I don’t normally post blogs of my aircraft builds, as they’re usually quite brief, but I thought this one might be worthy as it’s got a bit involved in it.
This will be part three of my Illustrious Trilogy, featuring aircraft from none other than HMS Illustrious from WW2. The first being a Fairey Fulmar and the second being a Vought Corsair
I started this kit as I needed a break from HMS Punjabi which has become a tedious, expensive and slow build which I’m no longer enjoying, and have become bogged down with.
I needed something to get my mojo back… Let’s hope this is it…
And here’s where it gets unusual. I have a PE set from WEM back before they were acquired by Tom’s Modelworks. It’s WEM’s first and I believe only foray into aircraft PE and I don’t even think it’s still available.
The chosen colour scheme: obviously the Taranto raid which, IIRC, this aircraft and 824 squadron were transferred to Illustrious for their famous raid on the Italian fleet…
first question to the brains trust: Airfix call out indicates that the top face of the cockpit enclosure should be “85” which is “black”… But I would have thought cockpit green is more accurate?
When in doubt of proper colors, I refer to pics of restored aircraft, vehicles, etc., or follow the consensus of other modelers…somebody must have it right! I just completed that Swordfish myself, but without any PE…I just added an AM Vickers gun, and an aircrew, and a scratched dynamic propeller to simulate flight. I had a few problems with construction, mostly because I didn’t follow the sequence. When I built the crew’s cage (as you illustrate above), I built it exactly per instructions and it fit together perfectly. Even fit perfectly in one side of the fuselage. But, the next day, when I glued the other fuselage side, it was about 1 1/2 mm too wide and created a gap the full length of the fuselage. Took a lot of unnecessary work to fill the gap!
(Lack of time and all that)
