jackroadkill

This is my 1/48 Revell Beaufighter TF mk. X. The build wasn't without a little aggro but I'm very pleased with how she came together in the end. She's OOB other than the seatbelts and exhausts. I had planned to paint the markings on but bailed out due to time constraints, so ended up using the decals supplied by Revell. Paints were my usual Colourcoats. She's shown in the colours of 489 Sqn RNZAF in 1944. I haven't been able to find out much about the aircraft itself, or who flew it, other than in this famous picture of the aircraft the crew are named as the pilot being P/O E.F.G.Burrowes DFC and the navigator F/S D.A.Young: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forcedlandingcollection.se%2FRAFe%2FRAF057-NE745.html&psig=AOvVaw3AjjxkKiFrsmURROYk5QC9&ust=1633190314366000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAkQjRxqFwoTCKDHt5bKqfMCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAL (Forced Landing Collection, although readily available online from many sources.) P/O Burrowes survived the war and returned to New Zealand; I'm unable to find out anything regarding F/S Young, unfortunately. Thanks, JRK

Thanks chaps. I'm actually a good bit more pleased with it than I thought I would be, so I'll take that.

Or is it "herd daftness"? I'm with Terry Pratchett on this; the IQ of a mob is the IQ of the thickest person present divided by the number of people in the mob.

Right, the beast is done. Quick pic below; I'll post in the GB gallery tomorrow. Huge thanks to everyone who has offered tips, help and emotional support throughout the build - that I have a few remaining shreds of sanity left is testament to your kindness! Cheers, JRK

It's a fair question - he's the guy my landlord uses (although I will be making polite suggestions about this).

Now we've progressed to the absolute prune of a boiler service engineer who'd proclaimed that our boiler isn't fixable and will need to be replaced before he'd even got out of his van..... He is also the same tool who tried fixing it a couple of years back and couldn't manage it then (because "It's knackered and needs to be replaced"), despite the bloke from the manufacturers turning up, hoovering some baffles off and getting it going inside fifteen minutes. It's a good job I was at work and my other half dealt with him. I might just have snapped.

Holy main spars, Batman, this little beauty's nearly for the gallery! Regular readers may detect a hint of optimism creeping in, a well-founded summation, as it happens. Somehow The World's Most Finicky Fiddly Filligreed Fudgetastic Undercarriage Ever (TM) is together and actually supports the weight of the beast. Well, it may be more accurate to say that in the ten brief seconds needed to photograph the current state of affairs it didn't collapse. Airscrews are mounted, as are the gunner's armament, pitot head and the aerial mast. I've even fitted the navigation lights and made up a lens for the gun camera - after the matt coat went on! It's been a labour of love, hate and frustration, but we're on course to be finished by the weekend. I'm reasonably pleased with the glazing - no cruddy fingerprints this time around. Here are the gunner's bubble and main canopy: And a shot of the (nearly) complete model: All that remains is to fit an aerial wire and to dirty up the undercarriage. Cheers, JRK PS - And I've just noticed that I need to remove the masking from the landing light....

Wow, how ace is that?!

Yeah, but a klaxon would be more fun.

That could be very promising - I agree with the square wave not being the most useful feature; the phaser's sweep is what you want it for, and square wave's not really conducive to this, in my view. Now that looks cool, and having a resonance control can only be a good thing. I'd be interested in hearing what the pedal sounds like. Yeah, guilty as charged. I had a PH-2 and while there was nothing inherently wrong with it but it was too clean and didn't make my juices flow. The PH-3 was just the same with added ones and zeroes and a few gimmicks. Again, I didn't hate it but it left me wanting more. Interestingly, one of the best phasers I remember was one built into the Peavey Deuce amp. Now, in mitigation, I haven't heard one in action since 1998 and my youthful ears may not have been as discerning as they are now. Rose-tinted spectacles may also be a factor.... Stun is good, bludgeon is better.

You'd best get your finger out and get a proper collection of them going then, eh?! I quite like phasers and have had some good ones in my time (a Mutron BiPhase being one that I had and sold when skint....) and some that were not so good - you know, the soulless green ones. At the moment I'm using an EHX Bad Stone and I like the simplicity and sound of it, so I reckon I'll stick with it. In Fuzz news, I'm still jonesing for a Zander Circuitry American Geek, too.

Ah, lovely! Who doesn't love a Chipmunk, eh?

These look great, especially the weird and wonderful Maryland. My favourite story about Warby was that he was undertaking a PR mission at low level and was given such a hard time in his PR Spitfire by a particular flak battery that upon returning to base with the aircraft full of holes, he commandeered an armed Spit (a Vb, I think) and flew back to the target just to shoot up the flak battery! An absolute maverick of a man who died late in the war in pretty unnecessary circumstances.

@AndyL, thanks very much for the added information regarding the aircraft and crew - it's very much appreciated indeed. Discovering the backstory to each aircraft I build is something I find very appealing, and I feel a responsibility to do so. Thanks for taking the time to post the above to the thread.

