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ICM is to release a 1/48th Bristol Beaufort Mk.1 kit - ref. 48310 Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ICM48310 V.P.

Real life and the big yellow thing in the sky has kept me away from the bench over the last few months. Several kits were placed on it with the view to starting, but then removed, but I've finally made a start on 3 parallel builds. The bench looks like a plastic explosion! Several years ago, I did a twin Blenheim build before the new Airfix kit came out, so used the old Mk.IV and the Frog Mk.I: I have recently been refurbishing some bases and took the opportunity to get the Frog one out for a picture This latest endeavour started out as twin build of the Blenheim I and Beaufort Ia and I was rather excited at being able to call the thread 'A lovely pair of Bristol's', but managed to get a copy of the Blenheim IV with the 'Lorraine' markings on and had to include that too. This is one of my favourite schemes, inspired by the original Airfix box top. So, the plan is this: Some pics of the bare plastic with internal sub assemblies done: The engines look a little basic on the Blenheim, so are being replaced by some resin ones and props too Painting has begun. The green looks dark here, but looks fine in real life I've got some seatbelts on order, but apart from that, I'm not adding any further detail inside as there is enough Really need to get some kind of working method to doing these three to keep some kind of sanity on the bench! Cheers Neil

DAP Beaufighter of No. 100 Sqn RAAF. While going through the routine of applying, sanding, re-applying, sanding again, of filler on the Hudson, I have decided to relieve the boredom by starting a new project. This will be a DAP built Beaufort, flown by No. 100 Sqn RAAF, armed with an American Mk.13 torpedo, used to attack Japanese shipping from Milne Bay in late 1942 / early 1943. The kit will be the ICM 1/48 Beaufort Mk.I. Some conversion work will be required to modify it to fit P&W engines. This will be done using the Hamilton Hobbies conversion kit. The torpedo will be a Brengun item and the mods to the weapons bay will have to be done by winging it with plasticard. Background No. 100 Squadron RAAF had an interesting birth. It was formed from No. 100 Squadron RAF. The latter was originally established on February 1917 as a night bomber squadron and equipped with F.E.2b aircraft. After WWI, it operated several different types of bomber aircraft until, in 1932, it was re-designated as a torpedo bomber squadron and re-equipped with Vickers Vildebeeste. The squadron was then posted to Singapore in 1934. In the late 1930s the RAAF was looking for a bomber to complement its Hudsons. Co-incidentally, the UK was looking for overseas manufacture of the aircraft it needed. The decision was taken to manufacture the Beaufort in Australia for both the RAF and the RAAF. Due to a shortage of engines, these aircraft would be powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engines, also to be manufactured in Australia. This would be quite an undertaking for a fledgling aircraft industry that had little experience in building modern aircraft. Two production line were set up under the control of the newly formed Department of Aircraft Production. There were to be two factories, one at Fishermens bend in Melbourne and another at Mascot, Sydney. A large number of sub-contractors in NSW, Victoria and South Australia were also to be engaged in the program. Engines would be produced by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation at Lidcombe, Sydney. The first RAF squadrons earmarked to receive the Beaufort were Nos 36 and 100 Squadrons, flying Vildebeeste from Singapore. There were many delays in getting production started and it was not until 6 December 1941 that six aircraft, with largely RAF crews, were flown to Singapore to be attached to 100 Sqn. These aircraft were not fully operational and could only be used for reconnaissance work. The British were not impressed! Six days later four of the Beauforts left to return to Australia to be fully fitted out; only two arrived. These two, now fully fitted out, supplemented by a few more were due to fly back to Singapore in February 1942 but, due to the Japanese advance this was cancelled. Personnel of 100 Sqn who were training on the Beaufort remained in Australia. At this time the RAAF brought the the squadron under RAAF control to facilitate management in the return to the UK of many of the British personnel. On 15 February, the RAAF redesignated No. 100 Sqn as an RAAF unit. A new CO, Wing Commander Balmer RAAF took command. The squadron moved to Cairns where it undertook its first operations over New Guinea. Then, in August, they were sent Nowra on a torpedo training course. In early September a flight of six torpedo armed aircraft left for Milne Bay. The torpedoes carried by these aircraft were US made Mk.13 torpedoes. To fit these to the Beaufort had required some modifications to the aircraft. The American torpedoes were shorter but heavier, greater in diameter, and had a larger air tail. From September to February 1943, several attacks were made on Japanese shipping but with negative results. The crews were certain that they had dropped their torpedoes within the correct parameters but no hits were recorded. The reason for the failures was unknown. The lack of results was demoralizing and torpedo operations were stopped. Earlier, USN submarines had been reporting a lack of success with the same torpedoes. Tests had been carried out back in June, and it was found that the torpedoes were running at least ten feet deeper than they had been set to run. There was a problem with the depth control unit. The USN was able to correct the problem but, nobody thought to tell the RAAF that they had faulty torpedoes. The RAAF had been dudded!

