<-- **** DONE: 1/48 Beaufighter TF X - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

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Yep, it;s great !
I've been retired due to the RA for a few years now, although I officially get my Bus Pass in February. and I've loved it !
Those retired people who say they're bored and have nothing to do must have a very restricted imagination - apart from hobbies, and all the jobs not done due to working, there's a whole World out there waiting to be discovered.
 

After 35 years of shift work at an oilsand extraction plant, I'm happy to just sit on my backside doing nothing. I love retirement.


Chris
 
Thanks all. I've been dabbling away on this project over the last couple of days but was abut lazy about posting pics so here are enough to get us up to date. First off, panel work has progressed sufficiently to enable the engines and intakes to be installed.



The "horizontal" stabs were also glued in with care taken to get the right dihedral. The various trim actuators will be left off until later so that they don't get damaged.



The wing tip lights were drilled out, painted the appropriate colour, glued in, filed and sanded flush with the wing surfaces then given a coat of future. Oddly, the rear facing formation light on the port side was faired over but not so on the starboard side, though the bulb was removed. Both sides saw the lamps installed onto extensions from the trailing edge which have yet to be added. The scratch on the green starboard light is being repaired.



I've studied a number of wheel well pics and have concluded that the fuel dump pipes have been molded too deep into the wells so I cut these out to be moved to the correct locations that I will show later. Where these were cut out the damaged surfaces were fixed by gluing on very thin bits of styrene card. Also seen in the final pic is some added tubing along the top of the well, represented by copper wire and brass tube.

 
Before closing in the observer's space with the glass bubble, it's necessary to add the rear facing .303. However, because the barreil protrudes from the bubble, I decided to cut it off and add detail to allow it to be glued back in at the end of the build.

Here's the gun before surgery:



The barrel was sawn off and the cut faces drilled to receive a piece of copper wire reinforcing,



The open end of the flash cone was drilled out:



At the breech end, I drilled out the trigger and added an ammo belt, butt extension, and spent ammo bag made of Milliput.



Once painted, the partial gun was then glued into position and the belt ammo routed toward the ammo box installed earlier,



That's it for today. The next few days, when I get time, will be devoted to wheel well detailing. Thanks for looking in and Merry Christmas to all!
 
Thanks all. Some glaring omissions (to me) were rectified on the landing gear, the added parts being white styrene card and rods. The large slab added between the walls of the well represents the forward wing spar, easily seen in pics of the Duxford Beau under restoration. The back side of the spar has been brush painted as it will be inaccessible and the rest of the stuff will get a shot of grey-green later today. I'll also add brake and hydraulic lines and also hollow out the ends of the axles.

 
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Thanks guys. I have a question as I complete the wheel wells. The Aviaelogy decal sheet reference shows that the ends of the hedgehog exhausts, rather than discharging to the atmosphere through the normal 2 small ports, are piped into the nacelle in the vicinity of the undercarriage door hinges.



This detail is hard to find in photos but the below one, among others, confirms this pipe to be present on 404 squadron Beaus.



The Beaufighter TF X at Hendon has the two-holed exit port but also the entry hole for the piped detail.


The question is, does anyone know what this pipe was for and, more importantly, where does it go in the wheel well? Note that the installation would be asymmetrical between the port and starboard wells, since the exhaust stack was always carried to the right of the engine, so it would be on the inboard side on the port nacelle and on the outboard side of the starboard one. All wheel well pics I've studied show nothing and, because of the asymmetry, I'm thinking that it's not some kind of gun heating system. Was there a reason to blow hot air into the wells?
 
In "Beaufighter Modeller's Datafile" there is a picture similar to yours and the caption reads, "Missing from this example at the back of the exhaust stack there should be two pipes going from it (like your pic) into that hole in the nacelle side. These are hot air pipes for the cabin heating system, although this system only runs off the starboard engine."
 
That would be odd, since the starboard exhaust is on the other side of the nacelle and would have to run much farther to the pit than if it ran from the inner side of the port nacelle. Aviaelogy's profiles show the installation on both sides. Thanks for the input though Geo.

I'll definitely add the pipe(s), just not sure what to do once they are inside.
 
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