Bristol Beaufighter TF.X by realworkingsailor - FINISHED - Airfix - 1/72

[realworkingsailor]

I received a small package in the mail today. It came from overseas, and I was worried it might not have made it. Thankfully Canada Post was correctly able to interpret my address, as it was in European format, but it made it, so I am happy. More on this in a moment.

 

Obviously as per the title, I have decided next to tackle this very nice little Beaufighter kit from Airfix. This particular edition is a 2020 release of a 2015 tooling. I have seen a large number of positive reviews (and build videos) online, so I am looking forward to a largely trouble free build. LPJ models has a pretty extensive build video that's worth checking out.

 

 

 

A quick shot of the box art depicting a pair of Beaufighters going after some hapless Nazi shipping (haha).

 

The kit consists of five sprues in the usual grey plastic found in almost all Airfix kits (I think some of their domestic production uses a slightly darker grey), as well as one clear plastic sprue for the canopies and lenses and whatnot. The sprues are pretty much free from flash and other molding defects as far as I could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also as per usual, the decals are from Cartograph, so they should be of good quality. There are two variants to choose from when building the kit, and in the case of this release, the variants are dependant on the decal scheme. In the case of this release, the first scheme is for a Beaufighter from 404 squadron RCAF, stationed in Cornwall in June '44. Ostensibly (I'm assuming), to help protect the flank of the invasion. This version has the "normal" nose and lacks the extended filet of the tail fin. The other variant is a post-war version in Portuguese markings which has the "thimble" nose that housed radar equipment, as well as featuring the extended filet on the tail. Although, I don't have a picture, the instructions are up to Airfix's usual standard, clear, concise (and partially coloured).

 

I noted that Airfix credited Terry Higgins for helping with the Beaufighter project, he is the person behind Aviaeology. 

 

As if there wasn't enough choices to be made, there are also a few options on fitting out the plane. There are three different choices in armament to select from. The first being a single torpedo (in keeping with the TF designation), as well as two different rocket set ups, a flat "panier" type mounting with the four rockets side by side, as well as a pod type mounting, with the four rockets mounted around a single hard point. And for good measure, an auxiliary fuel tank is included as well.

 

In my case I intend to stick with the supplied decals and go for the RCAF version, just like the box art. Since I didn't get to put rockets on my Typhoon, I get to use them here, instead. Good thing I've had some practice painting invasion stripes, as they are not included in the decal sheet (not that I would have used them anyway), although this time they will be the full stripe, rather than the cut down version. 

 

And now for the aftermarket!

 

I had previously purchased the Yahu Models instrument panel to replace the janky kit supplied decal (insert gratuitous eye roll):

 

 

A simple, yet worthwhile upgrade.

 

Additionally I have managed to secure a few other upgrades from CMK. After my previous rant, I did a little better investigation on the Special Hobbies website and found they offered a cheaper postal option. I was initially a bit confused, as it was with NL Post (which I assumed was the Netherlands postal service, why the heck would they be operating in the Czech Republic(?), but I guess Europe can be weird that way), so anyway after two and a half weeks, a small parcel found its way into my mail box, hooray!

 

First up, the remainder of the cockpit:

 

 

I will show comparative photos as the build progresses, but the detail in the aftermarket resin is much finer and more complete than what was included in the kit (which isn't bad, per se, but there are better options). The CMK upgrade includes a more complete cockpit floor as well as a proper seat mount and some of the wiring/piping/instruments located immediately behind the pilot. There is also some PE details like seatbelts, the rudder pedals, and another instrument panel, but I likely won't use the last one, since the Yahu one comes pre-painted and assembled.

 

 

Next up, I will be replacing the exhaust pipes with these cast resin bits. The detail here, again, is much sharper than the kit casting (the hedgehoggy bits are actually sharp and pointy, as opposed to round and lumpy).

 

Finally, the wheels will also be replaced:

 

 

Just that little bit of extra detail, like the "Dunlop" branding on the sidewalls, that makes things stand out.

 

There is possibly going to be only minimal progress for the next little while, as summer weather and summer chores (and beers, and boating, and BBQ) will take priority over model building. Hopefully I won't wear your patiences too thin!