The "single type" definition has lately been relaxed, and that's a good thing. We had the Junkers and Dornier twins' family type group builds that had nice variety of subjects and colour schemes. Now, how would Enzo and the crew rule this regarding the Bristol twins, Blenheim, Beaufort and Beaufighter that definitely had common roots and lineage? Would they be an eligible Family Type Group Build subject? I'm not proposing one, just asking V-P vppelt68 (host) John Masters modelling minion Adam Poultney stevehnz Rob Sutto Marklo Les Wells zebra 81-er The Rat Graham Boak Corsairfoxfouruncle SleeperService ...

With it being ANZAC day tomorrow my contribution will be a Beaufort lost in 1942 with an ANZAC crew. Sources: Storr, Alan: RAAF FATALITIES WW2, v. 19. RAAF WW2 fatalities on attachment with RAF and other Air Forces : missing with no known grave : Officers Storr, Alan: RAAF FATALITIES WW2,v. 21. RAAF WW2 fatalities in RAF Beaufort squadrons and training units RAFCOMMANDS https://www.rafcommands.com Commonwealth Wargraves. www.CWGC.org “On 26 October 1942, Beaufort DE 110 piloted by PO Garriock, was in a formation of 8 Beauforts of 47 Sqn RAF, which left Gianaclis to strike against an enemy convoy of 2 motor vessels, a tanker and four destroyers nearing Tobruk.… The Beauforts carried out a torpedo attack and the Bisleys (Blenheim V) a low level bombing attack on the convoy. Ten miles on the return journey, DE 110 (PO Garriock), collided with a Bisley and crashed into the sea. No survivors were observed, and all crew members were lost at sea. Crew: RAAF 403733 PO Garriock, Walter (Pilot) Son of Arthur and Elizabeth Garriock, of Mascot, New South Wales, Australia. RNZAF NZ411228 FO Simpson, R W (Observer) Son of George Stephen Simpson and of Jane Irvine Simpson (nee Muirhead), of Feilding, Wellington, New Zealand. RAAF 407166 Sgt Davis, L G (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Son of George William and Elizabeth Stella Davis; husband of Ellen Jane Davis, of Clarence Park, South Australia. RAAF 404689 Sgt Hamilton, R J (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner) Son of James Henry and Amy Hamilton, of Toowong, Queensland, Australia. A.F.I.A. The crew of four have no known grave, and their names are commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.” Some photos of the plastic (extra detailing bits (etch and resin on order and in the mail)) :

Hi, I am still not sure what happened. There I was, with only a few days left to finish my Airfix Spitfire, when I bumped into the Airfix Beaufort in my stash, and decided I WANTED to build it... NOW!!! So I did, telling myself the Spitfire was not going anywhere. As I had a few AM goodies, I went with them. So here is my Beaufort, as it stands before I glue the half fuselage together, and the wings (already built). The Eduard PE is rather daunting, but one gets the hang of folding microscopic parts quite quickly. I did not use the parts I thought were unnecessary, keeping instead the plastic kit's parts. At the end of the day, I am not disappointed, as the interior does look the part, or close enough.... Thanks for watching. JR

In 2020 Airfix is to release a new tool 1/72nd Bristol Beaufort Mk.1 kit - ref. A04021 https://uk.airfix.com/products/bristol-beaufort-mk1-a04021 3D render V.P.

