TAMIYA 1/48 SWORDFISH I:
OUT OF THE BOX (MOSTLY)

By John Lester

The Swordfish

Swordfish fought in nearly all theaters, and were one of the few aircraft that started the war and were still in service in 1944. Their greatest contributions came in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. In the Med, they wreaked havoc with both the Italian Fleet and the resupply of the Afrika Korps from bases on Malta. In the North Atlantic, they were indispensable in the Battle of the Atlantic, hunting U-boats from the decks of escort carriers and hastily converted merchantmen. They also protected the convoys to Murmansk from undersea threats. Oftentimes, they were the only aircraft that could get airborne from the decks of violently heaving carriers. Anyone who has crossed the North Atlantic in winter (as I have) can only marvel at the bravery of crews who faced some of the most awful weather on Earth from the unprotected, unheated cockpit of such an airplane.

Like most modelers, I have a closet jam packed with kits – in my case, sci-fi and WW2 airplanes. I like to build aircraft that aren't often seen on contest tables (the last time I built a Bf109, for instance, was when I was twelve), and as a result, I spend a lot of my hobby time on limited run kits. As a result, it's been a long, long time since I built a kit of a lesser-known aircraft that is as sweeeeeeeeeeet as the Tamiya Swordfish.

THE KIT

This kit ain't cheap - certainly for something that has no resin parts.. It's not a "shake-the-box-and-out- pops-an-airplane" model either - if you're looking for a weekend project, get something else (may I suggest the Hasegawa Hs-129?). If you want to build an important aircraft, and want to spend the time necessary to capitalize on what Tamiya gives you, get this kit.

See last month's preview for what you get in the box. I'll just add that the PE set (sold separately) contains a few things that will be hard (but not impossible) to replicate with very thin brass sheets. Among these are the cowl bracing and the torpedo aiming 'antlers'.

There were three main variants of the Swordfish produced, with several standard modifications and a few more 'outlandish' variants. As kitted, you can build any Fairey-produced Swordfish I that flew before 1940. With minor modifications, outlined below, you can build any stock Blackburn- or Fairey- Swordfish I that flew during the early years of the war. By 1941, Swordfish production had moved on to the Swordfish II, outfitted with a more powerful motor and Anti-Surface Vessel (ASV) radar. Most of what you need to make this version is in the kit, but you will need to scratch a few items. The Swordfish III, with more powerful radar in a belly housing (the so-called 'pregnant sword') will be harder to do - if only because references for the interior are hard to come by (the ASV housing is easy enough to form). For the really daring (or insane), there's the Swordfish II's used in Canada as trainers, which had a large greenhouse canopy installed.

For my first attempt at the kit I decided to do a Swordfish I operating from Malta in late 1940/early '41. I based the markings on a photo and color profile in Scale Aviation Modeller vol. 5 No. 11 (late 1999 issue).

GETTING STARTED

There are a number of useful references available, both in print and on-line. [Editor's note: See list at end of article - RNP]

References in hand, it was time to open the box and get cracking on the kit. There are over two hundred parts, though not all are used, plus that PE set. While the detail and molding are very good, they're not perfect (nor did I expect them to be); every part in the three kits I have had mold seams that needed to be cleaned up. Some details are simplified - the instrument panel is one that leaps to mind. Everything fits very well - in fact, too well! Tolerances are so tight that there is not a lot of room for error, so the old adage 'fit twice, glue once' is still applicable. The instructions are very good, and sufficiently detailed, but I departed from them in several places (more on that later).

INTERIOR

Construction starts with the crew area. This is built up as a cage which is then glued to the starboard fuselage half. The detail in here is stunning, and most of the time I spent on this model was spent in the cockpit. Tamiya's color call-outs are accurate enough, as far as I can tell, so I followed them to the letter. I used Testor's Model Master (TMM) 'British Interior Green' enamel for the green color Tamiya would have one mix from three of their paints. All the parts went together without a fuss, and I was off to a good start.

