Tamiya 1/48 Swordfish Floatplane

[shortCummins]

red stripes on the floats…

masking for the stripes

I'm using white as a base colour so that the red will show better

the red

the finished result

masking for the roundels, 3 different types…

fuselage - red, white and blue

top wing - blue and red
bottom wing - red, white and blue


white used as both a base coat and part of the roundel
masking for the red centres


the red added…


the blue added…



… and the final result …




hopefully thats the last of the masking, I seem to have been doing hours of masking and minutes of spraying but I enjoyed the process and I'm happy with the results

next up will be touching up a few minor bits of 'over spray' and then start the weathering/chipping process

until then
as always, any suggestions or comments will be great fully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Willem]

Looking great John. Those masks have worked a treat. Paintwork looks superb mate.

[shortCummins]

Looking great John. Those masks have worked a treat. Paintwork looks superb mate.

thanks Willem, I must admit I'm pleased with the result, all the time taken was worth it

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

small update today, at least I've spent a lot of time with not too much progress to show (the story of this build!)


it was only when I was preparing the photos for this upload that I noticed I'd waved a grey coated hairy stick too close to the fuselage …well I'll just have to go back and fix that!


what I was intending to show was some of the 'subtle' chipping!

here's a better view of the 'pewter' colour I mixed, if you look at update 09 I detail how I achieved this colour



'chipped' floats

I had a problem, it didn't work as well as I'd hoped!, with the chipping. Try as I might with a brush and water I just couldn't get the top layer of paint to remove (chip) so in the end I used a q-tip dipped in water. However, this removed both the top coat and the 'aluminium' paint revelling the undercoat, possibly the base colour of the plastic? so I'd have to say that my efforts at 'chipping' didn't work, at least not as I'd envisioned, I'll have to try again.
I re-painted the flat aluminium, using a hairy stick, to cover the 'bare plastic/undercoat, perhaps I should have used some sort of protective coat of gloss or Klear between the aluminium and hairspray and grey/green top camo colours? do you think this would have prevented me removing too much paint? I think that because I'm using only acrylic paints I need to protect the 'base' colour?


thats a PE gun-sight, fantastic simple detail



whats not to love about propellers?
after the black/yellow I dry-brushed some Tamiya dark grey and then added some flat-aluminium to portray deeper worn effects, the tip of the spinner has been 'attacked' with an ordinary HB pencil and a few 'dots' of a silver prismatic pencil

next up will be nailing the wings together and tackling the PE bracing

until then
as always, any suggestions or comments will be great fully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

adding Tamiya PE rigging…






adding the rigging should be straight forward, its a Tamiya kit with Tamiya aftermarket PE rigging, so everything should fall into place?
the connectors between struts and wings are such a good fit that adding paint makes fitting difficult without scraping off the paint, when you add a the size of the PE the only way to get them to fit is to widen the 'hole' in the wing(s) for the base of the strut, not too big a job but I'd have though someone would have allow for it?
The next issue is the length of the rigging, its fractionally too big, this means that rather than having 'taught' rigging its ever so slightly bowed. In truth you'd have to look for it to notice, however I know its there and I think I'll dismantle the rigging and make it a wee bit smaller, we're talking thousandths so I run the risk of making them too small, I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow


torpedo sights


the 'bowing' is quite noticeable on this rigging

fitting the floats





wings dry fitted


next up is finishing the rigging

until then
as always, any suggestions or comments will be great fully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[rwsmith14]

Love the wear on the floats !!! she's looking good !!

[shortCummins]

Love the wear on the floats !!! she's looking good !!

many thanks
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

well I'm not going to finish in time, there's just still too much to do, I thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew, however I've really enjoyed taking part in the SiG as well as my build.

Taking part when there have been so many top, top class builds and ideas has been truly inspirational, I've enjoyed every minute of it, well done to everyone who's completed their build(s) you've all done outstanding work

I'm only glad I don'e have to judge the winners, that would take almost as long as my build

if anyone is thinking about joining ones of these SiGs, do it, its a lot of fun and you'll get some fantastic help and encouragement that will end up making you a better model maker

I plan to keep on posting 'stuff' until I finish the build

rgds
John(shirtCummins)

[heel]

Looking forward to the final result John. A very intensive build for a short time window.

[strawnobi]

You are doing a fantastic job on this. I built the MK II last winter and its some of the most fun combined with tedium that I have had. I've been looking for the float plane version for awhile. It's hard to find it at a decent price now.

[shortCummins]

thanks guys

I've put it to one side for the moment but I hope to get back to it soon,

rgds
John(shortCummins)