I shall be joining with an Odessa Toy Factory boxing of the Beaufort. It is moulded in lovely blue plastic, the decals look average and I may have to dig into the spares to mark it up. There was also a set of resin engines in the box so I shall use these. It will be built as a RAAF example, the decals supplied for the RAAF machine are for 93SQN's A9-408. There does not seem to be an entry in the kit list thread for this one.

Hi everyone, I did not really have any plan to enter this GB, although I did put my name down for it under extreme coercion. Then I realized that one of the two kits I had planned for the Frog GB would fit nicely in this Twins Mega GB! So here I am with the Frog antediluvian Beaufort Mk I, re-boxed by Encore as a Mk. VIII. Needless to say that there is no way this Beaufort can easily be made to look like an Aussie Mk. VIII. Encore did simply add some PE fuselage antennas and a decent decal sheet for a few RAAF Beaufort. But no mention of the larger vertical surface and the host of other differences. So I will quietly stick to a Mk. I, built mostly OOB. Not much happening on the inside with this kit: I have a Eduard IP I will add, with some safety belts and the navigator table and swivel chair in the nose, to try and get rid of the cavernous look. Oh, and did I mention that there is a lot of flash?! I am infatuated with the Beaufort, so it is now or never. Some photos will appear a bit later. Cheers JR

Good morning everyone For this beautiful first GB 2024, I chose an English plane that I love very much: an Airfix Bristol Beaufighter Mk.I. At the moment, my only aftermarket set to use is a CMK cockpit... later we'll see what I can add........Happy GB everyone Ettore 🍡

Hi Comrades! Here is my take on excellent Airfix Bristol Beaufort torpedo-bomber. Built OOB with addition of Eduard brass. Thanks for looking.

RAF Bomber & Torpedo Pilots 1939-45 (48090) 1:48 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd During WWII the RAF were tasked with maritime interdiction and harassment missions to disrupt and sink German shipping, and to protect the Allied shipping whenever possible. The crews often flew older aircraft such as the Beaufort that could carry torpedoes, flying straight and low at their targets in a valiant attempt to launch their torpedoes with a chance of hitting the target, evading incoming fire from the target, additional craft in the vicinity, and other enemy aircraft when in coastal waters. These brave men and boys took immense risks to carry out their missions, and many didn’t make it home, fighting for the existence of their way of life. This set has been sculpted to coincide with the recent launch of ICM’s own Beaufort, and arrives in a medium-sized, top-opening box with ICM’s trademark captive flap on the lower tray. There is a single sprue in grey styrene and an instruction sheet within, containing parts for five figures, consisting of three aircrew and two mechanics. As usual with ICM figures, the sculpting is first-rate, and parts breakdown as well as seamlines are sensibly placed to ease clean-up and construction. The aircrew are all wearing WWII period RAF blue uniforms with leather flying jackets and two are wearing Mae West life jackets over the top. The captain is wearing a flat-topped cap and carrying what looks like a log-book in his right hand, while his left hand rests in his jacket pocket. The other two crew are walking with their hands to their sides, carrying a parachute pack or leather flight helmet in one hand, and the parachute carrier is also still wearing his harness. The ’erks are wearing dark blue overalls, one in long boots is standing with his hands about to rest on what is shown to be a torpedo on the box art, while the other gentleman in short boots is kneeling down, ministering to a trolley wheel on the box. Both their overalls have the word “TORP” written on the panel on their blacks, with a white square below left, denoting their specialisation, presumably so they can be tasked with jobs appropriate to their skillsets from a distance. As usual with ICM figure sets, the instructions include drawings in full colour that have the part numbers and colour codes called out in black text and red boxed text respectively, the latter cross-referring to the paint table on the opposite side of the sheet, which gives colour codes for ICM’s paint system as well as colour names in Ukrainian and English printed over a swatch of the colour itself. There is also an ICM paint set for RAF Pilots numbered #3033 that is available from Hannants here if you’re in the market. I’ll try to remember to cross-link the reviews when we’ve done the paint set. Conclusion Another quality figure set from ICM that is also pocket-friendly in this era of high inflation. Five figures with excellent sculpting that will mesh well with the recent crop of torpedo bombers that have been released in this scale. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, I wonder if someone could help me with the colour of a black underside painted Beaufort's wheel wells, bomb bay and flaps. They would have to be black, right? Airfix says interior grey-green. Thanks, Alex

