Hi
I've been working on the cockpit and interior, so here's the progress made over the past couple of days.
Pic 1 Interior reference shot. The pics I have seen of the DAP cockpit indicate that everything forward of the cockpit plexiglass is black, and the arrangement of instruments and controls is very different from that provided by Tamiya. The pilots instrument panel was different in layout to the British versions, not doubt to accommodate the autopilot.
Pic 2 A reference sheet for the DAP Beaufighter 21 showing the controls and instruments as fitted to the Australian version.
Pic 3 The panel as supplied by Tamiya. Totally different and too shallow for an DAP panel.
Pic 4 The first change was to remove all the surface detail, as the DAP was basically flat. I extended the bottom with plastic card, and added two "wedges" either side at the top. These held the clock and some switches.
Pic 5 Added some sprue to replicate the clock and other features.
Pic 6 From the spares box, I added some decals in the positions of the instruments. I wasn't too fussy, as not a lot will be seen, but it follows the general arrangement. I was not able to fit the bottom row of instruments, as the dash was not deep enough. If I made it deeper, a model pilot would not be able to reach the rudders, so I left it at that. The middle bar on the pedals is a leather strap, and I painted these brown.
Pic 7 Panel installed and details added. As I said the Tamiya version is nothing like the DAP version and the side panel details needs a total revamp to make it 100% accurate. I choose not to make any further changes, but if it were a larger scale you could go "all the way" here.
On the research side of things, the good news is that I have found Stan Evill, the pilot, and was able speak with him on the phone for a good while. Stan lives local here in Perth, Western Australia. Still very sharp, he has very kindly offered to meet up and go through all the photos and info I have and add where he can, so I'm looking forward to that. On the sadder side, he let me know that David Fyshe, the Navigator, Observer passed away just last month, October 2009.
Cheers, and I'll have another update soon.
Peter