Mitsubishi Amatsubame.

[zenrat]

Mitsubishi Amatsubame.

Supermarine Swift - 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Built under license by Mitsubishi the Amatsubame (Fork Tailed Swift) served with the JASDF as an interceptor.

Supermarine Swift - 1 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

At first glance identical to Supermarine's original design the Japanese Swift featured a subtle airframe modification which Mitsubishi test pilots claimed improved manoeuvrability in combat.

Supermarine Swift - 6 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Supermarine Swift - 13 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The Model

Supermarine Swift - 14 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Airfix Supermarine Swift built almost OOB.
Painted with Alclad Polished Aluminium over Alclad Gloss Black.  The gloss black was fine - nice and shiny - but I painted the Aluminium on a humid day and it clouded the finish in places.  Some polished off but them so did some of the Aluminium.  It has Alclad Aqua Gloss over the top.
One day i'll get a decent alclad finish on an airframe...
Transfers from the folder.  I was inspired by Hasegawa's Sabre Dog box art.

[NARSES2]

That's come out well Fred 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Wardukw]

That a sweet build Fred 

[perttime]

Mitsubishi Amatsubame.
...
At first glance identical to Supermarine's original design the Japanese Swift featured a subtle airframe modification which Mitsubishi test pilots claimed improved manoeuvrability in combat.
...

Not knowing the Swift that well, it took me a while to find an airframe modification 

[McColm]

Good work 

[The Rat]

Excellent bit of sawing and moving! 

[buzzbomb]

Noice !!!

[Old Wombat]

Mitsubishi Amatsubame.
...
At first glance identical to Supermarine's original design the Japanese Swift featured a subtle airframe modification which Mitsubishi test pilots claimed improved manoeuvrability in combat.
...

Not knowing the Swift that well, it took me a while to find an airframe modification 

I've still got no idea.

[Tophe]

congratulations for this good model in unusual colours

Built under license by Mitsubishi the Amatsubame (Fork Tailed Swift)

Reading this, I thought the layout would be like a P-38 (twin-boom?), but no, OK.

[kerick]

Looks to me like the vertical stabilizer was moved aft almost to the jet pipe. I was checking pics and I saw wings with fences, a dogtooth and plain so that wasn't it. Nice job either way.

[Wardukw]

Ummmn im with Wombat here..great build but cant see a damn thing Fred 
Subtle is a bloody understatement matey 

[DogfighterZen]

Looks very good, Fred. It also took me a while to spot the change till i got to the side view.

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

Kerick picked it.
I've never liked the look of the Swift.  Something bugs me about it.  Part of the problem was the gap between the trailing edge of the rudder and the end of the jet pipe.  Moving the vertical tail approx 10mm backwards was easy and made a big (IMO) improvement.
I also don't like the nose.  This is harder to fix as it comtains the UC bay.  I may have to get another kit and tackle this.  It needs to be more downward pointing and possibly longer.  The camera nose from the Airfix Banshee   might do the trick.

[Weaver]

Nice finish there Fred, despite the problems. 

I also don't like the nose.  This is harder to fix as it comtains the UC bay.  I may have to get another kit and tackle this.  It needs to be more downward pointing and possibly longer.  The camera nose from the Airfix Banshee   might do the trick.

I've had that thought too.

Another possibility is to replace the entire front end with one from a tandem two-seat trainer of some kind, preferably an older one with non-staggered seats, like a Delfin or MB.326.

If you wanted to make fixing the original nose easier, you could always go back to a tailwheel layout, as per the Attacker that the Swift is non-too-distantly derived from.