I spent a little extra time on the seats, as I would not be displaying the crew figures with this particular model and the seats are very visible. After a base coat of a flat brown enamel, I scrubbed a lighter shade into the center of the seats where wear could be expected - not a lot, but enough that you see it if you look for it. I then covered that with a very little bit of clear gloss so that it looked like my leather chair - just a bit worn. I had every intention of using the seatbelt decals provided with the kit. However, I wanted them to 'stand proud' a bit, like the real things do, so I applied them to a sheet of very thin lead foil. Good idea - and if I hadn't messed them all up trying to cut them off the sheet, they would have looked just as good as the Eduard PE seatbelts I ended up using. Ah, well. No seatbelts are included for the observer's seat (stool, actually); I gave him a lap belt because I'm sure there was one in the real aircraft (the other two crewmen had shoulder and lap belts).

I also spent a bit of extra time on the instrument panel. Using the photos found on the FAA S.I.G. site, I painted red, yellow and gold knobs, and a yellow/black striped area in the upper left. I also added the clear glass 'shelf' found in the center of the panel, over the recessed instrument, which I cut from a thin piece of acetate. I found I had to cut the individual instrument decals out and apply them all separately, because the decals did want to sit exactly in their allotted spaces when attached to the carrier film. A dab of Krystal Kleer ensured that the decal stayed where it was put, and after that, another dab on top bade a nice approximation of instrument glazing. The completed assembly was later glued to the forward firing machine gun and glued in turn to the right fuselage half. Note that many aircraft, especially those operating in the North Atlantic, did not fly with guns. Attaching the instrument panel without the gun will be a challenge.

The fuselage halves were painted British Interior Green. Then, I masked off the area around the fabric section and painted that a rusty red - Gunze 'Wine Red' acrylic. On the real aircraft, a red primer was applied to the outer surface of the doped fabric. Depending on how well it was worked in, it would show through in blotches on the inside. So, after the red was dry, I sprayed a blotchy, random pattern of Gunze 'Sail', a buff color that I was assured is the closest thing to doped fabric in a paint bottle. After all that was dry, I drybrushed the stringers and longerons with the interior green, then ran a wash of dark green on their undersides.

The detail really popped out with that, and only got better as I painted the various instruments, ballast weights and other bits inside. I must say, I think this is the best cockpit I have ever done - it really came out well (that's more a testament to what Tamiya gives the modeler to work with than a tribute to my skill!). Unfortunately, the galaxy of ejector pin marks inside the fuselage halves popped out really well too. Most are not visible after everything is in place, but there are three across the top on each side that _are_ very visible (there's also two really glaring ones on the underside of the tailplane). Those I filled with putty and sanded down.

Before closing up the fuselage halves, don't forget to open holes in the fin for bracing wires - I did. Also don't forget to insert the clear windows under the pilot - you won't be able to later. I used my usual adhesive – Krystal Kleer – and the smaller window later fell out. Fixing that was a problem; I ended up carefully stretching more Krystal Kleer around the opening to fill it in. Good thing it can't be seen very well!

Other folks have reported problems snapping the completed cockpit cage into the two holes provided on the right fuselage half. Here's where the tight tolerances come into play – part D24, control box of some sort, must be glued in first. If you don't get it exactly right, it interferes with the proper positioning of the cage. If the cage doesn't go in exactly right, the fuselage halves will not close up properly, and you will need filler. By luck, I got it all exactly right. Next time, I'll use a slower-setting glue to get D24 in so I don't have to rely on luck.