Thanks guys, very kind of you. I was unsure as to the reception this one would get! Wow, thanks Alan - I really appreciate you taking the time to post the picture. It's not one I've seen before, I don't think. The Kiwi connection is one that I seem to bump into over and over again, somehow - perhaps due to the huge contribution to the war effort made by New Zealanders. Cheers, JRK

I've started dirtying her up a bit: She's coming on now. There's not really a whole heap to do; the exhausts (resin hedgehogs and the engines' own standard pipes) need painting, as do the aerials and pitot, and then we need a matt coat. Last of all will be the fitting and weathering of the undercarriage, assuming it survives long enough.

She's looking absolutely cracking - what a lovely job!

I gave in to temptation and posted an RFI thread. It contains the story of the aircraft and crew, which you may find interesting: Cheers, JRK

This build has taken me ages. I started it way back at the beginning of March, and thought it would be a quick build, but somehow I struggled with life impacting on both my time and my mojo, not to mention building several other kits alongside this one. The four GB's I joined this year have run one after the other, and maybe in retrospect I shouldn't have dived in quite so deep. However, the Defiant is now done, so I'm pleased with that. The kit was pretty good, only requiring a few minor fettles along the way, and I think it builds well and nails the essence of the Defiant really nicely. The kit was built largely OOB, with added Eduard PE. I managed to trash one of the decals so had to use some Xtradecals markings to salvage things. The paints were my usual Colourcoats enamels (courtesy of @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies) and spraying was done with a set of Topnotch camouflage masks. I used Mig Ammo panel line wash and pigments for weathering. WIP thread is here: Anyway, some images: So, there she is; not perfect but hey... I've still got a real soft spot for the Defiant and genuinely feel that her reputation is undeserved. Her crews were brave beyond brave and flew with an unsurpassed dedication to their duty, and for that they have my undying gratitude and respect. The Defiant was intended to attack a stream of unescorted bombers and when that didn't materialise, they were thrown into the fight to intercept the might of the Luftwaffe formations of both bombers and fighters. They shot down a surprisingly high number of German aircraft before being withdrawn from the front line following the decimation of 141 Squadron's Defiants in a battle known as the Slaughter Of The Innocents. Robert Verkaik's excellent book Defiant: The Untold Story of the Battle of Britain tells the story of the Defiant and the role it played in the strategic and tactical thinking behind the defence of Britain in the early part of the war, as well as the failures in the Chamberlain government's top brass's approach to air defence. The aircraft represented here, L7021, was flown by Squadron Leader G D Garvin and his gunner, Flight Lieutenant R C V Ash on the 28th of August 1940. The aircraft was badly damaged in combat with a Bf109 of JG26 (I haven't been able to identify who the pilot was) and the crew baled out of the burning fighter. S/L Garvin sustained minor injuries but F/L Ash was killed. L7201 impacted the ground near Faversham (see http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Garvin.htm http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Ash.htm and https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/31796-defiant-walkaround). Staggeringly, with hindsight, F/L Ash had requested a transfer to Defiants. His body was found riddled with machine gun bullets, suggesting that he may well have been attacked whilst making his descent by parachute. An imperfect aircraft used in imperfect circumstances, then, but a brave and steadfast crew, one of whom gave his life in the worst of circumstances during the defining air battle of WWII. Lest we forget... Thanks, JRK

Yeah, you're spot on. I mean, it's accurate, scale-wise, but it could do with being made from steel or brass so that the strength matches the dimensions.

Definitely over-committed - I've only been doing this eighteen months and am at a completion rate of just under one per month; my stash is in the mid thirties and the buying rate is about one kit per month too. However, I seem to add about three per month to the list of kits to build next; I suspect all of this will end in tears, or at least wails of frustration! This is a bugbear of mine, but I suppose the undercarriage is inherently one of the weakest parts of any kit, as well as one of the fiddliest and noticeable. I'm at the point now where I assume I'm going to have to drill and pin at least some components of the undercarriage in order to succeed. Very soon I'll have to fit my Beaufighter's landing gear, which looks like it was made from anaemic vermicelli...

Same here; I was planning two builds for this GB and I'll be lucky to finish one...

My job, my boiler, my shoes, my tumble dryer, my van, my deceased grandmother, my not-deceased father, my partner and my cat. Other than that it's all effing peachy!

These look very cool, and could be the kick up the backside I need to start my own very early mk1 Spitfire build (well, once I've finished the Beaufighter, and the Tempest and got an armoured car [I don't even do armour; it's a long story] and the Me262 started, anyway). What's the plan for the builds - will you do them simultaneously or one before the other?

Okay, I'm calling this done. It's not that great of a job, if I'm honest, but between work, life being difficult and a serious loss of mojo along the way it's as good as it was ever going to be. The kit was pretty much perfect - any issues are mine and mine alone. Not sure if I can be bothered to RFI her, but maybe I'll do that if I can raise the enthusiasm later. Thanks to everyone who had looked at the thread, offered help or encouragement etc. Cheers, JRK