Which would be great... but..... and yes, i know that we frequently have spats and bunfights over colours, and I can't really see the colours just in the bottles, and the following is meant as a discussion/query rather than a dummy spitting rant, though I am rather put out in general with acrylic attempts at RAF paint... but aspect of this concern me..... so I hope the following will explain further Chocolate? Extra Dark Green? Blue Grey? Dark Grey? Looking at the paint guide, they are intended to represent Dark Earth (which is a greeny brown), Dark Green(a dark olive green) and Sky (which is a very pale yellow green, but not blue or grey) which set alarm bells ringing. I don't really care if they call them Barbie pink and unicorn Purple, if they represent the actual colours well, but just the names alone worry me....I mean, this is hardly an obscure subject.... and FWIW, the colours shown on the image below from the instructions are to my eye and screen, 'close enough' for a reasonable idea and this 1941 Life magazine image shows the colours well, note also the markings, sky, grass, uniforms, faces look 'right' Spitfire in England by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr But the point is that we have gone backward with RAF model paint in acrylic..... I have several brands, naively thinking as these are well known and well documented colours.... it was only after finding a model when painted looked wrong (still awaiting stripping) I really started digging, comparing brush out to the RAF museum book chips. Xtracrylix are usually rated, I found all the major RAF ones 'off', AK Interactive, same Tamiya's claimed RAF colours, XF81/82/83 were also off, I got some Lifecolour, also way off. I was sent a sample of Hataka Dark Earth/ Dark Green/Sky, also off. I'd not trust Vallejo's stated matches for anything these days, though with such a wide range near matches are to be found by trial and error, we had a mega thread on what serious miss the MigAmmo colours were.... https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235078859-accuracy-of-ammo-by-mig-jiménez-raf-wwii-colours/ At this stage I'm not about to waste any more money or time trusting model paint sets without some trusted confirmation... Note, for any of those rolling their eyes, and 'there was a war on' and the like ideas, the post in the direct link here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235078859-accuracy-of-ammo-by-mig-jiménez-raf-wwii-colours/page/3/#elControls_4045174_menu which I'm going to quote for it's clarity, Is one of the most illuminating I have read on here on wartime colours, courtesy of @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies who runs a paint company, and has made up samples from wartime paint formula, so is not talking out of his hat. I'm going to point out some facts about real-life paint manufacture and either the reader will understand and "get it" or will not understand and are in no position to contradict me. 1) Usually camouflage colours are fairly low saturation colours because these blend in better with nature. They're seldom bright and bold. Low saturation colours are normally manufactured by adding coloured pigments to a base made from inexpensive white or white and black pigments. 2) Colour pigments are expensive. The expense varies depending on the specific pigment, but they're expensive. 3) The only way to over-saturate a colour so much is to substantially over-dose your base with the expensive colour pigments. I'm not talking about a few percent more or less - that causes minor differences which you only confirm the presence of with one swatch adjacent to another - I'm talking more in the order of a double dose to get something you obviously look at and think "woah". 4) In the case of colours like dark olive, these are mostly white, black and ochre (which is relatively inexpensive for a colour pigment) sometimes further tinted with a bit of red or green (which are often very expensive). 5) There can certainly be variances in a manufactured paint, but these tend to be greatly overstated, i.e. used as a ready made excuse for all sorts of mistakes. Ultimately, the only way a manufactured paint can end up so oversaturated is to have dumped in a vast amount of the expensive pigments, if not adding in new additional pigments in large quantities not expected in the recipe. Frankly, it's difficult to see how any manufactured paint could end up so drastically off target, particularly in the over-saturated sense, by any business that wasn't actively trying to bankrupt itself by roasting through obscene quantities of pigments like chrome green which were already expensive at the start of the war and in particularly short supply during. 6) I'd venture that most of the "there was a war on, you know" type apologists for such spectacular errors probably don't have any actual experience of what is and isn't possible when mixing different proportions of 2,3 or 4 pigments when 2 of those are usually black and white just to make your base to tint. You simply cannot end up with a Humbrol 30-esque bluish green using only the ingredients to make olive - i.e. you'd actually have to sabotage it by introducing if not blue then an obviously bluish green. Same goes for that bright green Spitfire above - you can't achieve that with black, white, ochre and a touch of red - you'd need to fire in a lot of bright green pigment in to get that saturated on an overly-light base. It would be more tan-like just using the basic olive green ingredients which only turns obviously olive when tinted enough with black. Put another way, with a fixed number of pigments in various ratios you WILL end up somewhere within a certain envelope, and usually when colours like this bright green are discussed it's because it's well outside that envelope. The point of all the above? In essence it's harder to make a credible explanation for how such a colour might have been arrived at in a real-life paint manufacturing environment than it is to demonstrate that someone would have had to go to a lot of trouble to get it so far wrong. That is harder to rationalise than just getting it closer to correct. Just to clarify, I have good colour vision, and the paints I mention above are frequently not even close, common problems are beigey or chocolaty Dark Earth (no green) and muddy Sky (browny tint) for example, along with blueish Ocean Grey (it's a slightly green hued grey) , muddy or yellowy Medium Sea Grey (it very subtly purple hued grey) being some of the main failings I found... I know this as I spent a long time doing mixes and comparing them to the chips. in the case of the Beaufort, they were Temperate Land Scheme, as in pic above, Dark Earth/ Dark Green/Sky, or Temperate Sea Scheme, Dark Slate Grey(a grey green)/Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, or in the case of MW-R, black undersides So.... what are the scheme and colours they are intending in the set? charitably it's Temperate Land Scheme with some grey? which is for what? Or are they using the same green for Dark Green and Dark Slate Grey? Any chance of some images of the spray out ? Do you have any standards to compare any of these too? Just something that would allow some idea of the colours in the set. I hope ICM have made decent job of the colours, as the actual paint sounds decent, though the names picked imply them using 'near matches' from their paint range, which never bodes well. Hope of interest to the subject under discussion and not too ranty, and I have explained my concerns reasonably and clearly?

