Tamiya 1/48 Fairey Swordfish Mk.II

Sorry folks, it's in the trash.

I was not able to line up the wings with the center top and bottom sections on the fuselage. When I tried to force it in I was able to get one wing on - albeit with bent bracing wires which would have been near impossible for me to redo with the wing in place - but the other wing would not go on at all. About 1/8 to 3/16 inch out of line. Too much. I forced it just to see what would happen and, as I expected, I cracked off the beam that slides into the outer wing from the center. At the same time all the rigging was torn off and part of the inside struts broke.

I am keeping the fuselage just to see how I screwed up the alignment of the top and bottom center portions of the wings which was the reason that both wings would not fit properly - I think.

I'm not giving up on building a stringbag since I have another kit but I am going to take a break and build a simpler kit before getting back to the Fairey Swordfish.

Again, my apologies to those who might have been interested in this build. I'll try again in 6 months or so.

Oh man that stinks!!! I will take your lessons learned and apply them to my Swordfish.

I have my share of trashed kits.

Oh Man , that's too bad.    

I can relate though as i have a double winger Walrus half done in the stash that needs the top wing put on, and I am afraid of the same alignment issues you have had. Someone told me to build a jig to align the top and bottom wings while gluing but that's just too much work for my lazy self.

"Crap on a cracker, Kathy." That's really bad news. I was really looking forward to seeing this build completed. You were doing such an awesome job of it, Mike. It was gorgeous work, even if you disagree.

Perhaps in a few months you can fix it, or perhaps make a crash dio out of it. A hard landing on a carrier deck would probably fit the situation. Who knows.

I usually save such disasters for practice painting or trying out an effect to see if it'll work. Just don't toss it. You could slap that fuselage on a truck trailer, tie it down, and have a dio of an old bird gone to pasture. Lots of stuff that could still be useful for.

Sorry, I just hate to see good work go to waste.

Anyways, what's next? :)

Modelcrazy, Jay Jay, and Mike,

Thanks for the sympathy and kind words.

Mike,

As to saving it for a "crash" diorama or something of that nature, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. I was p****d off at the world when I trashed it and, although I kept part of the fuselage, the rest is really, honestly, TRASH.

I have another of the same MkII kit which I will attempt after I've done another, hopefully easier aircraft for a friend of mine who used to work on them way back when. It's the Hasegawa 1/48 TA-4F Skyhawk. That particular skooter was not a training aircraft - it was essentially the same aircraft as the single seater with all the armament. My friend emailed me one time after I'd asked him about aircraft when he was in the Navy. He said:

"I worked on A-4's when I was stationed at Naval Missile Center, Pt. Mugu, CA.  We had six or seven A-4B's and one TA-4F.  Basically all the variants  prior to the "E" were B's with armament or electronic upgrades.  The E's and F's got electronic upgrades in the dorsal hump, and also the newer more powerful engine. I believe that the M's were E/F's with slight mods such as extended tail pipe.   The TA-4F was by far the best because it had a back seat and if it was open for a flight I could go along for the ride.

On the jet line, we had F-4's, F-8's, A-7's, and A-6's in addition to the A-4's"

So, I thought I'd build this TA-4F for him.

Mike

Ouch !

Sorry to hear that.

Chris

You had a good looking bird going on there.

I wonder who amongst us has never trashed a kit in progress?

Sorry it had to be at your expense, but it was a learning experience for me. Thanks for letting us follow along.

And don't you dare let this stop you from posting future WIPS. You do a really nice job with them.

Chris, Lawdog, and Greg,

Thanks for the input. I do intend to build the MkII stringbag again. At that point I probably won't post it as a WIP (a little gun shy with that particular kit) but, rest assured, I'll do another WIP at some point in time.

Lawdog, your suggestion is well noted. I did use this page:

http://www.ipmsusa.org/reviews/Kits/Aircraft/tamiya_48_swfish2/tamiya_48_swfish2.htm

Unfortunately I did not read one very important section well enough. John R. said:

Having gotten past that problem, I test-fit the fuselage, center section, and wing cellules, lightly sanding the top/bottom of the locating arms to get the wing cellules to slide on easily, to balance/level the center section. Then I glued the center section down, keeping the wings on as a "jig".

I sure wish I'd burned that piece of advice into my brain before I'd glued down the center wing sections to the fuselage.

All who decide to build this kit should read and heed his advise.