Ron Bell Posted July 27, 2025 Report Posted July 27, 2025 I have a soft spot for some reason for British torpedo bombers. I've done the Swordfish, Albacore, Beaufort, Firebrand, Blackburd, Ripon and Vildebeest so far. This is the Esoterica vacuform Blackburn Dart, which superseded the Sopwith Cuckoo. As with all Esoterica kits, it is very well done and strut stock and some white metal parts are supplied. They even included white metal torpedo cart. There are decals for three colorful aircraft. I did mine OOTBag. My only contributions were a propeller, pilot and torpedo from the spares box. They give you a white metal torpedo, but the fins were covered in flash and they broke when I tried to clean them up, so it was easier to just substitute a plastic one. I also had to redo the cylinder heads as the kit white metal ones were just formless lumps. It's s bit rough, I know, but it fills a hole in my collection and it further proves that Blackburn produced some really unattractive, but quite functional, aircraft. 1
ghodges Posted July 28, 2025 Report Posted July 28, 2025 Very nice Ron! Those multi bay biplanes with single straight struts are my least favorite type of biplane due to their number and the need to align them all, not to mention all of the extra rigging. Gotta say yours all look fine! Congrats on a fine looking build and posting a vac, as it makes me look a bit less nuts! See ya at the Nats next week! Gil
Mark Deliduka Posted August 1, 2025 Report Posted August 1, 2025 What a significantly masterful job on this, especially considering it's a vac-form! This is also an aircraft I knew nothing about, thank you for the education! Keep them coming Ron, you got some mad skills man!
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