WWII Royal Air Force Acrylic Paint Set (3018) ICM via Hannants ICM have fairly recently released their own brand of acrylic paints on the market, and are creating some kit specific sets to go with their major releases, of which this is one. The set arrives in a cardboard box with six screw-capped bottles inside, each containing 12ml of paint. The bottles are clear Polypropylene, and are capped with cylindrical tops with knurled sides, and a one-time security seal that you break on first opening. A label on the side gives you basic information about the colour and code, a little information regarding application in English and Ukrainian and a bar-code. This set provides the major colours to assist you in painting your brand-new Bristol Beaufort Mk.I in 1:48 from ICM themselves, and you will find the following colours in the box: 1054 Chocolate 1069 Extra Dark Green 1037 Dark Grey 1032 Blue Grey 1027 Gun Metal 2002 Satin Varnish The paint is thick in the bottle, with plenty of headroom between the surface of the paint and the lip of the neck. I dropped a glass stirring ball into each bottle, and they took a few seconds to disappear beneath the surface, indicating their viscosity. If you look closely at some of the colours in the range (not necessarily this set), you'll notice that the colour of the paint seems lighter in places. That's not a reflection on the actual colour inside the pot though, so don't be put off, as it’s just some pigments seem to be drawn to the container wall. Lifting the lid shows the true colour, which is a much better representation of the colours, and that’s the shade that can be seen in the darker areas. What causes the lighter pigments to adhere to the bottle sides is a mystery, but it's cosmetic only so not something to worry about. During testing, I used Ultimate Acrylic Thinners to dilute the paint to spray through my Gunze PS770 airbrush, which has a 0.18 needle chucked in. The paint dilutes well once it has been mixed thoroughly, and sprays well through my airbrush, which has a smaller than usual needle that is a good test of the finesse of the pigment grind of any brand, as some brands don’t spray very well though anything less than a 0.3mm needle if they’re coarsely (cheaper) ground. There were no problems with blockages at all, and the coverage was excellent after my usual ad hoc dilution method, which was probably nowhere near the 40-60% thinners or water that’s suggested on the pack. Apart from the varnish, the other paints all dry to a matt finish. In past tests, the Satin Varnish worked very well diluted with water, sprayed over the spoons that were also partially taped up to perform two functions at once. The satin patina that resulted is exactly what was expected, and the tape lifted no paint at all, despite my best efforts to do so. Bear in mind that the spoons were prepped by a buff with a very fine sanding sponge to give them the best chance of adhesion. Using a brush, the colours cover well two coats with minimal brush marks visible. Conclusion The paints are an excellent new brand, and whilst there is a little less paint in the bottles than some brands, they’re about average on balance. That is more than offset by the very reasonable price they’re asking for the set, even at RRP. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Dear Colleagues It is great to see the Beaufort in nicely rendered styrene, and also the Taurus engined Mk1 to boot. However, I don't like Airfix's over-enthusiastic panel lines on the fuselage, so spent quite a lot of time filling to calm them down. The turret area on the kit is adapted so that a Mk2 is clearly planned. This compromises the fuselage here and a lot of filling is again required to fare the insert around the Mk1 turret. I used the AK interactive paints and supplemented the kit with Gaspatch 3-D Vickers K guns. I was inspired by the book 'Last of the torpedo flyers' by Arthur Aldridge about his time in 217 Squadron, which is one of the marking sets available in the kit. He reckoned that on the basis of his intake of trained Beaufort crews, there was only a 20% chance of surviving torpedo ops. The Warpaint book on the Beaufort shows how weathered these aircraft got which suited me fine! Hope you like it? Regards Andrew