 

Andy

Edited October 22, 2023 by realworkingsailor

[Landlubber Mike]

Nice Andy!  I'm a fan of CMK accessories, they do a nice job.  I used a bunch on my Buffalo build.

[Javlin]

I have thought about either this kit or the ICM will be looking in Andy.

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks guys!

 

I forgot to mention, this will also be taking up a bit of my time:

I keep a fairly decent sized veggie garden. 😁

 

The foreground plot is roughly 15 ft by 70 ft, and the smaller (weedier) plot behind is about 12 ft by 40 ft. It started off a couple of years ago with a desire to grow my own sweet corn… and just expanded from there…🙄🤪

 

Andy
 

 

[Jim Lad]

Looks like its got a bit out of hand for a couple of cobs of corn, Andy!

 

John

[realworkingsailor]

14 minutes ago, Jim Lad said:

Looks like its got a bit out of hand for a couple of cobs of corn, Andy!

 

John

You think so? 🤔

 

I have expanded beyond corn over the last few years. This year I’m planning on growing beets, carrots, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, watermelons, pumpkins and sunflowers (for fun). 
 

The pumpkins tend to go feral, so they need considerable real estate.

 

Andy

[Canute]

Great plan. Hope the wildlife stays away. We have to grow inside a stockade to keep the deer and rabbits away.

[realworkingsailor]

1 hour ago, Canute said:

Great plan. Hope the wildlife stays away. We have to grow inside a stockade to keep the deer and rabbits away.

Deer, rabbits, raccoons… I have to deal with them all. Raccoons are especially hard on corn crops. I was totally wiped out two years ago. I’ve opted for an electric fence, seems to do a good job at deterring them. 
 

Andy

[Canute]

I hear ya. Good luck.

[realworkingsailor]

Between everything else going on, I have managed to get a start on my Beaufighter. 

 

Construction begins, as usual, with the interior and cockpit areas. The kit features a basic box frame, formed by the "wing spars" and some interior sidewalls, that sits on the cockpit/interior floor.

 

 

You can see the sparse detail of the kit supplied parts. Originally the pilot's seat mounted on four pegs cast on the forward wing spar (since removed), and the two recesses were to accept the control stick and foot pedals. Otherwise, there's not much else. Comparatively, the CMK resin cockpit features a whole lot more detail:

 

 

A side-by-side comparison of the side consoles:

 

 

After a bit of clean up, the replacement pieces fit nicely on the kit supplied framework:

 

 

I still need to add the seat and control stick, but will do so after painting. Putting the above assembly aside, I then turned to the fuselage interior. CMK supplied two sections of interior paneling that are fixed immediately behind the cockpit, as well as more cockpit console pieces. A little bit of surgery is required, nothing too complex, just the removal of some of the moulded on kit detail. Easily accomplished with a sharp chisel blade in my X-acto knife and some sanding sticks.

 

 

The CMK instructions are fairly clear as to what needs to be removed, but there is one area they don't mention, the area around the alignment tab. You can see the tab in question at the top of the fuselage. I felt it was easier to cut a small notch in the resin panel than to try to file away the tab. The area won't be visible anyway, so I'm not worried about the overall appearance. 

 

A quick overview, once again, highlights the simplicity of the kit details:

 

 

The starboard side fuselage details have been added as well:

 

 

Finally a quick dry fit to ensure everything will still assemble correctly:

 

 

And another quick view inside the cockpit:

 

 

The CMK detail set is very well designed, and while the interior panels may seem small, once assembled, they are exactly the right size, as no further interior detail will be visible. I will add a little filler to smooth out the cockpit edges, but otherwise I'm happy with the fit of the parts. Next up I'll have to get some paint going on the interior, and finish off the finer cockpit details.

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

Great start!  What do you think of these Airfix 1/72 kits?  They look pretty good.  For some of the bigger subjects, I think 1/72 is a much more manageable scale than 1/48 or 1/32.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Landlubber Mike

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks Mike! 
 

