OK, I have to walk away from this build for a few days. I’ve just tried to dry fit the fuselage halves over the cockpit assembly and, at first, I couldn’t even get it close. I filed off some plastic from what looks like a radio (I really have no idea what it is) on the starboard side of the fuselage and it got a little closer but no cigar. Then I filed away some of the tubing of the pit where I thought there might be a problem. My next try was a very, very tight dry fit. When I get back to this build I’ll have to put my hobby clamps to work to hold the assembly when I go for the glue.
You’re heading in the absolute right direction. Everything looks great, as for some parts not aligning, sometimes things need to be cut, sanded, or scribed. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Sorry for the delay in updates. I’ve been doing other things when the weather permits.
I do have a very small update. I’ve gotten the engine done (AFAIK) and have started working on painting the fuse, wings, elevators, etc. It’s taking me a loooong time! I’m on my third session of having masked, A/B’d, stripped, masked, A/B’d … you get the idea. I’m at a point where, even though my little hand painted touch-ups are showing differently than the air brushed portion of the paint job, I’m probably going to give up and move on to the next steps.
I used Future on the fuselage to get ready for a little wash on the panel lines and to prepare for some decals but I over zealously put future on the bottom wing sections as well [:$]. C’est la vie. I don’t think it’ll matter once I’ve sprayed flat clear on all my paint work. I just finished air brushing the gray on the top wings this morning so I haven’t sprayed them with Future yet.
With regard to my last post where I was having difficulty fitting the cockpit into the fuselage, as you can see I managed to do it - but with a lot of clamping, holding sections together with every available means I could find and it is finally together. I’m certain it must have been my fault for somehow not putting the pit together correctly. Oh well, it’s done.
Looks great. Quit shortchanging yourself, the work you are showing is on par with what everyone else puts up on here. As long as you are enjoying it and are happy with it, no one else matters, but it looks just dandy. Just hope my Gato’s and Enterprise come out as nice.
Thanks for the encouragement. And, I AM having fun working on this aircraft. It’s meeting or attempting to meet the challenges that arise in building a kit that is most gratifying. I guess my style of writing a WIP includes the glitches and foibles that I come across and that I create as well as whatever information I might deem useful to those who would attempt this puppy in the future.
Mike, First, I am not seeing any rough spots at all, all I am seeing is spot on. The engine in particular looks amazing. Good job, and good luck with getting the fuselage together. You are doing it the right way, dry fit until it works, then glue. (I’ve done it the other way too often, and it really doesn’t work) Keep going, and I look forward to seeing more of your Swordfish.
Thanks to both of you. I’m always nervous about showing my work on this site. I’ve seen such masterful builds of both aircraft and ships on FineScale that I sometimes feel very much out of my depth when posting here. I am, however, gaining a bit of confidence as I move along and I am very, very grateful to all the members who comment on my work for being so encouraging. You’re all such good company in the world of building plastic kits!
That engine is a gem. I’ve seen this Tamiya kit built up very nicely before - It has a ton of detail that really shows - and its just an interesting aircraft. Looks like youre headed for the same place with this one.
At my age it’s better to attempt something knowing that failure on the first attempt is very much a possibility. So what? As long as I don’t bankrupt myself buying too many kits that are destined for the trash heap, failing is, as far as I’m concerned, a real path to success. As long as one is persistent.
I really screwed up my first biplane (Accurate Miniatures 1/48 Grumman F3F-1) but I considered it a test bed so, in a way, I was happy even though I screwed up some important elements.
Greg, what I’m saying is, if you want to build a biplane, build one. I bought two kits at the time I did the F3F - an F3F-1 which I built and an F3F-2 which is in my stash and I will probably build at some point in time. If you can afford it, buy two kits of the same plane. I’ve done that with other plastic kits - just to have extra parts or in case I screw up badly. The F3F-1 I built is considered one of the easiest biplanes to put together. It wasn’t for me. But I learned a little.
Remember good old Teddy Roosevelt: “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
That’s a little much when talking about plastic model kits but you get the idea.
Another incremental, boring, painting update. Actually I did glue the rudder, elevator/horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage. The painting is taking longer than I’d anticipated for several reasons - mostly my having to repaint where I screwed up or my finger nails scratched a surface, etc., etc.
I must warn people who attempt to build this kit that the fit on most parts, although pretty good as far as I can tell, is very tight! As I mentioned above the enclosing of the pit in the fuse was, for me, a real challenge - very, very tiight. I had to do some sanding on the horizontal stab/elevators to get them to slide into the tail. That may have had something to do with my painting the parts first - it’s a TIGHT FIT!
Next up some decaling and then on to more gluing in parts. I have a bad feeling about the section forward of the windscreen that holds the cabane struts. Without paint it was very, very tight. After having painted the struts it wouldn’t go in at all. I’ve sanded/filed some styrene on the attachment points but it’ll be scary for me when I have to attach that assembly in the near future.
