After some weeks away, I had an idea for my F9F build to hopefully improve the cockpit, but as usual it will be a few weeks until I get what I ordered. So, in the meantime I'm blitzing this Beaufighter.
This is actually my 2nd one. The first fell victim to missing parts (mine or my cat's fault), a mangled landing gear (definitely the cats), and botched decals (definitely me). So I gave it up as jinxed but I really want a Beaufighter on my shelf so I ordered another.
The kit goes together pretty well, although in this one the cockpit floor had more of a curve than the previous one which made assembling the fuselage very mildly more difficult.
I got Kits World 3D printed decals for the interior, decals for the RAAF, and Eduard canopy masks. It could definitely benefit from some PE, most especially for the scoops on the nacelles and wing leading edges, but I didn't get any.
The 3-piece cowling seems a bit fussy but actually goes together well. There's only one gap that would be visible after the exhaust and top intake is fitted, so you'll definitely want to favor that.
I've done this much in just a couple days, but the next task I have to think about. The landing gear is a somewhat complicated affair and I don't know if I want to assemble it and then paint and risk breaking it or take the risk so I don't wear through the paint assembling the gear later.
This is actually my 2nd one. The first fell victim to missing parts (mine or my cat's fault), a mangled landing gear (definitely the cats), and botched decals (definitely me). So I gave it up as jinxed but I really want a Beaufighter on my shelf so I ordered another.
The kit goes together pretty well, although in this one the cockpit floor had more of a curve than the previous one which made assembling the fuselage very mildly more difficult.
I got Kits World 3D printed decals for the interior, decals for the RAAF, and Eduard canopy masks. It could definitely benefit from some PE, most especially for the scoops on the nacelles and wing leading edges, but I didn't get any.
The 3-piece cowling seems a bit fussy but actually goes together well. There's only one gap that would be visible after the exhaust and top intake is fitted, so you'll definitely want to favor that.
I've done this much in just a couple days, but the next task I have to think about. The landing gear is a somewhat complicated affair and I don't know if I want to assemble it and then paint and risk breaking it or take the risk so I don't wear through the paint assembling the gear later.
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