pain enough to do that, 72nd scale rigging gives me fear!
It’s an Airfix kit - bought off eBay, as I think it’s currently out of production - A04053A.
A decent camera and Lightroom don’t half help. I think most of my models have come across in the pics way better than in real life!
Rigging on 1/72? Blimey, I doff my cap to you. Looks superb.
I thought the cockpit sides looked a bit thick but I really didn't think it was 1/72 as your detailing and weathering is so good.
That is a very nice Swordfish JonEdwards, fantastic work. Seeing that makes me wonder why I bother! 🙂
I thought I'd post a little update on where I am with my Stug III. It's nearly finished apart from a few paint details and the exhaust, and also an ID flag on the rear stowage. I decided to add some figures to make it look 'alive' and not just a static museum piece. I've modified two figures so far to show them as they may be after just getting out of the vehicle after a tough battle. Figure one (still needs filler smoothing) is sitting against it exhausted, and figure two will be bent over as if vomiting. not decided one the other two yet, maybe one bandaging the other? Comments/criticism always welcome.
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That Swordfish is top work, Lightroom or not.
Even flying one onto or off a ship in good weather must have been terrifying.
But with a Swordfish's forward view and stall speed, much nicer than a Seafire!
spursn17, those figures look great - very realistic postures.
I went to IWM Duxford a few years back, they have a Swordfish hanging from the ceiling just like a young child’s bedroom. Surprisingly large
It’s on the ground in this pic:
https://images.app.goo.gl/Gu8fL2yMRwNQGA2C6
Not been to Duxford for 30+ years when it was just a like an aircraft jumble sale. I need to get back some time.
Been to Cosford half a dozen times in the last few years. The Cold War Hangar is based on my bedroom from the 1980s.
In model kit news I got a £5 voucher from Jadlam, so an Italeri Sikorski MH-53 is in the post.
It was a work trip to Duxford that sparked me starting models again.
We were touring a national hairdressing fashion show, Duxford was the "Eastern Regional Final". The tourbus arrived sometime in the night with us all in our bunks/coffins.
Anyway - the nest morning we staggered out after our regulation 4hr broken doze into a bright spring morning. We're 10 days in and feeling pretty rough - the light HURTS. We were parked up next to the runway, but facing towards the hangar. We're all brushing teeth, drinking coffee, wedging feet into boots, all whilst staying in the shadow of the bus. The light still HURTS.
Then
WEEEEEEEEEEE.
THUD
THUD
THUD-THUD-THUD
THUNKATHUNKATHUNKACLATTERPOP BRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA
We all stagger round the bus and discover we're parked up maybe 20feet from a twin seat Spitfire that's just coughed its guts into life. We're gobsmacked - its almost alien, its so unexpected. It sits there warming up for a couple of minutes, then the pilot revs it up and does a power test. Thunderous. Stunning. What a way to wake up!
Later in the day I popped out from the event space in the big hangar for a cuppa and someone is practicing aerobatics in a Hurricane directly overhead. The shape of the hangar facade seemed to amplify and focus the noise. Proper special!
(as for the rest of Duxford - a lot of it is a little bit sad - lots of dusty, dead, planes. The American gallery is quite cool - the only place you'll see an SR71 outside of America, and also to appreciate just How Damn Big a B52 is, but the best part is the workshops with the on going restoration and maintenance of still alive and flying aircraft)
While I summon up the courage to get back onto the T54, I’m working on Zvesda’s 1/48 Lavochkin La-5FN and it’s getting close to going back into the stash.
The engine & interior are quite detailed but the instructions are dreadful. Imagine a 1960s Airfix instruction Sheet that’s missing some pages...
And it doesn’t give you ANY paint instructions for the interior, so I painted it cockpit green. Turns out a blue-grey is more appropriate so that’s next up for a fix. Think I’ll get back onto the Bandai X-Wing tomorrow
JE - awesome effort.
"We were touring a national hairdressing fashion show"
I am sorry, but what?
Some things are better left unsolved.
We were touring a national hairdressing fashion show,
Wella? A housemate is one of their models. 1:1 scale.
Wella? A housemate is one of their models. 1:1 scale.
Wella, Wella, Wella, tell me more, tell me more, did you get very far?
IGMC
Got sent a £5 discount voucher from Jadlam.
£12 and a few days later and this arrived...
