Bristol Beaufighter VII(f) 307 Squadron RAF.

[224 Peter]

I present for your inspection my just completed Beaufighter?

 

 

This Beaufighter Mk VI(f), EW-Z, EL154 served with 307 Squadron at RAF Clyst Honiton, now Exeter Airport, between 7 Aug. 1942 and 13 Feb. 1943: "Z" was usually flown by the crew Damsz/Sylwestrowicz.

 

The aircraft is finished in the then new night fighter colours of Medium Sea Grey overall, with Dark Green disruptive on the upper surfaces.

 

Photographic evidence suggests the aircraft was in this finish by late winter 1942.

 

 

No. 307 (City of Lwów) Polish Night Fighter Squadron was a night fighter squadron formed in Great Britain on 24 August 1940 following an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom. It was the only Polish night fighter squadron fighting alongside the Royal Air Force during World War II. 307 Squadron is named after the Polish city of Lwów, and nicknamed "Eagle Owls".

 

This a/c, a Mk VI(f) was the 9th Beaufighter off the line at the Shadow factory just outside RAF Weston Super Mare. In total 1078 Mk Vis were built at Bristol, Weston and by Rootes.

 

After service with 307 Squadron she transferred to No 488 (NZ) Squadron, reformed on 25 June 1942 at RAF Church Fenton, Yorkshire, as a night fighter 'intruder' unit equipped with Beaufighters. The squadron aircraft carried the code letters ME.

 

I cannot find any information about her use with 488 Squadron, but as the Beaufighters were replaced by DH Mosquitos in late 1943 she was probably struck off and scrapped as a she would have been over 12 months old and the Mk IV radar obsolete. The Mosquito replacements had the much more capable Mk VII “centimetric” radar.  

 

The Build has been described in the "Work In Progress" board, where I detailed all the changes and modifications. 

 

 

The build went smoothly, I'm reasonably happy with the result, given the starting material. I've discovered errors that could have been corrected, but when discovered it was too late. 

Many thanks indeed to everyone who helped and answered questions as the work progressed. 

 

So, now from the front:

 

 

From above:

 

 

From the back

 

 

And from underneath! 

 

 

 

This was my first attempt at airbrushing and at using washes to ad effect. Still a bit to learn, I feel! 

 

Comments, advice and suggestions most welcome...!!

 

 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Looks very businesslike! The raised panel lines look surprisingly effective in this scale too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[224 Peter]

Just now, AdrianMF said:

Looks very businesslike! The raised panel lines look surprisingly effective in this scale too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks...

I was in two minds about sanding it all flat, and scribing the main ones, but as you say, they are acceptable in this scale and are also part of the charm of an old 1970s kit!! 

I think that this build has convinced me that finishing all the old hits on my "Shelf of Shame" is worthwhile. The result may not be to the ultra fine levels of detail now possible, but they do look the part. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Good looking Beau 👍

[224 Peter]

Just realised, comparing the historical photo and my representation, that the green area on the rear fuselage is wrong!! 

 

I had two drawings from different sources, one as I painted and one as the photo. 

 

50/50 choice and I got it wrong. 

 

Grrrrrr!🤬

[JWM]

Very nice to see well done Polish Beau on BM! 

It could be interesting to add thet regarding the official list of victories of 307 Sq this particular machine has no victory in air ( http://www.polishairforce.pl/dyw307straty.html ) - the first table in link gives date, machine, crew, victory, probable victory, out of order.

Pilot Jerzy Damsz (1911-1987) was the latest commander of Sq 307, he had two victories in air. There is a detailed his CV in Polish Wikipedia https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Damsz - unfortunatelly no info in English...But with use of Google tanslator one can read something about this interesting character.

Regards

J-W

 

[224 Peter]

Thanks J-W, and i really appreciate the additional information. Google Translate worked well, so I have been able to learn of the history of Jerzy Damsz. 

 

I have a fondness for Poland and have visited many times, between 1993 and 2013: all on business. My employer between 1992 and 1999 has a subsidiary company in Poland. I still have a couple of contacts there. 

 

My plan is to paint the new Airfix BP Defiant also in the markings of 307 squadron, probably EW - C as that has a victory!! 

 

[F-32]

Lovely work on such an old kit, looks really good

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely looking Beau. Such a beautiful looking machine and so deadly too.   I have just picked up one of the Revell 32nd kits on Ebay for a very reasonable price .  

Great work 

All the best 

Chris 

[stever219]

16 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

Just realised, comparing the historical photo and my representation, that the green area on the rear fuselage is wrong!! 

 

I had two drawings from different sources, one as I painted and one as the photo. 

 

50/50 choice and I got it wrong. 

 

Grrrrrr!🤬

We won’t tell if you don’t.  Rule 1: Never trust a drawing or painting unless you’ve got a photo to support it.  

 

Doesn’t mean you haven’t produced a fine replica of an important subject: when it was introduced the night-fighting Beaufighter was a quantum leap over its Blenheim predecessor and it helped pave the way for the Mosquito to follow.