EXTERIOR (PART 1)

Here's where I started to depart from the instructions. I left off both the horizontal stabilizer and the rudder (Step 7) to make it easier to paint the camouflage scheme I chose. I also left the clear "glass" and large bracing struts off the lower wing "stubs" for the same reason (Step 12). I punched out all the holes for bracing wires and underwing stores indicated in the instructions, then glued all the wing halves together . Unfortunately, I missed the errata sheet included that warns one not to open a particular hole (it's for the rocket mounting plate), and had to putty that as well. Pay attention to the little symbols that differentiate between steps that need to be done to make the folding wing version - you don't want to lop off mounting points by mistake ! I glued all the interplane struts to the lower wing, but did not glue the top wing on just yet – again, to make painting easier. There are small gaps around the struts, both top and bottom, that are very visible under a coat of paint. I carefully filled these with thinned white glue (since there just isn't enough room to get in there with putty and files!).

Note that most Swordfish I's built after about 1939 had only one landing light, in the port wing. For the aircraft I built (and for the two camouflaged ones the kit provides markings for), the starboard landing light needs to be filled in. I glued on the kit parts, filled their insides with superglue, and sanded the area down to conform with the rest of the wing.

BASIC PAINTING

With all that done, I trundled off to the paint booth to spray the basic colors. Contrary to what Tamiya indicates, the aircraft were NOT painted in RLM 'GrauViolet' and Dark Green over Sky. They WERE painted in combinations of Dark Sea Grey and Slate Grey – which side-by-side, do have bluish and greenish casts respectively, I will admit. Again using TMM enamels, and following the pattern shown in the Caruna article, I painted the underside TMM Sky (which I now think is too green - I should have cut it with a light grey), and the top surfaces of the upper wings and fuselage Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey. Because my particular aircraft flew before the 'shadow compensation' scheme was discontinued, I then mixed in a few drops of light grey to both colors so I could paint the top surfaces of the lower wings. I saved those custom colors for later touchups - a good thing I did, too.

I assembled the bomb racks to the undersides of the wings, but left the landing light off until the end. As I wanted to show an aircraft prepared for a typical Malta anti-shipping strike, I left the bombs off, but kept the flares and smoke bombs. Typical strikes were flown at dusk, when Axis aircover departed; one or more aircraft carried flares to silhouette the targets for the attack. To replicate the unfilled bomb racks I filed down the mounting attachments for the bombs using a rat-tail file.

ENGINE

The kit engine is a beautiful piece of work - a mini-model in it's own right. The JANE's book has clear black&white photos of the Pegasus engine, which I used as a guide to paint mine. I used a 50:50 mix of semi-gloss 'Aircraft Interior Black' (a very, very dark grey) and Flat Blacks where Tamiya calls for semi- gloss black. I painted the cylinders a dark metallic grey (TMM Exhaust, which is darker than their Gunmetal), then drybrushed them with Steel. I could not get the PE parts to match up at the ends - but with all that black in there, it's hard to tell on the finished model. Because I'm a nut, I detailed the perfectly acceptable engine with bits of fine wire to represent the wiring that ran up the center of each cylinder. These wires were then painted a dark grey (whatever was handy at the time). The completed engine was set aside for later at this point.

The exhaust collector (part D-7) and exhausts (parts A17 & A16) were painted with Testors PLA (small bottle) Brass mixed with a few drops of their Copper, over a base of Burnt Iron metalizer. I think it's too bright, and in the future will forgo the copper and add a dark brown instead. These pieces were also set aside, as was the cowl (D6), after I painted the inside Flat Black.

PAINTING (II) AND DECALS

Of course, the scheme I wanted to do is not represented on an aftermarket sheet yet, so I painted most of it myself. Humbrol Trainer Yellow enamel provided the band on the rear of the fuselage. I then masked off the tailfin and sprayed it PollyScale Reefer White Enamel. When that had dried, I masked off the front third of the fin to be sprayed TMM Insignia Red, and after that, the rear part to be sprayed TMM Insignia Blue. The white provided a good base for the blue and red, which tend to look transparent otherwise. The Floquil, I've found, sprays easily and covers very well, and as an acrylic it does not react with the enamels over top.