Recovered the La-5FN but it’s definitely more of a sow’s ear than a silk purse 🙁
All that work on the engine - apart from the exhaust that I abandoned - and it’s all sealed up inside the cowling so no great loss.
Awful fit, worse instructions. I won’t be buying another Zvesda kit
The Force is strong with this one
Just needs painting & decals now
What is the kit? We've got a Revell one, but it doesn't look a nice as yours.
It’s a Bandai kit, with I think a Revell badge also on the box
Proper 1/72 scale, unlike some of the Revell Star Wars kits which seem to come in all sorts of funky scales like 1/100, 1/56, 1/79 & three quarters.
Unlike the Zvesda kit, the instructions are excellent & the parts fit is superb. Almost doesn’t need glue.
Available at Hobbycraft, of all places
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Nice tanks shooterman.
I might have to get back onto the T-54 soon
Thanks. I drop in and out of it as the mojo waxes and wanes!
A couple more
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They are rather good.
Liking the mud on that Sherman
Thanks folks. Sherman was my first attempt at modulation and using oils given the single colour scheme. I got into the hobby via figure modelling. Took it up when I was quitting smoking to take my mind off nicotine in the evenings.
Apologies for the clumsy image posting but that was the first time I actually managed to get any images posted on here.
Sailing ship:
NEVER AGAIN
😁
That rigging! You must have the patience of a saint!
Some amazing work going on here chaps!
The rigging on that ship took several days, an hour at a time. I swore then that I’d never do another sailing ship, and I’ve only done one biplane since then too
Lovely looking model, bit I really couldn't be arsed with that rigging!
No, me neither
T-54B update...
I’m spending a couple of hours a night so it’s taking a long time to get anywhere. But suddenly I’m at the point where I’m starting to enclose all that lovely interior that I’ve spent so much time on
An update...
I think it’s time to get the airbrush out
That is a beautiful looking kit.
It’s a pig.
There are hundreds of tiny pieces that go together to make an ever-so-slightly-less-tiny subassembly that could quite easily have been moulded as a single part.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
And there are some parts mis-numbered or even completely missing from the instructions for these said tiny sub assemblies. Fit of parts is sometimes vague and you only realise three days later when you try to fit something else into the gap that should’ve been left. Take the aiming device on the left side of the gun breech. I’m pretty sure it should be parallel with the breech but there’s no way it’s going to fit in between the gun and the operating machinery.
Still, when the turret is all buttoned up you won’t be able to see much of it anyway
Give me Tamiya any day
Starting to look like a tank now
Tracks were fun. 91 individual links [i]per side[/i] to cut out and trim, then glue together
Now it needs a bit of gloss where the (few) decals go, then a white winter combat wash, and the fenders installing, some weathering and it’s done!
Were those tracks built a link at a time?
Yep.
It wasn’t easy, but I think it’s better result than the old-fashioned rubber band tracks
Looks real!
Toying with the idea of getting an M48 US tank and building a Checkpoint Charlie diorama but I fear it’ll take up too much space. Maybe do it in 1/76 instead 😉
I’m going to leave the turret lid and the engine hatches loose. And the hatches open, I have a 4 man crew for it
Amazing work - pretty cosy for a crew of 4 in there. Later Soviet tanks had mechanical autoloaders to reduce the crew to 3. But they did have an annoying habit of ripping limbs off the remaining crew members apparently 😳
Yeah, it’s a cosy turret. Driver has the front of the tank to himself but turret has 3 seats - commander, gunner & loader. From the interior of this model, it definitely looks a wee bit cramped
Next up - Airfix 1/35 T34-85. Or maybe something [s]else[/s] easy.
Actually, no, I need to get back into learning guitar. Purple Haze and/or All Along The Watchtower. That’ll make plastic kits seem easy again
Ok I’m calling this finished. T-54B (early) in 1/35 by MiniArt
It’s only taken me a couple of months
I’m working on an Airfix 1/35 T34/85 , started on Wednesday & all I have left to build are the turret and the wheels . Plus the paint job
T34 is fully built now apart from the wheels & tracks. Need to paint them first but I’ll be I can’t be bothered right now.
It’s a nice kit (better than I expected from Airfix, must be a new tooling!), apart from them giving you two different turret options (WWII and Korea) but the two sets of markings they give you both refer to the WWII turret. I’ve built the Korea turret so I now need to find some Korea era decals for it 🙄
Quick question. Whilst I am improving and building up some pretty decent efforts by my standards* I am having a problem with getting glue smears on clear plastic. Not so much canopies but more side windows in helicopters etc. Any tips for avoiding this apart from getting someone else to do it or is there a compound I can use to clean off the residue. Revell Contacta if it helps.