Most of the newer offerings from Airfix all seem to be pretty decent. In terms of overall detail, they’re fairly middle of the road. I’ve seen a lot of YouTube modellers complain of a lack of rivet details and “cavernous” panel lines, but if you’re not too hung up about those points, there’s mostly no issue (although the latter issue varies with the age of the tooling, newer toolings being slightly better). I think they strike a fairly decent balance between level of detail and price, so if you wish to go for any aftermarket parts, you shouldn’t have to break the bank.

 

For larger subjects, I’m assuming you mean bombers and the like? I think that Airfix’s Lancaster model is highly regarded, and multiple variants are available. I think their B-17 is of similar quality, though I haven’t researched it as much. Both come with considerable interior details. The same can be said for their medium bomber offerings (Wellington, Whitley, B-25, He-111, etc).

 

Another nice thing Airfix  has done, is they have rereleased some of their older products under their “Vintage Classics” line. They can vary considerably in quality, due to age and mould usage, but they’re very upfront about those facts (showing the tooling date on the box side), so you know what you’re getting into. Unlike some other companies who just repackage old kits in new boxes and price them like modern tooled kits.
 

*cough*Revell*cough*…  sorry, seasonal allergies… 😜

To get a sense of Airfix, you could try some of their smaller offerings (anything with the product code starting with “A01”), like the Hawker Hurricane I built. The kit itself was only $17.50 Canadian, and had just enough parts to be interesting. There’s also a BF-109, P-51, P-40, A6M-2, FW-190, and Spitfire in this range of kits, and many others I may have missed. 
 

Andy
 

 

[AJohnson]

I’m biased as Airfix was pretty much the only choice to me as a kid (apart from a few Matchbox kits) so I will always have a soft spot for Airfix.

Andy is right they do not measure up to the finest Uber kits from Tami-gawe” but that is deliberate market positioning (seen on line articles and comments about that), the new team in charge of the company know they need to shift sales at a reasonable price and now and again go for a “big” release on par with the big Asian kit manufacturers. Their 1/24 Hellcat, Typhoon & latest Spit IX are just epic; not perfect, but for the price unbeatable. Plus a few niche 1/48 releases, Blenheim, Anson, Buccaneer, Gannet! 😁 spring to mind.
On the plus side the decision not to go for the finest detail to hit a price point keeps a whole “after market” industry going! 😉

 

just my 2pence/cent. 

[AJohnson]

As an add on I have built their latest 1/72 Lancaster, B-17, Shackleton, B-25, Dornier 17, Wellington, Beaufort, Mossie, & Andy’s current build. They are all good kits, all fine out of the box (location and number of ejector pin marks aside - you know that from your Walrus @Landlubber Mike) all even better with AM parts if you want.
The advent of LiDAR scanning and 3D CAD means we can all stop worrying about if the kits “look” like the originals, the rest is up to us on how far we take our obsession! 😱

 

[realworkingsailor]

It wouldn’t hurt to mention that Airfix’s product support is also pretty good. I had a minor issue with some of the parts on my Typhoon build and they sent free replacements. They’re not the fastest (there’s really not a large number of people working in Airfix’s front office), but a little back and forth via e-mail (mostly to clarify shipping info) and the parts were shipped within two weeks (it took another two weeks for them to arrive, but that’s a postal service issue).

 

Andy

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks everyone!

 

Time for a small update. Some paint has happened, sporadically, over the last few days. Enough that I can at least show some progress has been made.

I began by painting the inside with interior green. After that dried I picked out the flight instruments and controls on the side consoles, as well as the heel plates in black. These were then dry-brushed with Floquil "Old Silver" to highlight edges and other worn surfaces. Finally the tiny control levers were picked out in red and green. I based this on cockpit photos I found online of the preserved Beaufighter in the US Airforce Museum, as well as photos of a preserved Aussie Mk 21. The pilot and observer's seats were then added, but not before adding some PE seatbelts. I scavenged the not-quite-100%-correct observer's seatbelt from some more leftovers from my Wellington build (I got lucky, Eduard accidentally slipped in an extra detail set in the package I ordered), I'm not too hung up on it, free PE is free PE.

