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

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Steph!

As said, the trailing antenna tube is not included in the kit so I had to scratch one up. Unlike the simple straight tube on the Mosquito, the Beaufighter had a unit that was a bit more complex: a tube within a fairing surrounded by some sort of deflector plate. I started by drilling a hole to accept a piece of round plastic rod that looked about the right diameter. I also needed to add a panel line just aft of the hole.

I then inserted the rod, drilled it out to accept a second one of slightly smaller diameter, drilled the end of that. and then added the deflector. The latter was cut from a plastic coffee stir stick.

More details were needed on the cannon access panels. The starboard side received a small intake and both sides had a square opening cut in just above the shell ejector openings and a blister added in front of it. I'm not quite sure what these openings were for but they are evident in photos.

The rocket mounts also got some attention with 20 screws scribed into the blast plate, some plates added, and the Niphan sockets for the rockets installed.

Finally, the eyeletes for the UBC mounts were added after scrounging these bits from a left over PE sheet.

Yet more to come!

 

[Airframes]

Great work there Andy, very nice details.
Those 'extra' holes near the shell ejector slots could be for links, or perhaps gas vents.
Are you going to add 50 feet of antenna cable for the trailing aerial ........ I've got me coat !

 

[rochie]

More great work Andy

 

[Wurger]

 

[A4K]

Great stuff Andy! Taking notes for when I get back to my own Beau run

 

[Robert Porter]

Now I want to order a Beau for myself! Excellent as always!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much compadres. No work done today as I was running around town meeting friends and doing errands.

Robert, it's a nice kit and goes together very well, as most Tamiya kits do.

 

[Wayne Little]

Done good there Andy..!

 

[JKim]

Excellent scratch work as usual Andy! Always something in your builds that I can aspire to!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

The kit's representation of the rear facing "resin" lights on the wingtips was not quite correct in that just one was supplied. I knocked the one off and replaced it and added one on the other wing using brass rod.

With that done, the underside is ready for paint so I started by spraying a random pattern of dark lines and patches. I'll finish paint the underside in Sky after painting and masking the legacy invasion stripes on the fuselage hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks again for your interest.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Great stuff

 

[Airframes]

Yep, good stuff again.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers guys. Painting time! I started today by squirting on the white for the AEAF stripes on the fuselage. The white has been cut with a bit of grey so that it's not so punchy.

After masking the white, I sprayed on the black stripes and a bit of the Sky. The black has a couple of drops of white in it to, again, reduce the starkness of the colour.

After lunch, I mixed up some Sky (roughly 4 parts Tamiya XF-21 to 1 part White) and sprayed the rest of the undersides, all the while being bugged about the stripes not looking quite right. After checking some references, I realized that I had made the stripes a scale 18" wide rather than the required 24" for twin-engined planes! So, more grey/white was mixed, sprayed over the black stripes and new masks applied.

Much better!

The Sky was sprayed on very thinly as per John's technique so that some of the preshading showed through. I then darkened and lightened the paint in the cup and went over the undersides again in a random pattern to give it a very patchy look. Here you see how it turned out so far, with more weathering to follow later.

Here's how she looks right now. Already, I blew off one of the little eyelets installed earlier and broke one of the radio altimeter antennas. The blast panels for the rockets will be painted a bare steel colour later.

I've been nursing a cold all day and would have liked to spray on a coat of Future. However, I ran out of steam when I picked up my Paasche brush and found that it was seized up and needs to be cleaned. Tomorrow is another day........

 

[fubar57]

Nice job on the underside and good early catch on the stripes

 

[Airframes]

I'm liking the look of that so far Andy, should be another stunner when done.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Hope so Terry.

 

[Wayne Little]

Liking it very much!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Great details Andy!