Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter in black. Trim tabs done (finally!)

[Biggles87]

The filling looks like it's starting to take effect

I never had much success with Greenstuff in the past, but I've recently started using Mr Surfacer 500 for panel line filling, and also in anticipation of Mustang wing rivet filling. I find that being able to paint it on concentrates it more on the required areas and cuts down on the sanding time, which is a bonus for me.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

Note :  This post was not sponsored by Mr Surfacer.

[Max Headroom]

Thanks John

 

I've always liked Green Stuff and never had a problem other than it drying very quickly if applied in thin smears. I guess you find a product that suits you and to which you get used to using. I may invest in a bottle/tub/tube whatever of Mr Surfacer (ditto Perfect Plastic Putty) to see if I can get on with them. I'll look into them.......

 

So, back to the port wing. I sanded and smoothed once more, thus

 

 

amd then gave it another mist of Humbrol primer

 

 

Other than at the rear of the nacelle, I'm happy and can deal with the remaining imperfections and will treat those as 'wear and tear' with scuffs and the like.

 

Back to the other wing 

 

Trevor

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Trevor,

I hate to bring this up and I may be wrong, but...

That forward spanwise panel line (front spar?).

Should that go across the nacelle and through the access panel? 

It just looks wrong to me.

 

 

[Max Headroom]

⬆️

 

In fact Pete, the whole panel may not even exist, but there may be a little intake......

 

 

I thought 109 variants were headache inducing!

 

Trevor

[Pete in Lincs]

Nice picture.

Is that being used as a testbed, I wonder.

I don't know much beyond the fact that I like the Beaufighter.

But I think, it's an early Mk1 with spinners on the props and

unpainted long intakes for some reason. Oh, and the cowling

rings are different shades of burnt.

Discuss....

 

(Not really a thread drift) (I think)

[Max Headroom]

As far as I know the long intakes were a tropical thing, so this example may well be trying them out.

 

The cooling rings do look different colours. Also if you notice the nearer cowling the lumps for the cylinder heads (?) have worn through to bare metal. Wing root is also worn too. It's obviously been around the block more than once.

 

All grist to the mill for when it comes to scuffing and contrasting the Night camouflage.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Just for Pete!

 

 

Hi Pete 

 

So whilst waiting for the putty to harden (again) I turned to the fuselage and buttoned it up

 

 

 

......and a tube of Britfix sticky glue to fix the lower wing! I figured that this was a major join so needed the attentions of good old skool glue. No idea how old that tube is but it oozed out as if it was a new which it most certainly isnt.

 

 

I know there are no harnesses on the seats but (shock Horror) I intend to use the transfers on the sheet, again on the basis that's it's all gloomy in there so what's the point?

 

I am now looking at the panelling on the fuselage and the little lumps and bumps that I can see dotted around here and there.

 

More soonish.

 

Trevor

 

 

[Max Headroom]

....and the port wing has been further fetteled and marked up for the screws on the gun hatch.

 

 

 

Phew. I'm now going for a lie down.

 

Trevor 

 

[The Spadgent]

Blimey that's a lot of the green stuff flying around.  looking great though. Hope you had a nice holli bobs.

 

Johnny.

[k5054nz]

Great work Trevor! I've wanted one of these for years (DAP Mk.21 please) and it's really good to see such an in-depth build.

[Max Headroom]

Thanks for the thumbs up. The kit contains the Sperry housing for the XXI but frankly it looks nothing like the real thing. Here is the sprue. Look on the right hand side by the two nose options to see what I mean.

 

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Small (non modelling) update tonight.

 

The CD-ROM I mentioned a few posts ago arrived today. It is a complete maintenance manual giving everything from performance data, how to open the crate and remove the engine (!), installation and trouble shooting. 

 

Of course I'm mostly interested in the illustrations of the engine and there are some which will help to busy up the front of the engine. There is one tantalising glimpse of the piping connecting the cylinder heads and the cooling rings. Frustratingly though there is nothing to show the details of the triangulating bracing between the engine and the cooling ring, so it appears that some guesstimating will be necessary after all.

 

Thinking cap on......

 

Trevor 

[Bugle07]

Have you had a look on Google images for Bristol Beaufighter Engines? There's a good few restored engines showing the bracing, and some original pics from the period, may be of help?

 

Geoff

[Max Headroom]

@Bugle07

 

Sorry I've only just checked back into my thread as I've not done much modelling recently (I'm forming a plan though......).

 

I've googled until my fu ran out but whilst there are glimpses, there is no 'money shot'  for the bracing or the plumbing even in the CD-ROM.

 

Hopefully I'll be back in harness next week.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Quick update. Still looking for Hercules engine details and I found this:

 

http://www.staurohr.de/museums/iwm_museum_duxford.html#beaufighter ix

 

These may well be useful. 

