MattG

They seem to have been mainly Mk.IIs, but not all. For a start I've done some searching through 'Battle of France Then and Now', and have found three Mk.Is lost in France. P1672 of 2 Sqn (lost 22/5/1940), P1685 of 16 Sqn (lost 27/5/1940), and P1689 of 26 Sqn (lost 29/5/1940). So a Battle of France Mk.I is possible, if anyone can find the squadron codes! I'm guessing a further look in the ORBs would reveal more Battle of France Mk.Is. Anyway I did start off the year planning to start building more 1/72 to save space and fit more models in my two display cabinets. After this, I'll just have to buy another display cabinet!

Great choice Jes! I really like this kit, and it's always nice to see a Beaufort! This aircraft participated in a few operations during the period of this group build: 3 minelaying raids and 2 night bombing raids (on oil depots in Hamburg and Rotterdam) in May 1940. 22 Squadron also started flying roving torpedo patrols off the Dutch / North German coast in October 1940 and this aircraft may have participated in one of these (I can't be sure though, 22 Squadron didn't record serials in their records and the 'OA-H' recorded then may have been a different Beaufort). Anyway good luck with the kit, I shall enjoy following the build! Matt

It's been a while since my last GB and this topic is right up my street so I'm keen for this GB too! I've been eyeing up the Airfix 1/48 Anson in my stash to start off with. I'm not sure of the markings yet but it will be Coastal Command in 1940 for sure, and having been reading through the Anson Squadrons' Operations Record Books from 1939-40 lately I'm really looking forward to building it! Matt

Please sign me up - any excuse to build a Hurricane! Matt

I've just picked up the ubiquitous Revell 1/72 "Memphis Belle" boxing and would love to join in if I may! Matt

Thanks Jeff! I totally agree, I'm also a big fan of the twins and have built quite a few relatively recently. I've been inspired by some of the ships on here though and may well give one a go soon!

My entry: an early Bristol Beaufighter TF.X from the 1/72 Airfix kit, featuring resin CMK cockpit and tailplanes, Eduard PE and paint masks, and generic RAF squadron codes and serials from Xtradecal and Kits World. More historical info and build thread here. Thanks so much to the hosts and fellow modellers who make this group build so much fun!

I've spent a bit more time getting this finished than expected this week, hence fewer posts, but I'm calling this one done. Firstly, I added the decals. Markings are from Xtradecals generic RAF Bomber Red codes and Kits World's generic RAF serials sheets - it was a character building experience cutting out the tiny serial numbers and individually and getting them in place but I managed to get them in a straight line! The specific aircraft I chose to represent was from the attack on the "Fortuna" in a German shipping convoy on 2nd August 1943 as I previously mentioned, led by Wg Cdr Neil Wheeler (later AVM Sir Neil Wheeler) flying LX865/MB-A. As I'm representing this aircraft as it was on its first operation, I've chosen to leave it in a "factory fresh" finish (a bit unusual for Beaufighters I know!). Interestingly I watched a fascinating presentation on WW2TV recently about RAF minelaying ops which showed that these were just as effective as the Beaufighter attacks but far less costly - but that's another story (and future build idea!). The undercarriage was a bit fiddly to get the various parts lined up properly but went together fine in the end. The fiddliest parts were probably the rockets, which seemed determined to lean at various precarious angles, but these now look like they are pointing vaguely straight ahead! The remaining parts mostly fell together. There were some issues getting the propeller assembly to slot into the engines, but with a bit of sanding these were persuaded to fit. Likewise the cockpit canopy needed a bit of sanding to fit nicely but once done it worked out well. And here's the finished aircraft: All in all this was quite an enjoyable build - a few fit issues here and there but nothing a bit of sanding couldn't sort out. I'll add some more pics to the gallery shortly! Matt

Hi everyone, Just a quick update this time. Here's the Beau again with paintwork complete. I used Colour Coats for all colours. Looks a bit different with the early-style disruptive camouflage pattern! I have also been working on the undercarriage. It was a bit fiddly to get the parts to align but it worked out in the end. I'll add the decals today then will give a more detailed update. Thanks for looking! Matt