New year and my first new WIP! I have in my collection quite a few CAS aircraft from WW2 onwards (see below) so after trawling through ebay over Christmas I managed to find two kit's I'd been after for a while both of which are CAS specialists from design, the Junker Ju87G2 and the Sukhoj SU25. Typhoon, Hs129B2, Hurricane IId, AV8B+2, A10A, Jaguar GR3, there are more harrier's and other types but too many to fit into one picture. The Ju87G2 is the Academy kit, detail looks good for 1/72 and the paint scheme is for Hans Rudel aircraft in the eastern front. The SU25 is the Revell kit is a 2007 rebox of the ACE Hobby 1988 release (according to Scalemates). Detail is not bad and the moulds look to be in good condition with little flash but its not to modern standards. Cockpit and wheel well details are no existence. This will be built as Red 25 based in Afghanistan 1988. I also have another kit in the stash I was going to pull out as it was designed as a bomber but after a test fit its gone back in due to size constraints, maybe later this year. Just waiting for the postie to deliver things the wife ordered before I can start work on the Stuka.

British Torpedo Trailer (48405) 1:48 ICM via Hannants The British 18” Mk.XII Torpedo was an air-launched variant of the earlier Mk.XI that entered service in the early 30s. The Mark.12 was the variant used by the Fleet Air Arm and RAF Coastal Command during WWII, and could be fitted with a break-off wooden tail fairing to reduce entry speed into the water, and the nose was painted red for a training round, or the less visible black for a live round, which goes against the “red for danger” methodology normally used. The Kit This kit is a single sprue of grey styrene in a small top-opening box that contains parts for a complete torpedo, plus a trailer to transport it around the airfield. The torpedo is made first, built from two halves with a double layer screw and a pair of perpendicular fins at the rear, two of which are moulded in. The optional break-off tail is made from two rectangular end panels, with a single horizontal plane stretching between them. The wooden tail includes the tail fins of the torpedo and is a straight replacement to the standard fins, then a spacer and large spinner are fitted to the front. The guts of the trolley consists of two scissor jacks, and these are both made from four parts each that are mounted onto a slotted base, then surrounded by a framework with two small balancing wheels at either end. A short axle projects from the centre of the rails, and these mount a larger wheel with integrated tyre, plus a winder at each end that operates the scissor-jacks (on the real thing). The torpedo is lowered into the cradle along the trolley’s direction of travel to finish off. The instructions have a sprue diagram on the front page, the build steps spreading over the two central sheets, and at the rear are the painting instructions, with codes from ICM’s new paint range, plus Revell and Tamiya codes as well as colour names. There are two painting suggestions, and from the box you can build one of the following: Net photo – Copyright unknown. Conclusion A nicely detailed set that will complement any diorama scenario or even to personalise a model placed on the shelves of your cabinet. Notice the Beaufort in the background on the box top? Me too Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

