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Special Hobby 1:72 DAP Beaufort Mk.VIII


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Merry (slightly belated) Christmas to you, Bill, and a well-deserved improvement in health for 2015. There are a great many complex kits I need you to build before I feel comfortable undertaking them.

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On 12/26/2014 at 01:27, Procopius said:

Merry (slightly belated) Christmas to you, Bill, and a well-deserved improvement in health for 2015. There are a great many complex kits I need you to build before I feel comfortable undertaking them.

 

Anything in particular? If I have the kit, I'll see if I can move it to the top of the stash. :):):)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. At present count, my stash has about 27 "tops."

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For some reason I missed this one until now. 22 pages later and I'm up to speed as you're almost done Bill. Damned fine work there sir :thumbsup:

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On 12/26/2014 at 22:13, Procopius said:

Well, since you asked...the Buffalo has always held a fascination for me. So roly, so poly.

 

OK, that sounds good. I have four Buffalo kits - the Hasegawa B-239 Finnish version, and three Special Hobby kits, the B-339 B/E RAF Mk.I, the F2A-2 USN Yellow Wing, and the F2A-3 USN/USMC Defender of Midway. Any preference?

 

On 12/26/2014 at 23:08, Winenut said:

Hope you had a great Christmas Bill.

The build is absolutely remarkable.

There's no way I could have managed those antennae !

Just brilliant

Cheers

Bruce

 

I didn't think I could do those antennae either, but they were much easier than I thought they would be. Drilling the holes was a bit scary, especially after the paintwork had been done. The template helped a lot, and I made sure to poke a little indentation with a pin prior to starting the drilling. That way the drill didn't wander and make a scratch. Once the holes were done, you just need a steady hand. I used a medium cure superglue which gave me some time to align each antenna. They stood up on their own, though, I was surprised by that. I suppose the pooled glue in the hole and the little "nub" that I left on the bottom of each antenna helped with that. Anyway, now I just have to make sure I don't knock them off!

 

On 12/27/2014 at 06:18, Col. said:

For some reason I missed this one until now. 22 pages later and I'm up to speed as you're almost done Bill. Damned fine work there sir :thumbsup:

 

Welcome aboard! We've missed you. Pay attention next time! :):):)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Looking good Bill, superb workmanship all round :thumbsup:, lovely looking plane. All of your builds I follow contain a plethora of hints and tips.

All the Best, Rob.

Edited by bobster
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OK, that sounds good. I have four Buffalo kits - the Hasegawa B-239 Finnish version, and three Special Hobby kits, the B-339 B/E RAF Mk.I, the F2A-2 USN Yellow Wing, and the F2A-3 USN/USMC Defender of Midway. Any preference?

Strangely enough, i haven't seen many of the Hasegawa F2As built up. However, i do have one in my stash and to my eye it looks good. I'll bet it would make for a pretty fast, stress free build as long as you don't come unhinged and start detailing it out. Hasegawa also released the Buffalo as a "Two-Fer" limited release boxing, including an F2A-3 version. My guess is some sort of resin conversion part was included, since you cannot make an F2A-3 from a -2 without stretching the forward fuselage.

Oh- Also strangely absent are built up Special Hobby Buffaloes. Don't know why. But they do make a -3 version, if you suddenly feel like building a clay pidgeon.

david

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OK, that sounds good. I have four Buffalo kits - the Hasegawa B-239 Finnish version, and three Special Hobby kits, the B-339 B/E RAF Mk.I, the F2A-2 USN Yellow Wing, and the F2A-3 USN/USMC Defender of Midway. Any preference?

Well, I'm going to be doing a Singapore one, but I imagine much could be applicable from any of the boxings.

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If you're looking for future projects I'd recommend anything with 'Sea' in the title - Harrier, Hawk, Hornet, you get the theme here I'm sure - as it'd keep the Skua company ;)

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Hi mates,

 

The bomb racks in the Special Hobby kit consist of resin pylons with photoetch pieces for the sway braces and two additional pylons supports that are visible in most photos of the real thing. The bombs are constructed of resin for the main body and photoetch for the four vanes. I think I posted pictures earlier of the bombs going together. They were a bid fiddly, but look the part when finished.

I attached the pylons to the wings with CA glue, which was also used for the photoetch. When assembled, it looks like so:

 

100_5262

 

100_5261

 

100_5263

 

I painted the bombs with Gunze H65 RLM 70, and then did some pastel work to (hopefully) make the bomb casings look dirty. The bombs attach to the pylon and also contact the sway braces.

 

100_5264

 

With the plane upright, the bombs are in shadow, but you can pick out the sway braces. Photoetch details like this add an air of realism to the model, even if the details are not 100% authentic (although in this case they're pretty close to the photos, so I'm happy).