Hi all, With the end of the group build looming it's about time I posted with some more progress! With the fuselage all closed up next tackled the engines. I've built a number of Airfix twins over the years and initially struggled to get the cowlings to align nicely without using half a tube of filler each time. The problem seems to be the very tight tolerances Airfix allows for in their parts design, meaning the engines almost invariably require a bit of sanding to fit inside the cowlings. This seems to be especially the case for the Beaufighter. My previous Airfix twin was a Blenheim, for which I decided rather than to assemble the engines and build the three cowling parts around them, I would do the opposite: build the cowlings first, then sand the engines to fit and slide them in. That's the approach I opted for here: Studying the instructions indicates that the engine "ring" sits behind the ridge in the cowlings. It took more sanding for the Beau than I remember doing for the Blenheim, but with a bit of effort the engines slotted in very neatly. I much prefer this method, it really cuts back on dealing with cracks later! Returning to the rest of the aircraft, I glued the wing halves, added a little filler where needed: Since then I have started the paintwork, more to come soon when this is done! In the meantime I'll start on the undercarriage. Thanks for looking! Matt

Hi everyone! It's great to see so many builds progressing well (or finished already), I haven't had a lot of time to log on in the past week so I have a lot of catching up to do! In the meantime though having done tiny bits here and there all of a sudden the Beau is coming along. Due to using a replacement cockpit, I changed the order of the instructions a bit. First I glued the cockpit floor to the starboard side, and then started adding the various parts from starboard to port. Starting with the heating pipe, seat and control column, all from the CMK cockpit set: Followed by the instrument panel (using photo-etch rudder pedals) and port side console. All went in very easily although I had to trim the front of the port console to fit underneath the instrument panel. Then I turned my attention to the observer's position. The Eduard PE instructions suggest to glue the top right corner of the observer's instruments to one of the fuselage sides. Knowing my building skills I had visions of this sitting not nicely horizontal at all but drooping at some precarious angle... A quick search showed that the observer had a shelf for his equipment, so I decided to fashion a shelf out of plastic sheet to mount these on. I then cut notches in the fuselage ribs to ensure this would sit perfectly horizontal, glued to the starboard side, and left to set with the fuselage sides taped together. The result: With everything set and some weathering (a few splotches of mud here and there, a touch of silver and a slight wash of darkened, thinned cockpit green in places) it was time to close up the fuselage. The rear glued together nicely, but I found the front quite difficult to align properly (builder error no doubt, rather than the kit) so a small amount of sanding and filling will be needed. Time to leave aside and set for a bit while I start looking at the wings and engines. Thanks for looking, and I hope to add more updates later this week.

Things have been starting to take shape across the weekend, so it's time for the first progress update. I've started in the cockpit (where else?), mainly dealing with the resin cockpit parts and a lot of sanding and test fitting. Here's the "before" photo showing the kit cockpit floor (quite bare, isn't it?). The four "pins" sticking out from the main spar are meant to be for the attachment of the pilot's seat. To the left is the CMK replacement. A bit of sanding later and the resin cockpit floor is ready to install. It just sits on top of the Airfix floor. Like this. It's now it's firmly glued in place - a very simple modification. Next, I started work on the fuselage sides which involved some more fiddly filing. The kit fuselage contains the vertical ribbing detail, but that's it - no longerons and no other detail such as the heating pipe. To fit the CMK sides I filed down the kit's detail and test fitted it. It looked OK but I decided to cut a notch at the top so I didn't have to trim away the kit's locating tabs. I hope this will ensure a nicely aligned fuselage joint. And finally, here's a test fit to show what it will look like when put together. Test fitting the fuselage sides indicates no problems either. So far. That's the weekend's progress for now. Next job will be to start adding the photo etch detail, finishing the painting and adding some subtle weathering. Thanks for looking, and see you for the next update during the week! Matt

Thanks Tony, I'm very happy to oblige! Glad to hear it, welcome along! Thanks Col, the research just adds to the fun! Great, I'm happy to show you how not to do it😉

Very nice work so far Maginot! Looks like a great kit.

Looks great so far, looks like a nice little kit!