This has been the least productive year since I joined in 2013 so there might be a few in this GB,that said I had a mad moment back in the summer and binned a good few completed builds and one or two stalled builds but I must begin with Airfix's Beaufort which was boxed afer my last update,

Hi everyone, With my Blenheim well underway it's time I got cracking on my second project for this fabulous Group Build. This one is Airfix' lovely new tool Beaufort, complete with Eduard photo etch, resin wheels and masks. I'm going to build mine as a Battle of Britain era Beaufort to add to my expanding collection from this era. During the Battle of Britain the Beaufort played an increasingly active role in attacking invasion barges and ports, initially with bombs and later with torpedoes. Some of the pilots who went on to become well known exponents of torpedo bombing in the Mediterranean theatre and the Channel front in later years started their combat careers flying Beauforts at this time. I'm still to decide on a particular aircraft, but, as I usually do, rather than just use the kit decals, I'm reading through my references and downloading Operations Record Books from the National Archives to help me choose something a little different. I've made a start already and I'll be back with progress very soon! Thanks for looking! Matt

So I've got this brand new tooling kit from Airfix, after having done some pretty lousy old kits of late, fingers crossed it's a good one. I'm currently doing the recent Airfix Dakota for the Unarmed GB and the fit and detail was great, so I fancied something similar, rather than spending forever feeling like you're fighting against the kit! I also got some window masks (didn't fancy masking all those panes by hand) but other than that it's going to be straight OOB. Will do the whole sprue shot thing once I get around to starting it.

My version of the great new Airfix kit. Of the two available scenes, I chose L9866, which flew from St. Eval and was lost on February 1st, 1941, probably to fire from a 109E. Both schemes have compelling stories connected to them; I chose this one partly for aesthetic reasons - the slate, grey and black scheme gives real visual weight to the tough lines of the airframe, I think. It’s a lovingly designed and generously detailed kit; the interior is wonderful, and worth appreciating before a lot of it disappears inside the hull. The major parts go together very well and any fit issues I had were self-inflicted. There’s some problem-solving to do with the gun turrets and working out when to paint and install them; I ended up fully painting the rear turret and installed it - plus the cowling - then masked it all off before painting the rest of the plane. Somehow I managed not to knock off the guns. There are plenty of images of well-worn Beauforts, and I wanted to capture some of that in the paint. I hope that comes across without being too excessive. It was easy enough to remove the stand in Photoshop, so I couldn't resist. There are some great builds out there already, and I've learned from them all. Thanks for looking and commenting if you fancy!

Yesterday my lovely(and exceedingly patient) wife treated me to a visit to the Australian National Aviation Where i was able to get in and actually sit in their Beaufighter and get pictures of the Beaufighter and the Beaufort cockpit they have which I though might be of interest to others for reference. I thoroughly recommend visiting the museum as time, location, and COVID permit! Link to album if there is interest more than happy to post more pictures from the museum (of other aircraft)

I've just finished a long running (10 months) build of a FROG Beaufort. Well, the fuselage halves were from the kit and everything else was stolen from the new Airfix and Frog Beaufighters or scratchbuild. Long story, WIP here. Pictures, you say: It's about time somebody released a state of the art Beaufort. I take comfort in the fact that my three previous most complex fixings of kits resulted in new releases of high standards: old Airfix Swordfish (Airfix), Airfix IL-2 (Tamiya, Academy) and old Airfix He-111 (Airfix). So, fingers crossed! [EDIT the IL-2 isn't really that bright a green!] Thanks for looking, Adrian

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I present you my next model. It's typical "shortrun" without any navigation and headlights.