Page 16 - Tamiya Model Magazine - Issue 292 (February 2020)

FULL-BUILD: WORLD WAR TWO ALLIED AVIATION
TAMIYA 1:48 FAIREY SWORDFISH MK.II ● KIT NO.61099

INTO THE 'OFFICE'
V
First up is construction of the
three-man cockpit, the floor of which
was painted with Tamiya XF-71
Cockpit Green and weathered with
Tamiya Brown Panel Line Accent
Color, before adding the sides and the
top and weathering the same. I also
painted the radio and machine gun
in XF-69 Nato Black and drybrushed
with some X-11 Chrome to give a worn
look. As usual most of this detail will
be covered up, but I’ll admit there is The cockpit floor with elevation pilot's seat The fuselage interior walls have been painted XF-71
a certain satisfaction from detailing and radio set visible Cockpit Green, with natural wood-coloured areas in
cockpits and if anything, it helps me the lower section
understand the overall engineering of
an aircraft. I didn’t add the seatbelt
decals, as I wanted to have the crew
in situ. It’s one of the things I really
like about Tamiya compared to a lot of
other model companies. They always
include figures, which in my opinion
always add a sense of scale and drama
to a model, even without a diorama.
Next up I tackled the figures, which
were airbrushed with a base of XF-64
Red Brown and then hand-painted
with the same colours recommended
in the instructions except for the
faces for which I used Vallejo Panzer
Aces’s Flesh Base, Shadows and
Highlight, diluted with water. Figure
painting is one of my weakest areas,
and I’m sure a lot of modellers can
relate to this too, as it’s a real art in
itself. The eyes? My god the eyes look
awful anytime I try them, so I tend
not to bother at this scale and use a
quick cheat which I picked up from
a YouTube video to add a wash of
Citadel Agrax Earthshade, letting it
flow into the shadow areas, it really
looks a treat if your painting skills are
not at Boss level like mine aren’t!
As I’m on the subject, being a
novice, two of the biggest helps I find
are YouTube tutorials and Facebook
groups. I have become strangely
addicted to watching other modellers
building processes, some of which can
be truly inspirational. I won't list my
favourite channels here as I’m sure
anybody reading this will have come
across them for themselves as well.
Facebook groups, on the other hand,
I find can be a bit of a minefield as
there’s so many out there, and all
with there own ethos which can differ
wildly from group to group, but I’m
sure like me, you will eventually find
the one which suits you best. What
I love about these groups the best
is being able to ask a question and
get an informed answer (most of the
time!), almost immediately, when ever
I am stuck on a problem.
OK, I’m digressing a bit, so back to
the build. I painted the fuselage on
the sprues, using cockpit green for
the metal parts and XF-64 Red Brown
over sprayed with XF-59 Desert
Yellow for the canvas sections, and
punched holes through the relevant
parts using the special photo etch tool
supplied for the braces. A miniature 'walk-around' of the assembled cockpit module shows how much detail is crammed in
here. Of note is the 'U' shaped mount for the Vickers K machine gun, painted metallic grey

16 February 2020 TMMI 292