 

Now for some photos!

 

First up, the fuselage interior:

 

 

 

The observer's seat:

 

 

Finally, the cockpit area and pilot's seat:

 

 

All that remains is to build, paint and install the control stick and assemble the instrument panel and rudder pedals and I can begin some of the major assembly.

 

Andy

[Canute]

Front "office" looks good.

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks everyone for the likes and kind comments!

 

I have not been idle over the past ten days, although build time has been interrupted on occasion. Picking up from where I left off, the final elements of the cockpit went together nicely. The resin control stick supplied from CMK had to be shortened by 3mm. I found when I first dry fit it in place, the pilot would have looked like he was riding on a Harley with a set of ape-hanger handlebars. A cool look for the highway, but not really practical for a heavy fighter plane. I didn't paint the PE control yoke, instead I decided to blacken it, as well as the tiny switch/lever that attaches to it. Not sure entirely what its function was on the prototype.

 

 

Following the instructions, the fuselage halves where first glued together. The Yahu models control panel was then glued to the resin backing supplied by CMK for their own PE panel, and the rudder pedals painted and glued on (for all that anyone can see of them!). The interior section was now slotted into place and glued. The last little resin bit to be added is that large hose to the right of the pilot's seat. I'm assuming that was the line for the cockpit heater. The CMK instructions would have the builder add it earlier, before the interior was installed. A little trimming was needed, so it's best to leave this piece off until after the interior is in place.

 

 

Hard to see much of anything, really, but I'm happy to know the bits are there!

 

A quick view down into the observer's position:

 

 

After the fuselage was buttoned up, the belly plate was added. I first drilled out the openings for the 20mm canons. I think it looks way better than having the shallow moulded dimples. Following the belly, it was time to assemble the wings. First up, there is a small fairing on the inboard section of the wing that needs to be removed:

 

 

This is only needed for the version I am building. This does not need to be done for the thimble nose variant. After trimming and sanding smooth, the panel line was re-scribed and the wings assembled and attached.

 

 

The stabilizers are then added. This is nicely made as a one piece assembly, so there was no need to muddle with the dihedral. This was then quickly followed by the tail fin and rudder:

 

 

Starting to look like an airplane! I've also painted the front of the engine nacelles green. Although this area isn't particularly visible once assembled. Skipping ahead a little bit, I added the rocket "panniers" to the wing undersides. I reasoned that these parts, at least, would have been swabbed with the invasion stripes when they were added. 

 

 

Finally, I have begun work on the engines and cowlings. If there is one shortcoming of the Airfix kit, it is here. Although I didn't have any trouble figuring out which cowling piece went where, there is a small gap that must be accounted for as the cowling pieces are cumulatively just a hair too small. The best trick is to assemble them so as to have the gap line up under the area that will be covered by the exhaust pipe when it gets added later.

 

 

Finally, I was not really keen on the appearance of what I'm assuming is the landing lights (or spotting lights, maybe) in the port wing. For such a large, eventually glazed opening in the wing, the inside was rather devoid of any detail I remedied that by using some bits of clear sprue nubbies. I painted the back side white and the sides silver in order to simulate some kind of actual light fixture. At least now there's some detail in there rather than some bizarre, purposeless bite out of the wing. 

 

That about brings everything up to date. Hopefully by the next update, I should be starting to get some paint happening. Thanks again to everyone who's following along, or just dropping in for a visit!

 

Andy

 

 

 

[Landlubber Mike]

That's looking really good Andy.  Nice progress.

[realworkingsailor]

Well, it certainly has been a long few months. Where did summer go?

 

Work has resumed, finally, on my Beaufighter project, although I needed a bit of a mojo build to get things rolling again. Over the extended summer break, I did manage to get a start on painting the invasion stripes called for in the kit scheme. May this be the last time I ever make a model with them..... for a good while, at least. 🙄

 

For those who are curious, I've found that painting the invasion stripes first, significantly reduces the amount of masking needed. With the stripes painted first, I only need to mask them before proceeding on to the main paint scheme. Doing them afterwards requires masking the entire airplane before adding the stripes. Seems kinda like a no-brainer to me, but everyone has their preferences and there's no one right way.