Thanks in advance.
*my standards do not reflect the excellence shown on this thread.
You cannot clean Contacta off as it’s a solvent type glue so it’ll actually dissolve the plastic. pVA is your best bet but you need to be super careful as it’ll not hold as strongly as other types so watch out for accidentally pushing the windows in as you are working.
Yep. PVA is what you need.
Been stuck in Decorating Hell™ for too long. Not done anything since my Lancaster back in May apart from about 30 minutes on the cockpit of my A10.
However, I have read the Excellent Fortress Malta by James Holland and as a result have a Macchi 205 and Martin Maryland in the post.
My stash is now officially MABLE (Models Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy).
Future or Klear floor polish is what I use to stick canopies on (if you can still get it). They also benefit from bing dipped in it and left to dry.
Regarding your T54 John - as Oddball would say ‘it’s a mother beautiful tank’!
Glad you like it 🙂
I’ve got an Airfix FW190 in Braille scale on the go. Humbrol acrylic paints don’t take well to Tamiya acrylic thinners; the FW190 is headed for the shelf of doom 🙁
I can’t see to work in anything smaller than 1:48 anyway
"Braille" scale??? Please explain?
1/72. So called because it makes you go blind 😉
Yea ah, some of it was too small to do, never mind looking ok visible, thankfully some too small to even bother with
There’s a 1/35 M3 Lee next up from MiniArt, also with full interior.
After the Airfix T34/85 and Tamiya M48
Ha! I get what you mean. My latest three projects have been 1/72 helicopters. All have been extremely fiddly especially the Italeri Bell AH1. Not really got the space for anything bigger so busy wrecking my eyesight!
Great tank @johndummer
Just the right amount of ageing/dirtying for my tastes.
2 weeks spent on a 1/72 Night Fox helicopter. Gone in the bin, far too fiddly. I see what you mean JD!
Blimey! Plasmo has been busy in 1/72 with a snap together kit to boot...
I have a few on the go at the moment, in various states of completion...
Tamiya 1/35 US 6x6 truck. Finished, waiting for a diorama
Mini art 1/35 city/barn diorama - in progress
Tamiya 1/48 Crusader MkIII. Painted, needs a second coat
Tamiya 1/35 M48A3 Vietnam era. Painted, awaiting decals. To go with the T54 I built earlier. Needs a Checkpoint Charlie diorama.
Airfix 1/35 T34/85, painted, awaiting decals (Hungarian uprising Oct 1956)
Airfix 1/72 Focke Wolf 190A8. Shelf of doom
Zvezda 1/48 Lavochkin La-5FN. Painted, decals on, fiddly bits to add
Revell Victor K2 - Stalled / Shelf of Doom
Italeri SU-34 - Primed but not painted
Another Italeri SU-34 - Finished apart from the weapons
Italeri A10 - Started the cockpit but had to pack it away because we are decorating the house
I was well into modelling when I was a kid but bult my last kit when I was around 14 or 15. I did buy a Tamiya 1/20 Benetton B192 though when I was 17 or 18 with the intention of building it but never got round to it. I kept hold of the kit though so during lockdown and because a dozen or so existing hobbies didn't feel like quite enough of a time sink I decided to dig it out and give it a go.
This time though I wanted to learn to use an airbrush and as a kid I could never afford all the paints - you know the ones; that dull flat brown you need for one tiny bit so I always used to make do with just the main colours. So off I went, bought an airbrush, every single colour on the colour chart and gave it a go.
Finally got it finished and whilst it is far from perfect and I had to fight the kit (and myself to push to get it done) overall I am pretty happy with the end result. Got a couple more kits lined up now so will be starting them soon. Really enjoyed getting back in to it...
Tamiya 1/20 Benetton B192 in Brundle's scheme
Nice work on that dbg, especially after a long layoff.
A quick tip to make cars look better, sand the tread on vinyl tyres to make them look worn.
After what seemed like ages I've finally finished (I think) my Bronco Stug III ausf E. The figures have all been modified to the poses that I wanted from a Miniart artillery crew, I'm enjoying doing figures more and more lately! The scene is supposed to be just after a summer battle in 1941 in Russia.
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Very nice.
I like the look on the face of the guy watching his mate barf up.
