Page 15 - Tamiya Model Magazine - Issue 292 (February 2020)

BACK TO THE WORKBENCH
STRINGBAG!
As a highly successful film and TV stills-photographer,
Steffan Hill doesn't get a lot of time at the model bench.
His recent return to modelling sees him tackling Tamiya's
magnificent Fairey Swordfish Mk.II
I about Spits, '109s and Mustangs, but the
can be quite an impulsive chap.
‘Stringbag’ as it was affectionately known
Sometimes, after staring at my stash for
hours, trying to work out what to build
by its crews as it could carry masses of
ordinance, held its own when it came to
next, all it takes is one quick seductive
glance at some beautiful box art from a kit
anti-submarine missions and racked up a
I didn’t know about, and bam!, plans are
course of the war.
cast aside, credit card is out and the kit is
heading its way to me. And so it was with tally of twenty U-boats sunk during the
I usually have no problem with building
Tamiya’s 1:48 Fairey Swordfish Mk.II. out of the box, but in this instance quickly
Biplanes had never really been on my decided to buy Tamiya’s additional
radar and after getting back into the hobby photo-etch bracing wire set, as I considered
after a thirty- five year break, my main it a must. It also includes torpedo aiming
focus had been building AFVs. But as soon sites and a radial section of the engine.
as I checked a review of the kit I was in, Looking through the three marking-options
hook, line and sinker. When you think of the with this build I decided to go for option B,
Second World War, biplanes are probably as I thought the mixture of white fuselage
the last thing you would associate with and camouflaged upper wings looked very
any air force at that time. It's normally all cool and could be weathered quite nicely. U
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