Dirk's 1/72 Airfix Beaufighter "Reverse Lend Lease"

[Airframes]

Here's what I've found so far Dirk. The Beaus given over, 100 of them, were MkVIf's, fitted with AI Mk1 radar, in the 'normal' nose, with the arrowhead antenna and dipoles on the wings, and also MkVIf's with the centimetric MkVII radar, in the 'thimble' nose. All were painted in the standard RAF night fighter camouflage of overall Medium Sea Grey, with Dark Green disruptive pattern upper surfaces.
The pics and smaller profile sheet are from Squadron Signal Beaufighter in Action, whilst the larger profile sheet is from 'Warpaint - Beaufighter'.
You can see the 'thimble' nose on the profile, and in one of the pics.
I probably have some B&W profiles somewhere if you need more info.
Hope this helps.

 

[hawkeye2an]

Any updates?

 

[Wurger]

Anyway nice stuff here.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Not a lot of progress on this one recently other then some tinkering with adding the wing tip lights. This is my first go so be nice.

If you remember from earlier in the thread the wing tips were pretty chewed up. The only idea I could come up with to fix this without tons o putty was to guy the tips (damaged areas) and put in wing lights. Her's how it went.

First I started with some clear stock. Its the same material I used to make the landing light in the wing.

Cut to a workable size

From what I understand the wing tips had clear lenses with a colored bulb. I did my best to figure out the location of the bulb and went to work. I drilled a small hole into the plastic.

Next I filled the hole with some green and red Testors paint to represent the bulbs

Attached the tip to the wing. Yes Yes I know there should be a front and rear lens but this is just an experiment. If it works next time I will do both.

After a whole lot of filing and sanding this is where it stands. It still needs some more work to get the shape fit correctly to the wing and then some polishing.

 

[B-17engineer]

Fantastic work Dirk!

 

[Tony Hill]

Nice work on the lights.

 

[T Bolt]

Excellent work Dirk! I use a fingernail polishing stick (the kind with 3 super fine grits) to get the shine back into the plastic.

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Dirk.

 

[Wayne Little]

8)Doin' great mate!

 

[hawkeye2an]

Looking good, thanks for the update.

What markings are you going with? I just read "Beaufighters in the Night" so mine will be 417th squadron.

 

[dirkpitt289]

This is my goal. Time will tell if I can make it happen or not.

Beaufighter Mk.VIF "Fluff/Patsy/Amby"
Unit: 416th NFS, 12th AF, USAAF
Serial: 12 (KV912)
Lecce, Italy, September 1943.

WINGS PALETTE - Bristol Beaufighter - USA

 

[Wurger]

Looking very good. Keep working...

 

[dirkpitt289]

This create will be getting some attention once the Blenheim Mk IV is completed

 

[dirkpitt289]

Ok now that the wing lights have been beat into shape its time to put some paint to plastic.

I was able to find an actual picture of the bird i'm doing of the 416th NFS.

This isn't the same aircraft but it is still a Reverse Lend Lease Beau. This bird is from the 415th NFS

Boy did I screw the pooch on this wing.

Undoing my mistake. All ready for another try.

 

[vikingBerserker]

What happened to the wing that you had to redo it?

 

[dirkpitt289]

The reason I had to redo the left wing can be seen here

All better

I'm really hating these engine nacelles. I'm tossing around the idea of ripping them off and replacing with Resin. I know they make them but don't know where. If anyone can help a fella out please let me know.

 

[hawkeye2an]

probably too late, but didn't know you needed these

 

[dirkpitt289]

That would have made things a lot easier but it looks like I wasn't too far off. I think I can live with the results. Thanks for posting this

 

[Airframes]

Looks like you caught it in time anyway. The patterns were applied to a set standard, so it would be the same as an RAF Beau of the period. Rather intrigued why you've sprayed it before fitting the carb intakes though?

 

[dirkpitt289]

The intakes were painted just not installed yet. What I did realize is that they are too short and I need to make them longer.