"Help with a Fairy Swordfish at Taranto game" Topic

Hi everyone! My club is running Scrum Con 2021 as a virtual gig in April, so I had to beat feet to get a game going to present as an event for the show. This is a project that's been on the shelf for a while; I have always wanted to run a game event gaming the Swordfish attack on the Regia Marina in 1940. It's a cool historical event, somewhat under-represented, and very dramatic.

I initially bought PicoArmor Swordfish and was going to run the scenario with 1:800 scale Axis and Allies War at Sea ships. I am not very satisfied with how the PicoArmor planes assemble (they are very fiddly models). I decided to throw the scaling aspect out the window and work with a more abstract scale between the planes and the ships. I want to make the planes large enough to be easily seen on a web camera relative to the ships. So I worked with a 3D sculpt, scaling it to (roughly, I dunno) 1:285 scale (which is largish). As it's an area effect movement game the scaling isn't really a factor.

Two print runs, and I had the entire Swordfish OOB of 22 planes.

The entire attack, plus extras. The planes printed okay, but needed a lot of work and the landing gear broke on many planes that needed glue.

The relative size between the ships and planes (that's the Bismarck, a subject for a future game, but about the size of the Littorio).

Okay, so here's the next steps-- I've got some flight stands coming. I'll be mounting them at a certain height (two inches), even though the rules include high level and low level altitudes. So.. check.

Here's what I could use some suggestions from my Historical Wargaming brothers and sisters about:

I really need a good suggestion for a color scheme (including a paint brand and hue) for the Fairy Swordfish. I've seen a few variants of a color scheme including a dark green paint job with pale blue under. I've also seen a dark grey fleet paint job with pale blue under the wing. I'm going with something really simple here, but I'd like to retain some of the basic details for my own sense of pride. :-) What's the CORRECT paint scheme?

Also, see the models printed in the pictures above? Do you know of a source for the RAF/NAVY Rondels for the wings? I'm not exactly sure what the scale is but it appears to be close to 1:285. Any suggestion helps.

Thanks for your time and assistance in advance, I'm in a rush to get this job, and will blog about it when I'm closer to completion.

V/R

Walt O'Hara

I think they may have had temporary paint jobs for the night raid with the undersides of aircraft painted black.

From Airfix instructions

link

We typically use 1/300 planes and 1/2400 ships when doing air attack games on shipping.

I-94 for decals, link

Fairey, Walt, the "E" is important !!

I have just painted one in a green and grey colour scheme, and then found a photo of some in a very light colour scheme, dating from late WW2 when my father probably worked on them (he was an aircraft mechanic at an aircraft training establishment in Cornwall). If only I had seen the picture before I painted the model !!

>> Fairey, Walt, the "E" is important !! <<

I blame myself!

I use this site for most of my decals now. Excellent service.
flightdeckdecals2400.com

Thanks to both of you for sources. I played it safe and ordered from both.

Walt

We knew it was a magical attack.

According to "Fleet Air Arm Camouflage and Markings: Atlantic and Mediterranean Theaters 1937-1941", all four squadrons (813, 815, 819, 824) had scheme S.1.E., which is Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey upper surfaces and Sky Grey undersurfaces. Only 815 NAS had the black applied to their undersurfaces, as they had come from special night duties with RAF Coastal Command. FWIW, the author notes there is considerable variations in wear on the black, from solid to ashy, suggesting it was a fairly thin overpaint.

Saw this on Printest. No idea of where the original came from but I think it is from a kit instruction.

Also

I'd love to see the game/rules. It's something I'd run at a show here.

Try these guys as they have the flying one and are the real deal:
link

I-94 and Flightdeck both do great decals. Can't go wrong with either.

I've built a dozen 1/300 Swordfish from MSD and Heroics/ROS. They're an abomination. I wrote this post about working with them a few years back.

link

and

link

The really sad part is that the Fairey Swordfish was a really important plane that remained in production until 1944 and served in a variety of roles, in wheeled and float versions, until the end of the war. It deserved a really awesome miniature.

So, a progress report of sorts. Planes are cleaned up, painted in the two part color scheme, and here they are on stands:

Not the best paint job but not awful either.