RAAF Beaufighter target tug

[zebra]

I'm going to join in with this:

 

 

It's the Tamiya Beaufighter, converted to an Aussie target tug using the Red Roo conversion. The conversion set looks lovely and very comprehensive. You get resin, brass and PE parts and decals for several different airframes in both the all-over yellow and black scheme shown on the box, and an aluminium, yellow and black scheme. There's also a very comprehensive and detailed instruction booklet. Here's what you get in the box:

 

And this is the colour scheme I think I'll go for:

 

I'll probably get started next weekend.

 

cheers

Z

[Wez]

I've always liked the silver with the yellow/black TT striped scheme, it would certainly be the one I'd go for.  Interesting to see that one retained its rocket stubs under the wing.

 

Welcome to the GB.

[Giorgio N]

Same here, the aluminum/yellow/black scheme is very good looking.

Glad to see a less usual variant of what is overall a well known type, looking forward to this !

[Grandboof]

Great choice 

Martin H

[zebra]

Time to get cracking with this one!

 

First job was to read the instructions very carefully. The TT.21 conversion involves a lot of small modifications - there are mods to just about every major part and mods to be made at just about every stage - some of which turn the mark VI into a mark 21, and some are specific to the target tug. Here's what I've done so far:

 

Starting with the interior, I'm not going to add any detail (I have a Yahu instrument panel which I might use for this one, but might save for the other Beau in the stash), but there are a few mods to be done. The heating pipe is omitted on the 21, and the bulkhead and door are omitted - it's cut off at the top of the spar. The kit seats are replaced by resin seats from the Red Roo set.

 

There are a few mods to the rear hatch - there's a chute that the drogue would apparently have been dropped through - there's some brass tube in the Red Roo set for this - and I've drilled a couple of holes to fit the pulley mast and fairing, which won't be attached until after I've painted the model.

 

The outer two guns were omitted from the Mk.21's right wing so I've filled them in. The remaining gun barrels should protrude from the wing so I'm going to need to source some suitable barrels. The other change to the wing is to fill in the rear nav light fairings on the wingtips as these aren't present on the TT.21.

 

Other mods done so far: I've drilled a hole in the fin for the cable guard. This will also involve attachments to the tips of the tailplanes and a cable which will run through the fin, around the tailplanes and under the rear fuselage. And since I took the photo I've filled the guns and associated holes in the lower fuselage, as these weren't present on the TT.21.

 

thanks for looking
Z

 

 

 

[stevej60]

Good start Z,that's a superb scheme too.

[Giorgio N]

Glad to see this started, I'm very interested in all these small differences

[zebra]

Today was mostly about the Skyvan in the Airfix GB, but I have got a bit done on the Beaufighter. A little painting on the interior - nothing much though - and got a couple of the target tug mods done.

 

First was to make a reinforcing plate and hole for the winch strut - the plate is 5 thou plastic card, supplied in the Red Roo kit - shown here with the winch strut dry-fitted to test the fit, I won't attach it permanently until after painting and decalling are done:

, 

The other small mods are to the tips of the tailplanes, to prepare for the cable guard. These are PE reinforcing plates on the tailplane tips, with a slot cut into them which the cable guard will attach to. A cable will run from a hole in the fin, around the cable guards and under the fuselage, and into the fin on the other side. The PE cable guard itself won't be attached until I've finished painting and decalling. Also shown here are the mods to the rear under-fuselage hatch - the tube is the drogue chute, and there are a couple of holes for a small fairing which will go on at the end.

 

 

I think that's it for the target-tug specific mods for now. Most of the next few steps in the build will be pretty much standard Beaufighter stuff. Might get as far as closing up the fuselage tomorrow.

 

thanks for looking

Z

 

 

[Jabba]

A nice start on an interesting and colourful aircraft.

[mick]

great start

[zebra]

Just noticed I posted the photo twice in my last update. Not sure how that happened!

 

Assembled the fuselage and wings today. All went together as you'd expect of a Tamiya kit. All fairly straightforward - only deviations from the standard Beaufighter today were the Red Roo resin seats, and some Eduard steel seatbelts. Should progress quite quickly from here - there aren't many TT.21 mods to do before painting. 

 

Here's how it looks tonight - not attached to the wings but couldn't resist test-fitting to see how it looks. 

 

Z

 

 

 

[Giorgio N]

Good progress ! I personally feel that when doing conversions it's good to start from a well fitting kit as at least this leaves time to focus on the conversion steps proper. Tamiya rarely disappoints in this respect

[zebra]

The Beaufighter has been my main focus today (apart from popping out to the garage from time to time to give the Skyvan another blast of white from a rattle can). It's now nearly ready for a coat of primer.