 

This is one of these tasks where an accurate scale diagram would go a long way to making this easier. Unfortunately the kit only supplies a 1/2 size (?) painting diagram with some basic dimensions, which for someone lacking really hyper precise measuring instruments, is really next to useless. The diagram called for invasion stripes 8.4mm wide for a total band width of 41.8  .....  To heck with it, I'm rounding up to 8.5 and 42, respectively (although even measuring 8.5 is not without peril). 

 

Suffice it to say, I had to take a break and haul out the other kit I had in my stash, the Spitfire Mk Vc:

 

 

This kit went together surprisingly well, and I've managed to get it almost finished, just need to add the exhaust, glue down the main canopy part and give it a dose of weathering. When I'm done my Beaufighter, I will post images and a full explanation of this build in another topic. 

 

Anyway, diversion over, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle those invasions stripes, and in only a couple of days I finally had them done. The last few days I've been busy laying down paint and this afternoon I pulled all the masking off, hoping and praying things hadn't gone pear shaped. The main scheme for this plane is EDSG over Sky type S: 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I'm breathing again (especially since the paint fumes have cleared 😜). Things seem to have come out alright, a couple of minor touch-ups but nothing untoward. For something that, invasion stripes notwithstanding, looks like a simple paint job, there are a surprising number of annoying little challenges to deal with. The curvy "swoop" lines where the EDSG meets the Sky undersides ahead of the tail and on the engine nacelles and forward and aft of the wings (as well as the "chinstrap" under the nose) took a fair amount of fiddling around to get them looking somewhat symmetrical-ish (?). Again, a scale diagram could have proven useful to trace out the shape of the curve more accurately, but I had to go with what I had. I will say that the invasion stripes do add a considerable amount of visual interest to an otherwise nondescript paint scheme. So in the end, all the faffing about and the odd, no...frequent, spate of cursing, and a healthy dose of self-criticism (which primarily resulted in the previous day's work being peeled off after a new approach was dreamt up), was worth the effort. But as I said before, it will be some time before I consider making another model with invasion stripes. My Typhoon was a bit of a trap, in that respect. It made things seem easier than they really are.

 

Andy

 

[Egilman]

Nice Stripes brother... I know they look easy-peasy but they really aren't to get them looking nice and those are some of the best I've seen... (better than most of mine)

 

Putting in the time and cussin really pays off in the end as long as you don't give up....

 

These weren't the first ID stripes put on British aircraft, in 1941 they were also painting black & white ID stripes but in a different unequal width configuration, those are a bit more touchy to set up correctly...

 

I agree, they really give a visual interest to an aircraft that carried them, makes some of the mundane paint schemes really pop....

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks EG! 
 

Yeah, I’ve seen a variety of different recognition stripes (like those on the early Tiffies). The challenge isn’t so much applying them on a flat-ish surface, but where there’s a taper (like the leading edge of the wings, or the relatively conical shape of the rear fuselage) that causes the headaches.

 

If you want to kill some time, have a look on YouTube for LPJ models, he has an amazing ability to add an staggering amount of depth to an otherwise monotonous paint job:

 

I lack the tools and skills to even attempt to approach that level… 

 

Andy

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks everyone for the "likes"!

 

Proof that my latest flurry of activity was not a one-off. The engines are now installed and work has been progressing on the external armament (the RP-60 rockets).

 

 

I had assembled the engines and the three-part cowlings off the airplane, but left off the exhaust collector ring. This allowed me to press fit the engines on the nacelles in order to mark off the demarkation line for the paint, once again without having to resort to excessive masking. Once painted, the engines were glued on with CA.

 

The exhaust collector rings were next. The instructions say to paint them black (as, I believe, is found on at least one of the preserved Beaufighters), but in reality the collector rings were bare steel, discoloured by the heat from the engine exhaust. To try to replicate this to some degree, after laying down a base layer of black I dry brushed on a thin layer of Humbrol #53 Gunmetal, followed by an identical treatment of Floquil Rust. I think is gives a somewhat convincing appearance. After I decal and seal the model, I will add a good amount of exhaust smudges and streaks to blend everything in.