[MarkSH]

A very nice job Peter, Its a big aircraft even at 1/48th, but at 1/32nd it must be a big ol' kit, where's it going to live?

Cheers, M.

[224 Peter]

1 hour ago, MarkSH said:

A very nice job Peter, Its a big aircraft even at 1/48th, but at 1/32nd it must be a big ol' kit, where's it going to live?

Cheers, M.

Mark, 

The Beau and the Typhoon have taken all available space...

 

 

With at least another 6 in the plan I am going to have to think long and hard about where to display them. 

 

Next up is the Mythical Tomcat GR 1, then a Hawk, a Hunter and a Eurofighter Typhoon, Gloucester Meteor and then the BIG question. 

 

What do I do with the 1/24th Harrier, Mosquito, Typhoon and JU87??? 

Answers and Ideas would be VERY welcome! 

 

 

[MarkSH]

Hmmm....good luck with that I have a similar problem.

[spitfire]

As a dedicated 1/32 scale modeller, space does become a problem, years ago I bought three glass cabinets from ARGOS, I revamped them to have double the number of glass shelves, I have two down stairs and this one in my new study, though the He 219 is still too big to fit in any of them.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

[224 Peter]

That is a nice looking cabinet!! 

LED Strips down the hinge line would highlight the models (and any dust)!

 

[spitfire]

2 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

That is a nice looking cabinet!! 

LED Strips down the hinge line would highlight the models (and any dust)!

 

Thank you and yes lighting is one thing that I have to work on, the original lighting was attached to the wooden shelves that the cabinets arrived with.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[pipthepilot]

On 09/05/2018 at 14:52, 224 Peter said:

 

 

 

This was my first attempt at airbrushing and at using washes to ad effect. Still a bit to learn, I feel! 

 

Comments, advice and suggestions most welcome...!!

 

 

 

Great looking Beau!

Looks like you have done a good job with the airbrush for your first time. My advice is to also use the airbrush to create exhaust staining, I use thinned down black to create the first layers if your airbrush has an adjuster to limit the flow you can set it very low and build up the stain slowly a layer at a time. Once I am happy with the black I will then give another thinned coat of sand yellow to create the lead staining effect. For streaking I use oil paints, you can add a small dot then brush it with a dry brush to get the effect you want. The nice thing about oils is you can keep adjusting it until your happy as the oil takes so long to dry, if you don't like it you can just wash it off with turps. My last piece of advice is to make sure you gloss varnish before any washes as this allows you to use turps to remove excess wash if you don't use varnish the washes tend to stick the paint and you can't wash away the unwanted areas.  

[JWM]

10 hours ago, 224 Peter said:

Thanks J-W, and i really appreciate the additional information. Google Translate worked well, so I have been able to learn of the history of Jerzy Damsz. 

 

I have a fondness for Poland and have visited many times, between 1993 and 2013: all on business. My employer between 1992 and 1999 has a subsidiary company in Poland. I still have a couple of contacts there. 

 

My plan is to paint the new Airfix BP Defiant also in the markings of 307 squadron, probably EW - C as that has a victory!! 

 

Peter, nice to hear! My grandpa as pre-war owner of some industrial properties  escaped from communist Poland to UK and died in London in 1989 in age of 101... I visited him in 1973-77 as teenager and then in 1987 with my wife. In hard times he helped all family a lot. So UK was always close to me. Currently my oldest daugther trying to live in London on her own (from more then a year now...).

Have a nice time with Polish Defiant soon

Jerzy-Wojtek

 

 

[FAAMAN]

Very nice indeed 😍😎

Built this for a school mate back in the mid 70's, black overall of course 🤗😎

[Alan P]

Great rehabilitation of an old and not great kit! I'm just working on this (why I found your build) and read your build log. Lots of good work in there, and it's paid off with an impressive result 👍

[bigbadbadge]

What a cracking Beaufighter model, I have a couple in the stash and so I have bookmarked the build log so I can use as reference too.  Thanks to Alan for bumping this thread.

 

Chris

[224 Peter]

Very pleased that the thread provided inspiration. 

 

Peter

[SafetyDad]

And a little bump from me as well Peter - I'm another with this kit in the store. I was looking for reviews of the kit and decal options (the decals in mine are there, but well past their best) and found this thread and your WIP thread. 

 

You've done a really good job on this kit - sensible improvements and some excellent source information as well. Thanks for this

 

SD

[224 Peter]

SD, thanks... it is a good kit, I described all the changes I made, but with hindsight I really wish I'd known about and included the very obvious cockpit heating tube thet sits on the RHS of the cockpit and is very obvious through the canopy in larger scales. 

 

This shows it well

 

Fet me know how it goes. 

 

 

[georgeusa]

You have taken a really old style kit and made a wonderful model of it.  As for space, I just build more shelf units and file them up.  The Stuka, Harrier and Typhoon will take up about the same amount of space as the Beaufighter.  The Mosquito, however, is just another dimension of big.  Thanks for sharing.