 

 

Main jobs for today have been to get the wings and tailplanes on, then to add a few smaller parts and work on a few of the details. As Giorgio said, it helps to have a well fitting kit as the base for a conversion - makes it so much easier. The fit of the wings was excellent.

 

Most of the smaller jobs today were according to the Tamiya instructions, with a few obvious instructions. The oil cooler intakes from the kit were replaced with resin items from the Red Roo set, complete with a bit of brass mesh at the back. You can see them a bit better here:

 

 

You can also see in the first photo that I've replaced the cowl flaps from the kit with open flaps from the Red Roo set. Other changes included using the shorter carb intakes from the kit, and of course to add the autopilot fairing on the nose.

 

I also had to modify the observer's blister - it was cut back at the rear on the TT.21, with a flat panel installed, apparently to improve the observer's view. This was all easily enough done by filing back the kit's blister and adding an acetate panel in the hole that created:

 

 

The last mod I need to do before I can start painting is to add a strengthening strip to the top of the fuselage. Ran out of time for that today, might get it done in midweek.

 

Going to need to think about what paint to use for the painted aluminium finish. From what I have in stock, the best options are Tamiya AS-12 or Alclad dark aluminium. Both will look a bit too natural metal at first, but might just give me the finish I want once I've sealed it with some semi-gloss varnish. Will ponder on this during the week.

 

thanks for looking

Z

 

 

 

[Jabba]

Wow that has gone together quickly. I like all the improvements and modifications that you have carried out.

[stevehnz]

Hi Zebra, not sure why its taken me till now to see your last post, too much of a hurry I 'spose. I'm liking what I see with this a lot, certainly considering an order to Red Too for one of their conversions.

Steve.

[zebra]

4 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Hi Zebra, not sure why its taken me till now to see your last post, too much of a hurry I 'spose. I'm liking what I see with this a lot, certainly considering an order to Red Too for one of their conversions.

Steve.

Thanks Steve. I really like this conversion - really good quality, seems to be very comprehensively researched, and I’ve never seen as much detailed information in a set of instructions as this anywhere else. Can’t remember what I paid for it but I don’t recall it being expensive. I’d definitely buy from Red Roo again.

[Giorgio N]

Back a few years ago Citadel's Mithril Silver was IMHO the best paint on the market to represent the kind of aluminum paint used on post WW2 RAF/RAAF aircrafts. Unfortunately Citadel later changed the formulation and the colour was replaced by another that is not as good.

Today I would probably use Vallejo Air aluminum

[zebra]

One last mod to do before painting was to add the strengthening strip behind the observer's blister - a pretty simple job with a piece of 40 thou plastic card. I have to confess I don't think I measured the strip as precisely as the dimensions Red Roo give in the instructions, but then they quote the dimensions to the nearest thousandth of a millimetre and I don't have anything on the bench that would allow me to measure quite that precisely!

 

Once that was done I primed it, fixed up a couple of gaps that I hadn't quite smoothed over completely, painted the collector rings and painted the aluminium top surfaces. I used decanted Tamiya AS-12 with a few drops of light grey added to dull it down slightly. Have to say I think the finish looks pretty good.

 

 

thanks for looking 

Z

[Giorgio N]

Agree on the finish, looks very realistic and well represents the painted aluminum used on these aircrafts

[Mancunian airman]

I also like the TT scheme, I built a Defiant and a TT18 Canberra and the Black stripes all basically the same angle for each type IIRC

 

keep up the good work, its coming together nicely 

Ian

[zebra]

Yellow and black paint on. Most of my modelling time this weekend seems to have been spent masking - certainly a lot more time masking than painting - but I think it was time well spent, I really love this colour scheme. Into the home stretch now I think - undercarriage is next, once it's on its feet I'll get the decals done, then various external details to add. Another two weekends' work I reckon.

 

cheers

Z

 

 

 

[Giorgio N]

Looking nice and bright ! 😎

[Jabba]

It certainly looks different with the yellow and black applied.

[zebra]

Undercarriage, rocket mounts and pulley fairing added:

 

 

 

 

I should also share a photo of the real thing. A8-328 still exists - she was restored in the 60s and is now on display at a museum at Moorabbin near Melbourne - here's a photo from my last visit:

 

 

[zebra]

Decals on, and I've given it a semi-gloss coat and unmasked everything. A few detail parts have been painted too.

 

The Red Roo decals worked very well - nice and thin, but opaque enough, went on well whilst not immediately sticking fast like some decals do - there was time to move them around. The red and blue are a little bright for my tastes though. You might be able to see a difference between the colours of the roundels and the fin flash - I went and stuck my thumb on the fin flash and ruined it, so had to replace it with one from Xtradecal, which is a little darker.

 

 

 

 

more tomorrow

Z