Tamiya's kit decals are thick, but quite useable. The wing roundels went on without a hitch. The fuselage ones required multiple heavy coats of Micro-Sol -- mostly because this aircraft had them further back, covering bumps and protrusions. The 'T4F' code was printed out onto clear decal film (using text in the Arial font set to be 0.8cm high) with my ALPS, overcoated with clear decal film, and applied. I used all the kit stenciling as well. Note that the decals for the interplane struts (#'s 33 & 34) are not interchangeable - read them and you can see that they are labels for each strut! They also have the serial number for one of the kit aircraft (K5972/804) .... but I left that on. No way would I attempt to make a decal of the proper serial for my aircraft at that size!

After all that was dry, I carefully cleaned off the model with a damp dishrag and then gave it a clear overcoat - a 50:50 mix of PollyScale Semi-Gloss and Flat acrylic clearcoats.

RIGGING AND FINAL ASSEMBLY

Now, the part that gave me fits. I've never rigged a biplane before - I've only built one prior to this, and it had no wires. Tamiya makes it easier with the PE than the traditional method - or so I've been told. It's not foolproof - and I'm the fool that proves it, I guess.

I first glued the outer vertical bracing wires to the top post of the outer struts. Forget about gluing the bottoms in the slot you opened earlier - they won't go without the wires bowing, and you don't want bowing. I nipped off the bottom ends to the point where the wires just barely rested in the slots, then used a drop of superglue to keep them there. Then, I attached the upper wings to lower wings. If you're careful, you can force the upper part of the outer struts into place - it fit so tight I didn't need glue. I did run another bead of thinned white glue around the gap and touched up the area with Sky paint before continuing.

It's probably easiest to attach all the rigging to the wings, then attach the wings to fuselage. Heck, I know it's easier - but I found the wing assemblies moved too much laterally as I fiddled with them. This caused the rigging to bow, pop out of place, and generally annoy me to no end. I finally glued the wings to the fuselage before finishing the rigging. As with the first set of wires, I glued the tops in, snipped off most of the bottom tabs, and let the wires fall naturally into position before hitting the bottoms with superglue.

All in all, it took me four hours to get all the wires in place, plus add the control cables for the elevators that Tamiya left off.

FINAL BITS

After the travail of rigging, the final details were a welcome anti-climax. Torpedo, smoke bombs and flares were painted and glued in place, as were landing gear and tailwheel. The prop was painted and popped in place, after which the wireless mast and aerial were positioned (the wire, made from 1lb test monofilament, broke off before I shot the final pictures. Ah, well).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite a few annoyances, the Swordfish was really a fun build. Tamiya provides a superb kit that builds up into a great model with a bit of patience. And because everything fits so well, you can really work on your modeling basics - especially preparing parts. Despite the price, I plan to build several more – including a Mk II conversion next.

Many thanks to HobbyLink Japan for the review kit.

Many thanks also to Tom Cleaver, without whose generous assistance I would not have had as much fun as I did.

SOURCES

PRINT

• 'Ol Stringbag: The Fairey Swordfish, Richard Caruna, Scale Aviation Modeller vol. 5 No. 11 – color profiles and line drawings

• Fairey Aircraft Since 1915, J.A. Taylor, Naval Institute Press – photos and text

• Bring Back My Stringbag: Swordfish Pilot at War 1940-1945, John (Lord) Kilbracken , Redwood Books --- lots and lots of little details - and a very good read as well

• JANE's Fighting Aircraft of World War II (1998 Reprint) – clear, detail photographs of the Pegasus engine.

SAMI one can get at just about any well-stocked hobby shop, or from Squadron Mail Order. The other books are available numerous places as well; I found Barnes & Noble.com to have the best prices and availability.

INTERNET

• IPMS/USA Fleet Air Arm Special Interest Group – beautiful color photos of the pilot's cockpit in the reference section. Lots of other useful information and links as well, including a brief review of a book dedicated to building the kit (already!)

• Hyperscale – excellent walk-around photographs of an aircraft in the Imperial War Museum.

• Flights of Fancy – more excellent walk around photos.