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

[Airframes]

Great stuff.

 

[Micdrow]

Looks sweet Andy!!!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. George, I normally use artist's pastels but a stopped by a sale yesterday in town. A long time modeler (all armour) is in the hospital and has decided to sell his entire stash. Nothing there for me other than tools, paints, and these weathering kits. I've never used them before so thought I'd give them a try. Verdict - no better that what I've used before.

Started cleaning up some of the Revell rockets which is a job in itself but nothing really to show at this point.

 

[turbo]

She's looking very nice Andy!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Andy!

 

[JKim]

Looking good Andy. Looking forward to seeing the completed Beaufighter!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all, getting closer. Some tedious rocket cleanup continues and these will get a fair amount of scratch building attention as the ones I'm using from the Revell Mossie kit are quite chunky. I'll post pics later as I make better progress.

Meantime, I decided to redo the frame on the inside of the cupola as I didn't like how the painted version turned out. I also could not get any paint to stick to Scotch Tape so I decided to use styrene flat bar stock painted both sides and tacked in place with tiny dots of CA. Here's the outcome which is an improvement from before:

 

[vikingBerserker]

Wow, that's going to be some impressive work!

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy. Still surprised, or more correctly, intrigued, that the paint won't stick to the tape.

 

[Crimea_River]

Ah well, no matter now.

 

[A4K]

Thanks guys.

Chris, you're right. I misread what Terry Higgins wrote on his profile sheets and will flat coat. Thanks for pointing that out.

Why did they paint the cowl rings? They would have heated to the darker tone anyway. Was it to create a non reflective surface, or just to make them look tidier?

Fantastic work btw Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

To dull the reflection Evan. It was often touched up for the reason you mentioned. And thanks for the comment.

Here's what I've been doing with the rockets. The first pic shows the raw material: the Revell Mosquito rockets which have the correct rail and warhead for my project. Issues are the clunky fins, incorrect wing mounts for the Beau, simplified hangers, ejector pin marks, and a misaligned mold which resulted in a sheared warhead along the centerline (not seen below).

Here's my first RP with wing mounts removed, new fins, and corrected hangers made of brass sheet. This is still imperfect and I need to refine my approach for the remaining 7. I also still need to add the Niphan cables and plugs

 

[Wurger]

 

[Robert Porter]

Cool!

 

[Airframes]

Heck of an improvement - great work Andy.

 

[A4K]

With Wojtek and Terry, and cheers for the info!

 

[dogsbody]

Why did they paint the cowl rings? They would have heated to the darker tone anyway. Was it to create a non reflective surface, or just to make them look tidier?

Fantastic work btw Andy!

The exhaust collector rings were painted with a flat, stove enamel type paint to cover the glow of red-hot metal, when flying in dark conditions. Hercules-powered Wellingtons, Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters also had their exhaust rings painted this way. This is a late war thing not seen in the first half of the war.


Chris

 

[A4K]

Interesting, Chris, cheers!

Don't mean to hijack your thread Andy, but can I ask if that was a common thing, or just certain squadrons? Relevance to me being the Beaufighters of Nos.488 (NZ) and 489 (NZ) squadrons.

 

[dogsbody]

Of that, I'm really not sure. It seemed fairly prevalent in Coastal Command squadrons toward the end of the war.


Chris

 

[A4K]

Good chance then for 489. Cheers Chris!

Now back to your scheduled program...