**** DONE 1/48 DAP Beaufighter 21 A8-159 E-SK "Ginger Meggs" Heavy Hitters GB

[Heinz]

They look great Peter!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very nice!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

I'm with Terry on the prop painting except that I usually have to paint twice. Never was good at getting the yellow to mix well. I like your idea though Pete, might give it a try on the Stuka as yours look so good

 

[Wayne Little]

Depending on the mood....Black then yellow or yellow then black....mostly the latter!

 

[Heinz]

Got a few shots of Moorabbins Beau today Peter if these are any good.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-pictures/raaf-beaufighter-photos-21711.html#post586870

 

[Wayne Little]

better take a squiz Peter....

 

[lesofprimus]

Looks great so far Peter... I do my props the same way....

 

[Crimea_River]

Usually paint the yellow after the black but I'm sure your way gives better results.

 

[Lucky13]

One always paint the lighter colours first, right?

 

[Crimea_River]

As a rule, that's the proper thing to do, but I find spinner tips to be too small to bother. If bigger areas, I paint yellow first, especially campaign bands on camo.

 

[ozhawk40]

Got a few shots of Moorabbins Beau today Peter if these are any good.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-pictures/raaf-beaufighter-photos-21711.html#post586870

Great photos Alex - I've been away for a couple of days, so my apologies for not responding sooner - great photos of brake lines, Cowl stays, engines, trim tab, gun ejector chutes, exhausts and a few other bits and pieces I've been looking at. Excellent camera work (and very handy)

Cheers.

I have been looking into the colour of the engines from factory and got this great pic from the DAP factory sent to me, so I'll share. Front case seems gloss black, with crankcase in matt. The machined front surface behind the prop - shiny aluminium - shows up in close up photos. Thanks for the response to question on prop painting Wayne, CR - appears there's no "wrong way" so it's all good! 8)

(Aviation Heritage Museum of WA)

 

[Heinz]

No worries Peter I'm glad they'll be of use!

 

[Airframes]

Don't know if the engines for DAP Beaus were built in Oz or imported Peter, but here's a pic of a British Hercules engine which might help. In B&W pics, the crankcase can sometimes look darker, but they were grey, as all the ones I've seen, 'live' or in colour pics, have been. Of course, DAP engines could well have been black, but some pics suggest a lighter colour. The cylinders and other bits appear the same on all.
Even in 1/32nd scale, a lot of the detail is hidden under the cowlings, especially at the cylinder head ends, and you'll probably have noticed that the kit has the exhaust ports moulded as 'capped', but these can't really be seen anyway.
Hope this helps.

 

[ozhawk40]

Thanks Terry - food for thought. I've noticed a whole range of colours from light grey through to very dark gray/ black appearance in photos. I am now confused! I'll poke around some more and make a "D".

Cheers

Peter

 

[ozhawk40]

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

 

[rochie]

looks very good Peter

 

[109ROAMING]

I'm with Karl - panel looks great mate

Awesome to hear you made contact with the pilot! , sad though to hear about the navigator/observer

RIP.

 

[ozhawk40]

Thanks Dan and Karl

I feel a fly past is in order.

Thundering past the camera at low level (or is that whispering past?) is A8-184 SK-O "Ye Old Bumble Bee" leads A8-127 SK-W "Ye Adj" plus another unidentified Beau.

(Source: Aviation Heritage Museum of WA)

 

[109ROAMING]

Sweet shot that , 3 'Whisperers' 8)

RAAF beau kit's calling my name now

 

[Wayne Little]

Great stuff Peter!

...and to Stan Evill and David Fyshe( RIP)