Tamiya’s 1/48 Swordfish Mk. I- The interior

I’ve completed the cockpit for Tamiya’s 1/48 Swordfish Mk. I. It has a fairly high parts count for a Tamiya cockpit, but it fits well. It was a bit fiddly to get everything aligned, but it’s Tamiya- it does fit.

I started by pre-assembling some of the components, basically to the point that it would not interfere with painting. The painting started with Tamiya XF-71 to represent the cockpit green. The canvas section was painted XF-55, and then various oils used to simulate canvas. I’m not sure if the color is right- various sources indicated different things, so I picked what I thought would be the most interesting. Test fitting in the fuselage showed it to be all but invisible, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

The rest of the cockpit was done in various Vallejo colors, and given a Payne’s Gray oil wash. I decided to use the kit supplied belt decals, rather than try to procure the appropriate photoetch or resin parts. They don’t look great up close, but they’ll do once it’s all built and viewed from a normal distance.

I’ll get this closed up later this week, and then it is on to the engine and wings.