Aichi B7A2 Grace By Sword Model

[phantom II]

Hi all ! Just a few pictures of work in progress on Swords latest Japanese kit .

The last Japanese torpedo bomber produced .

The wheel wells have to be glued to the lower wings but they were too thick to assemble the wing halves.

A good bit was required before they fit together.

Moving to the fuselage, the molded exhaust stubs are molded in and were crying for improvements. They were shaved off and holes cut in the engine cowling .

Some late Japanese stile exhaust stubs were then glued to the openings .

That's all for now . Cheers, Christian B)

 

[MrT]

Love this plane!

 

[moon puppy]

Nice start Chris

 

[SA Dave]

I never even heard of this plane I just love any form of Gull wing

 

[phantom II]

Thanks guys . Interesting subject . Shame the only one left in existence is still rotting in a warehouse after 66 years .

Not many pictures available on this subject and most are pretty bad at that.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[phantom II]

An update for this weekend. The interior has been painted .

Some boxes missing from the kit as well as wiring was added to the fuselage sides ( not much detail available )

The floor piece was also detailed . Radio dials were painted and some knobs were added to the driftometer ( :S )

Detail in the front office was sparce. I added the controls to the right console and the trim wheel to the left side . Stirrups were made for the rudder pedals.

The IP is stock with only a bit of paint to bring out the details.

The assembled interior fit well length wise in the fuselage but the sides had to be trimmed considerably to fit inside.

That will have to be another post.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Hey, you got finished with the book! Looks good Chris.

 

[phantom II]

Hey, you got finished with the book! Looks good Chris.

Not zactly Bob . Let's just say that balancing my time better this week between reading, ministry work ,modeling and time with the wife has cleared my brain enough to where I felt like posting again .

That's were I am in the book . Long ways to go . BIG BOOK !

Thanks for dropping by . Cheers, Christian B)

 

[jknaus]

Looking good Chris. Whats that book about? Currently I'm reading a book on the invasion of Poland.
You had to grind out some of the inner wing and wheel well, the kit came like that? Seems pretty bad for them to make something that wont even go together.Keep at er.
James

 

[phantom II]

This doesn't look like much of an update but in fact was a lot of heck-tick work none the less

The engine will not fit through the opening and there is no firewall to secure it to, so I made one.

Next was drilling a series of hole through the engine pieces and the propeller so they could be mounted properly :S

As nothing in the cowl can really be seen ( it's all black anyway ) I see no reason to detail the engine anymore.

You may have noticed the gap at the bottom of the fuselage . It would not stay closed and will have to be dealt with when all these pieces are glued together.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Nice surgery Chris!

 

[sharkman]

Looking very good Christian,

I recently got the Hasegawa prototype version of this plane.

 

[phantom II]

Looking very good Christian,

I recently got the Hasegawa prototype version of this plane.

Ahhh but different scale . Yours should be much easier to build . Interesting subject

Thanks for looking in

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Phil]

Not into Japanese aircraft but this one looks good, nice work there Christian

 

[chukw]

Cool choice, Christian- love those bent wings!

 

[phantom II]

Not into Japanese aircraft but this one looks good, nice work there Christian

Thanks Phil . Only problem with this aircraft is the lack of choices for a paint job .

Only green/ or Orange but still a cool machine.

Thanks Chuck. It is a different look for a Japanese aircraft

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[phantom II]

Some small updates but progress none the less

The propeller was a total mess. Reminiscent of Airfix kits and pre-broken to boot :pinch:

After a lot of sanding and polishing, it looks acceptable . Will mend it in the Propeller jig .

The fuselage is now completely closed and sanded . The panel lines corrected where needed

This kit comes with a nice five piece canopy. Unfortunately it does not fit the fuselage well. Things had to be cut and sanded in several places .

The rear most piece had to be shimmed but it is too narrow for the fuselage . Will have to reshape it shortly

That's all for now . Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Sand sand sand, fit...repeat..

 

[phantom II]

Sand sand sand, fit...repeat..

Well. close . . . Mark , grind , sand/swear/sand look for the little clear piece swear some more and realize it was in front of you ! .

Sand some more

 

[sharkman]

Looking good Christian,

That sailor talk must be working if you're beating it into submission! Keep it up!