 

100_5267

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. About those Buffaloes - Special Hobby did indeed get the longer fuselage length right for the F2A-3. The extra length is all between the wing leading edge and the back of the cowling. Judging by the kits I have, S-H have done a good job with the differences between the 339, F2A-1, F2A-2, and F2A-3. It's also possible to build the 439 version with the parts that are in the F2A-3 kit (since it includes the British tail cone and other parts).

 

The resin cockpit components put the Hasegawa kit to shame. They're probably the best resin I've ever seen in a Special Hobby kit. If I were to build a Buffalo right now, I'd probably go for the 339 version, and it would be a toss-up between RAF and RAAF markings (both are included). I also like the Dutch markings, but that's yet another S-H Buffalo kit. Ah, what the heck, it's only another $30.

 

The plastic in the S-H kits looks soooooo much like that found in Sword kits. Very shiny and smooth, etc. which is not typical of Special Hobby. I wonder if they farmed this job out to their cross-town neighbour?

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The plastic in the S-H kits looks soooooo much like that found in Sword kits. Very shiny and smooth, etc. which is not typical of Special Hobby. I wonder if they farmed this job out to their cross-town neighbour?

I dashed off to the basement to investigate, and (now slightly out of breath), I would definitely agree with you, it is rather redolent of Sword tooling. Oh, to speak Czech and unravel the tangled skeins of model manufacturing in mitteleuropa!

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Hi mates,

 

Just a couple of additions to the Beau today. First, two probes mounted on each side of the forward fuselage. I'm not sure what these are, as they're not shown on the Mk.I cutaway drawing that I have. Perhaps they were added to a later Mark. They look to be mounted backward to other probes of this type that I've seen, but the photos of the Beaufort Mk.VIII confirm this orientation. The parts came from the Special Hobby photoetch fret.

 

100_5268

 

Another probe, but this time on the bottom of the forward fuselage, and on a rather long standoff, perhaps to keep any residue from the forward guns from getting inside. The standoff came from the HPM photoetch fret, but I cut off its rendition of the probe tube and replaced it with a small section of hypo needle. The PE tube was flat, and didn't look just right.

 

100_5269

 

Let's see, I can no longer pick the model up by the rear fuselage (because of all those ASV aerials) and now I can't pick it up by the front of the fuselage either (because of these probes)! Don't you just love this hobby? :):):)

 

There is also a small blade antenna mounted on top of the forward fuselage just in front of the windscreen. I'll have to raid the spares box for that, as neither the kit nor the aftermarket frets contain it. My plan is to add the Yagi antennae that are mounted to the bottom of the wings, and then concentrate on the remaining items which are all on top.

 

The structure that holds the Yagi antennae (I can't really call it a pylon) came with the HPM set, but I've managed to break one of them whilst cleaning it up after removal from the pour block. The resin is very thin and just doesn't have any strength to it. I'm going to replace these structures with ones made from styrene.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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I'd guess the long undernose probe is the pitot tube Bill, & the other two look like more antennae - they certainly aren't pitots (unless he's flying backwards!)

She just gets better & better - very close competition between this & a certain 2 JP's for trophy of model of the year. I reckon it'll be a three way draw...!!

Keith

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Excellent work but one question, how do you pick it up (other than very carefully)?

Best wishes for the new year.

Hi Bill,

I was going to ask the same/similar question.

How do you handle and secure these finely detailed parts so beautifully and accurately?

They are a work of art and something quite remarkable and I am truly in awe how you achieve the result.

Cheers

Bruce

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Thanks, mates! I really appreciate all of your nice comments. :)

 

To answer the question, I pick it up by its wingtips. I've also found that I can easily turn the model upside down by the wingtips, too, so I can work on the underside. Once I get the Yagi antennae on the wings, then I won't have to flip it over any more.

 

As far as handling all these tiny photoetch parts, I use some nice precision tweezers. I have several different sets, with varying lengths. The PE is attached with superglue, not the best choice I know, but it's probably the easiest. I put some superglue on a piece of cardboard and let it sit for a while and start to cure. I use a sharp toothpick to apply the glue to the PE and then very carefully attach it where it should go (I usually measure and mark a spot on the fuselage with a pencil first). By letting the superglue start to cure first, I find that the PE will stay attached to the model when I release the tweezers, and not fall over or anything like that. I use a medium strength superglue, and once the part is attached I can nudge it with the pointed end of the tweezers to achieve a final alignment. I rarely use accelerator.

 

I was hoping that I'd finish the Beaufort before the end of the year, but that is looking unlikely. It will definitely be finished within the first week or so of January, but I'm still going to include it in my 2014 yearbook.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Hi Bill,

Hope you are well.

This is still evidence of your superior model building skills! I do not know how you manage to fit such small and fragile parts so well! I'd have glue all over the place and the part still stuck on me somewhere! Fantastic model!

Kind regards,

Stix

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