Beaufighter X in the Desert - the Negev Desert!

[Prenton]

Another Beaufighter.  To complement the versions from Tamiya (Mark's), Airfix (John's) and Frog (Steve's), I am going for the Hasegawa kit.

 

As Hasegawa kits are just a tad expensive, I decided to use one that I had in the stash from a few years' back - a combo from Operation Overlord.

 

This is the box top:-

 

The Spitfire will be kept for another occasion.....

 

These are the sprues:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the transparencies sprue:-

 

Luckily, this boxing includes the metal hedgehog exhausts (which many of the Hasegawa kits don't have).

 

I am going to try my hand with some aftermarket accessories for this build (first time I have ever done a resin cockpit set!)

 

And yes, I realise that not a lot will be seen....but I will know it will be there (as will anyone reading this thread...!)

 

As the title indicates, I am going to finish this kit with more unusual decals - in Israeli colours, on the familiar British desert camo. 

 

This is one of four Beaufighters that were smuggled out from the UK to the newly formed state of Israel, in 1948, and were used

quite effectively for some months against invading arab forces.  The desert camo was because the aircraft were purchased on the

basis that they were to be in a film, a ruse used to procure the war surplus planes.  They were flown out from an RAF airfield in

Haddenham, Oxfordshire, supposedly to fly to Scotland for the filming, but instead flew on to Europe, and then on to Israel, before

anyone realised what was going on.   

 

This particular aircraft, one of two involved from Israel's 103 Squadron, was shot down in an attack on the Eqyptian-held fortress

of Iraq-El-Suweidan in the Negev on October 20th 1948.

 

 

More in a day or two.....

 

Philip

 

[Valkyrie]

That is a great backstory to this build. Good luck with the aftermarket stuff too

[Prenton]

Thanks for the support, guys!

 

Well - a Sunday afternoon of resin cutting (underwater), then washing with a little bit of Fairy Liquid added in, and then a hour or so of intricate etch cutting and application of glue, leads to this:-

 

 

 

Rather nice resin, especially for the sides of the interior - see the top two pieces (pity that not much of it will be seen once we close

up the fuselage....)

 

On the etch...well.  Did I mention that I HATE photo etch?....  (I even managed three of the little, tiny, little,  etch throttles (betcha

you cannot see them!)... the other two met the carpet monster and were consumed....)

 

Now the next challenge is to see if this cockpit will fit into the kit without too much loss of plastic/resin.....

 

See you in a week or so....to see if my hard earned euros were wasted on the resin and etch for the cockpit etch.  (After all, not much

of it will be seen - except the seatbelts, which - I have to say - look cool, and will be even better under a coat of paint)

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Philip

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Black Knight]

I like the way H has done the fin; you can have it with or without the fillet

[zebra]

The resin looks nice. I love the Beaufighter (which doesn't explain why I haven't built one since 1987 or thereabouts), looking forward to this one. 

[Valkyrie]

Roger that on the etch 👍🏼🤬 great start though and at least you know it’s in there and is a complete work. All my display models sit port side on under the TV, but I still paint the starboard side and underneath...that’s how I justify the pain of etch 

[MarkSH]

As long as you know the effort that's been put in that's all that counts! and it makes it your unique model.

[stevej60]

Great to see another take on the Beaufighter Philip,and what a stunner she'll look in that scheme too!

[Black Knight]

How are you getting on with this?

We're not far off the half-way point in the GB

[Prenton]

Hi - yes, thanks for the reminder!

 

I have, actually,  had some progress...

 

Well, I learned that putting a resin cockpit and fuselage interior into a kit isn't plain sailing.  I had to do a lot of thinning, both of the

plastic and of the resin, until I could get the fuselage sides moved together without a gap appearing.

 

Following a bit of airbrush work using some interior green, I then fitted the assembled resin pieces,  - the sides of the fuselage, and

the cockpit itself, on to one side of the kit fuselage. 

 

I then took out the Vallejo model colour to do detailed painting.  Then there were a couple of sessions of weathering, using Future with

some black and brown to do a pin wash, and a little bit of dry brushing to get the edges lightened a bit.

 

The following is the result, which is where I was before the snow last week.

 

 

(You can see here how I had to thin the side of the resin pieces almost to destruction . and a bit at the back did get cut away,

but it is too far in to be seen, thankfully)

 

 

Some close-ups:-

 

 

 

 

 

Also, while I had the paint out and the weathering washes, I prepped the smaller pieces, including the pilot's seat, with etch seatbelt,

and the throttle stick, as well as the wheel well covers.

 

 

The cockpit is now finished, with the pilots seat and stick inserted, the heating tube behind the pilot installed (painted light grey),

and the rear gunner's seat has had seatbelts added, this time from some wine bottle foil, painted in a light khaki colour with some

silver added to represent buckles.  (These will probably not be very visible, so I didn't go into too much detail, as all you will get

through the small glazed opening will be an vague impression of seat, stringers etc.  The heating tube won't be visible at all, but I

will know it is there!)

 

 

 

This evening, I plan to bring the fuselage sides together, and then to move on to the wings on Sunday.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Philip

[MarkSH]

Its a nice looking kit, the addition of the AM cockpit really adds another dimension, nice work.