 

Prior to installing the collector rings I added the "hedgehog" exhaust diffusers.

 

 

The diffusers were aftermarket parts from CMK, as the kit supplied parts are softly moulded and lacked depth. The resin parts are much sharper. They were first painted in a similar fashion to the collector rings and glued into place.

 

I should mention that before I did all this, having followed the kit painting guide, I found the engines got lost in the darkness. I felt things needed to stand out a bit better so, again, I turned to dry brushing to highlight some of the details using gunmetal as well as silver paint. Finally a wash of medium sea grey was also added to the reduction gear.

 

 

Of course, the camera does a poor job of picking out these details, but they are there and I'm reasonably happy with the way things look. 

 

I am just about finished with the touch-ups, so after that and adding the rockets it will be time for a layer of gloss and then the fun of adding the decals.

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[Javlin]

Andy I think it looks rather Nice Sir let the rivet counters go elsewhere it's a hobby while I will from time to time deep dive some  the main objective is to make something pleasing to one's eye.

[CDW]

Awesome-looking model Andy. Engines look super.

[Egilman]

20 hours ago, realworkingsailor said:

Of course, the camera does a poor job of picking out these details, but they are there and I'm reasonably happy with the way things look. 

Brother the truth is, YOUR minds eye is the only one that matters...

 

It looks the part my friend, well done...

[Danstream]

Nice build and sharp painting. As written in another post, I built this kit too and made the same version (but with a torpedo) and found it rather nice. Waiting to see more.

Kind regards,

Dan

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments, likes and continued support!

 

The last few days have been rather productive. The lettering has now been finished, I must say there was an absolute plethora of stencils on this one! I just about went cross eyed trying to decode those microscopic hieroglyphics! A testament to the quality of Cartograf's printing that they were all legible. There was only decal I decided to leave off. Apparently the prototype airplane must have suffered some flak damage, and there was a large patch on the fabric of the lower part of the rudder on the port side. I guess the idea was to replicate the colour of the dope used to seal the repair with a decal, but it was printed in the same shade and intensity red as the squadron/airplane codes on the side of the fuselage. It looked like someone had hopped into MS paint (remember that old program?) and just created a red blob. It really doesn't look very good at all, so I've omitted it entirely.

 

 

 

It's funny, the colour pallet of red/gold/black and white almost looks a little Christmasy (I mean, I swear I've seen Christmas wrapping paper with almost that exact colour pallet)....

 

After the lettering was finished it was time to move on to the landing gear, and get this bird standing on it's own feet!

 

 

That was probably the most intricate and tricky landing gear I've built yet! The wheels are the final aftermarket detail from CMK. The tires are a little wider than the kit supplied parts, and it's a snug fit where the retracting struts meet the main struts, but they went in ok in the end.

 

After the landing gear bay doors were added, it was time for the propellors:

 

 

A little careful filing in the holes in the engines, but they eventually slid snugly in to place.

 

 

And they spin freely too! (A little hot air power!)

 

I am currently getting the last few little details set up, and ready to do. A few can be added first before I seal everything up with some Dullcote. I should have this build wrapped up in fairly short order!

 

Andy

 

 

[shipman]

Always admired the pugnacious business like good looks of this aircraft, the Airfix kit does it justice and your build brings it to life.

A far more suitable aircraft in the Pacific theatre, the humidity had DH Mosquito's de-laminating and falling to bits!

[realworkingsailor]

45 minutes ago, shipman said:

Always admired the pugnacious business like good looks of this aircraft, the Airfix kit does it justice and your build brings it to life.

A far more suitable aircraft in the Pacific theatre, the humidity had DH Mosquito's de-laminating and falling to bits!

From what I’ve read/heard it was a bad batch of glue (or errors in the gluing procedure) that gave the Mossie a bad rap in the PTO, but the biggest advantage the Beaus had was that Australia was building them, parts and replacements didn’t have to be shipped half way around the world. 
 

Either way, thanks for your kind comment!

 

Andy