 

Time me to get out the plastic methinks.....

 

Trevor

[dogsbody]

3 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Quick update. Still looking for Hercules engine details and I found this:

 

http://www.staurohr.de/museums/iwm_museum_duxford.html#beaufighter ix

 

These may well be useful. 

 

Time me to get out the plastic methinks.....

 

Trevor

That is a post-war version of the Hercules, with the rear-swept exhaust pipes.

Here is a war-time Hercules.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Max Headroom]

@dogsbody

 

You sir are a star. 👍🏻

 

Trevor

 

EDIT - the bracing may be of use in those pix I found. All good for making the engine ‘busy’.

[Max Headroom]

Back in the saddle again.

 

And now the wings are on......

 

 

 

It’s a tad on the large side (and heavy to boot too). Add ‘scrappy’ as well!

 

Now then, I need to tackle these bad boys...

 

 

Thanks to Jamie’s information above, I will aim to give them the full treatment. I will reproduce the outline of the hinge line using a plastic card template and then move the entire hinge line 5mm chord wise towards the tail, so using his words giving ‘more meat’ to the fixed tailplane and using my words, leaving a smaller flappy area at the rear. I will hen deal with the trim tabs and actuator rods once everything has been filled and sanded.

 

Sounds easy

 

 

I suppose?

 

Wish me luck   

 

Trevor 

 

 

 

 

[Max Headroom]

So I took some plastic card stock and copied the outline of the hinge line thus 

 

 

Jamie’s advice boiled down to the outer third hinge line of the modified tailplane being on the same level as the line of the inner two-thirds of the unmodified one. On the basis that a picture is worth a thousand yappings.....

 

 

The new hinge line was scored in with a sharp scalpel. I will tidy this up later. That includes reproducing the outline.

 

That is close enough for me! Now that I know how simple this is, I can now repeat the exercise another three times.

 

For regular readers of my (infrequent) builds, you may be wondering where is my regular partner in crimes at the moment. Allie aka ‘my furry shadow’.

 

Well it’s Sunday afternoon and she’s having a siesta!

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping in. More soonish.

 

Trevor

[Troy Smith]

On 22/8/2017 at 22:52, Max Headroom said:

So am I mate. So am I........

 

A  rattlecan of black is involved, but beyond that, I need to to somehow break up the mono block colour.

 

 

Trevor

 

Not seen mention in the thread, but the black was often 'Specail night' and it didn't stick well, and scuffed up

see

 

from

http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Camoflage-Markings/09-Bristol-Beaufighter

 

well worth a read if you have not seen it.

Also, may give some idea on how to break up the monotone.

 

HTH

T

[Max Headroom]

@Troy Smith thanks for that. The top picture in your quote above is the actual example that I will model. My intention is to spray a paint mule and experiment on that. Not having an airbrush I am limited to doing a rattlecan and then tinkering with the finish.

 

As far as I am aware a lighter shade of the base colour is applied to the centre of a panel and blended in. Subtle does it I suppose! 

 

I am also assuming that the base coat is applied, gloss varnish coat, markings and then sealed in with another gloss coat. Only then is the weathering/chipping applied and sealed in with a matt varnish?

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Just a quick post.

 

See here for some gen on armament.....

 

http://self-preservationsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/bristol-beaufighter-again.html?m=1

 

Trevor

[Grey Beema]

I haven't tried this but you could do something like:-

 

• paint the airframe in whatever colour you want to show through the night finish (Halfords aluminium?).  Allow to harden.  
• Spray your night finish from your rattle can.  Allow to dry and harden.
• With some sort of liquid metal polish (I'm thinking Brasso) load up a cotton bud and polish away at the areas you want to remove the night finish from.  Your Matt finish should polish then start to lift away leaving the paint underneath.

 

As a say give it a try first but it should work..

 

 

[Troy Smith]

the paint showing through underneath the RDM2/Special Night is Smooth Night,  so it's a scuff-able sooty very matt black coming off an eggshell black, if that makes sense?

 

In a rush, so that's all for now.

[stever219]

Give the "lighter shade in the middle of each panel" treatment a miss: aeroplanes do not weather like that (nor will you find dark smudges along every panel joint).  An alternative approach would be to apply a coat of satin black to represent Smooth Night and then to apply a coat of matt black to represent RDM2A Special Night.  Once this has dried you can then gently abrade ares where wear has occurred and reveal the Smooth Night underneath.  (In some cases a very fine abrasive will put a slight sheen on a matt paint finish, so put your paint mule to work and give it a try.). Mixing some very dark grey in with your matt black and applying this mixture in areas where heavier than average wear occurs might also help to break up the overall blackness of the model.