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As with a lot of other people I've been eagerly awaiting the release of the Airfix Bristol Beaufighter TF.X since it was announced last year and when it arrived I couldn't wait to start it so thought I would do a WIP like I did with the Defiant. (I still need to take some more photos of this one!) Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr I was surprised that Eduard managed to release aftermarket before the kit was available and after looking at the instructions on the Eduard Website I decided that it was worth purchasing. While I'm building the model I'll try and take pics of the parts before and after the etch is added to show the difference it makes. I was initially tempted to do my Beaufighter as an operation Firedog aircraft and buying the necessary conversion parts to portray this scheme but as the molds indicate that the parts I need may feature in a future boxing I decided to go for a Wartime Coastal Command aircraft. There is nothing wrong with the kit decals or marking options but I had been inspired by the Article in the May 2015 Issue of Airfix Model World along with the built up Airfix kit and decided to go with the Aviaeology decal sheets. Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr Although I've never used Aviaeology decals before I can highly recommend these decal sheet on the research and the supporting material alone. They have photos of the chosen aircraft and a lot of notes regarding Armament, colour schemes and how they were weathered and retouched along with lists of the different modifications represented on the aircraft chosen in the sheet. It's almost complete package of research material and decals. The Above mentioned issue of Airfix Model World has an excellent article on the variations found on the Beaufighter TF.X and compliments these decal sheets nicely. I think I'm probably going to make this model to represent LZ451 of 404 Squadron Late on in it's career when the invasion stripes have been partly painted out and the fuselage codes have been moved to above the wing so there is a good opportunity to do a scheme with a bit of a patchwork paint finish with over painted markings etc. I made a start on assembling the interior. and made a few deviations from the instructions. There are a few ejector pin markings on the inside of the fuselage. I'll doubt you'll see any of them on the finished model but I was still compelled to fill them all! Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr I then filled in the forward area of the wing root while I was filling the ejector pin marks and at the time didn't realise that the consoles covered this gap and the filling I had done meant I now had to modify the parts to get them to fit. Not a problem but a bit of extra work that I didn't need to do. As I had done this I decided to fix the consolses to the cockpit floor as opposed to the fuselage as stated in the instructions. Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr As you can see from the above photo of the fuselage the interior has the vertical frames moulded onto the inside of the fuselage but no horizontal ones. As you can see I've had a go at reproducing these and think it has made a big improvement to the inside of the fuselage. To be honest I didn't really need to do the whole interior I could have just done the bits around the openings but htought it was a good opportunity to practice the technique and I'm glad I did because I got quicker and more consistent as I went on. Just got the other side to do now.... Thanks for looking, Mark