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Bristol Beaufort Mk I - Special Hobby 1/72


CedB

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When 'the young Procopius' returned from his trip to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the BoB he very kindly sent me 'a nice pair of Bristols' (thanks again PC!) as a thank you for driving him around our fair land. Here he is after the flypast at the BoB Memorial near Dover:

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Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

The sort of smile you get after seeing your first Spitfire in the air, over Dover, with Hurricanes. A great day.

Since then I've been honing my skills, or at least documenting my limitations, and I now feel ready to tackle the first one, Special Hobby's Beaufort:

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I also note that Stew's got hold of one recently, so I can bash the kit and then he can show us how it's really done later :)

Sprue shots (some parts detached but the bag was sealed so I'm confident it's all there)...

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Separate prop blades, resin and PE. Right. Not too scary then...

I've chosen the 22 Sqn. scheme as it has a nose turret.

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What a baby...

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More :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn: ordered Ced.

Joined the list mate, I like seeing these less mainstream planes being built.

They were part of our WW2 aviation stock, although superseded like a lot of our aircraft during the war.

Simon.

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Once more sneaking in at the back with my Fruit Pastilles and 50p for a choc-ice in the intermission :)

I see a nano saw featuring heavily in your near future Ced.

Also, one of these could be a good investment, I've got one and love it for these type of props:

http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?cPath=21_162&products_id=650&osCsid=625361bd8cbc8f22c7f3b134a1658b82

Beauforts were very important in this neck of the woods.

:popcorn:

Best regards

Tony

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I'm in. I love the Beaufort. :popcorn:

If it's any help to you, I recently built the 1:72 Special Hobby Beaufort, although mine was the DAP Mk.VIII Australian version. I found it to be a beautiful kit that went together very nicely. You can find my build here. You'll find a link to my WIP from that page, and it may help you with any nuances of the kit.

Cheers,

Bill

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Ooh, back to proper aircraft, look forward to this. My next build will be an Encore Beau as a Mk 1a in Coastal Command colours, bogged down with Vacform Sparrow at the mo.

Try not to go too quick, you make my rate of completions look really poor.

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Bills is amazing and very much worth a peak!

Very excited about this build, I love the Beaufort and love it even more after reading the below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Torpedo-Flyers-Arthur-Aldridge/dp/1471102750

Worth a read, a great account of how brave the guys inside these were but also how humble they were especially Arthur. After reading the book I found out he taught at my nephews school for about 30 year and then settled, literally just down the road from me in Malvern. Very sad to hear he passed away in March this year aged 95 I think.

I think the markings you are doing are of his squadron, not sure on his AC as they swapped about a lot, probably due to the loss/rate at which they were damaged.

Looking forward to your start

Rob

Edit: it's the MW one that is his squadron, no 217

Edited by rob85
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Welcome everyone! :)

You guys are costing me money already and it's only just out of the box!

I've downloaded the Kindle book to my devices (thanks Rob and Simon) and I look forward to reading about these guys (see below).

I've sent an email to UMM as requested on their website to see if I can afford UPS to bring me a prop jig... Sten has some instructions on building your own but this isn't the first short-run I've had problems with and I'm sure it won't be the last...

Bill thanks for the link to your WiP - I've read the first three pages so far and skipped forward to see what you did about the props... the Quickboost jig is an option but I don't have the patience for one at a time... nor am I going to get anywhere near your build (of course) but I'm going to study the WiP for ideas that I can come close to!

Oh, I've put the resin parts in a box to keep them safe:

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Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

I panicked when I saw Bill's bits (fnaar fnaar) but realised he was building from a Mk VIII kit - phew!

New post on some research follows...

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For me one of the sobering things about this hobby is when you research the subject of the model...

My chosen scheme is N1016 as OAoX of 22 Sqn. Coastal Command, St. Eval, April 1941. The instructions mention the pilot as F/O Kenneth Campbell who attacked battle cruiser Gneisenau over Brest harbour April 6 1941.

His Wiki entry says this:

On 6 April 1941 over Brest Harbour, France, Flying Officer Campbell attacked the German battleship Gneisenau. He flew his Beaufort through the gauntlet of concentrated anti-aircraft fire from about 1000 weapons of all calibres and launched a torpedo at a height of 50 feet (15 m).

The attack had to be made with absolute precision: the Gneisenau was moored only some 500 yards (460 m) away from a mole in Brest's inner harbour. For the attack to be effective, Campbell would have to time the release to drop the torpedo close to the side of the mole. That Campbell managed to launch his torpedo accurately is testament to his courage and determination. The ship was severely damaged below the waterline and was obliged to return to the dock whence she had come only the day before; she was put out of action for six months, lessening the threat to Allied shipping crossing the Atlantic.
Generally, once a torpedo was dropped, an escape was made by low-level jinking at full throttle. Because of rising ground surrounding the harbour, Campbell was forced into a steep banking turn, revealing the Beafort's full silhouette to the gunners. The aircraft met a withering wall of flak and crashed into the harbour. The Germans buried Campbell and his three crew mates, Sergeants J. P. Scott DFM RCAF (navigator), R. W. Hillman (wireless operator) and W. C. Mulliss (air gunner), with full military honours. His valour was only recognised when the French Resistance managed to pass along news of his brave deeds to England.
He was awarded a posthumous VC for this action.
There's coverage of his school's 70th anniversary remembrance here and an image of an unknown artist's representation of the attack here.
I hope I can do him, and his crew, justice with this build.
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What a brave group of fellas, I cannot imagine the sheer amount of moral fibre it must take to do that knowing that your chance of survival was slim to none.... Just clinging on to the fact that if you did it it would help the war effort....

Arthur recounts going in for an attack as part of 9 Ac's in three chevrons, he was the second chevron. Right in front of him the first three get taken out within seconds of each other, including his co. One hit by flak, co released this fish while being hit by flak and hitting the sea, the fish then hit the water wrong bouncing up and taking out the third.... He still pressed on as did the other 6, how they had the steel to a) carry on b ) ever go out again I don't know

Rob

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