1/72nd Alley Cat Beaufighter Mk.II Merlin engined Conversion, from Airfix kit.,. FINISHED!!

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

                  Many people have wanted to build a decent Beaufighter Mk.II kit and although the High Planes kit is very good indeed, it isn`t the easiest to build and with the arrival of the new Airfix 1/72nd Beaufighter kit a conversion set was high on the priority list for many,...... well Alley Cat have bitten the bullet and released what at first glance appears to be an excellent resin conversion set.

 

One thing that I did note was that although the majority of Beaufighter Mk.II`s flew with the early style flat tailplane, this is not included in the st and so you`ll also have to buy the Alley Cat Beaufighter Mk.I early flat tail conversion set too,.... just to warn you!

Here are both sets;

 

And here are the parts of the Mk.II conversion,..... there are early and late version, the later one has Lancaster style exhausts complete with shrouds too and this is the one that I bought;

 

 

Now luckily for me,...... the Fleet Air Arm Beaufighter which I have chosen to build had been retofitted with the later V style dihedral tailplane,..... so I had no need for the early Mk.I set which is to be used on another model.

The subject I`ve chosen appears in a photo in the Crowood Beaufighter book in a crash scene and appears to be finished in an overall silver finish with yellow code letters and blue and white Eastern Fleet roundels,...... so wish me luck!!

 

Cheers

          Tony

Edited January 21, 2019 by tonyot

[woody37]

No luck needed mate, we know you’ll make a lovely job of it

 

[stevehnz]

I'm in, this surely raises my attention levels, currently lowish after a big Chrissy dins.  

Steve.

[AdrianMF]

Looks interesting!

 

Do you have to cut the kit  wing spars back? I can see slots in the root of the wing in the picture but from my understanding of resin moulding it would be jolly hard to make a slot deep enough for the whole spar.

41 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

after a big Chrissy dins

We’ve all got a bit of cooking between us and that over here!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[tonyot]

Thanks everybody,...... Merry Christmas too,....... still looking forward to my Turkey and stuffing!!

 

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks interesting!

 

Do you have to cut the kit  wing spars back? I can see slots in the root of the wing in the picture but from my understanding of resin moulding it would be jolly hard to make a slot deep enough for the whole spar.

We’ve all got a bit of cooking between us and that over here!

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers Adian,....... there are openings for the spars but they are not very deep so yes, the kit spars need to be cut. I`ll depict it properly when I start the build in a day or so,

 

All the best

                  Tony

[72modeler]

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I bit the bullet and gave up trying to crosskit and convert, so I have the same set on the way from Down Under- will be watching the master at work on this one! Can't believe I beat Dennis to the party!

Mike

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,..... thanks for the kind remarks,..... in case you think that I had forgotten about this one here is some progress;

 

The parts are pre painted on the sprues;

 

After another coat of Interior Grey Green the interior was assembled,...please excuse the photo, but I ran out of daylight;

 

Since taking the pics,..... the fuselage has been joined and the resin wings added,...... obviously after cropping the wing spars as there is no room inside the resin wings for them!!!

 

Cheers

           Tony

[Tempestwulf]

Hope the weight of the resin wings aren't going to stress the plastic Tony. Looks like they allowed for the wing spar which is great.

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Tempestwulf said:

Hope the weight of the resin wings aren't going to stress the plastic Tony. Looks like they allowed for the wing spar which is great.

No,.. as I said in the last update,.... I had to crop the wind spars as there is no room inside the wings. You`ll be happy to know that there is no stress upon the fuselage due to the weight of the wings,..... although I`m guessing that it will be very easy to tip on its nose!  

[tonyot]

Here is another quick update,..... the wings have been attached `after cropping the plastic wing spars back' and they fit very well indeed,....just a bit of filler needed on the underside seam with the fuselage. The left engine fitted like a glove but the right engine nose so well,.... so I`m not sure if they are handed and I ended up with a pair of left hand engines? Whatever the case,...... the fit as still well within normal boundaries and a bit of filler will soon sort it out.

 

 

If you want a flat tailed Beaufighter Mk.II,..... as most of them were,..... then this is the point where you will have to order a flat tailed conversion set from Alley Cat as this is not included in the set,...... but luckily in this case,..... the option that I had chosen had been retrofitted with a later Vee tail,.....

 

Cheers

            Tony 

[Beard]

I'll be following, if that's okay, I've had my eye on this conversion set since first spotting it on the Alley Cat site a while ago but couldn't decide to get it or go with the High Planes kit I have in the stash so your build can help me make the decision.

[tonyot]

2 minutes ago, Beard said:

I'll be following, if that's okay, I've had my eye on this conversion set since first spotting it on the Alley Cat site a while ago but couldn't decide to get it or go with the High Planes kit I have in the stash so your build can help me make the decision.

I`m building a High Planes Beau Mk.II at the same time (I`ve been on and off with it for a year or so!) and the Airfix/Alley Cat route is by far the easier route,.......  but with the Airfix Beau kit now costing around £20 plus the cost of the Alley Cat MkII & Flat Tail conversions,...... it may be more expensive than the High Planes kit, which in itself is not cheap. The worst aspect of the High Planes kit is the vacuformed canopies and how it forms part of the nose panelling too,...... although the surface detail of the plastic is exquisite! 

Good luck in which ever you decide,

Cheers,

          Tony  

[Edge]

She's looking good Tony. I've had the same set (OK 3of them) on order for a while now so will be watching with notebook at the ready.

 

Edge

 

[heloman1]

Hi Tony, just found your build this morning, nothing better to do than look at friends builds... looking good. Not tnothing to do, just working myself up to hauling out the compressor and airbrush for quick coat of OD on a 24th scale jeep.

I'll follw your build with interest. Doesn't Neil's Sterling look magnificent?

 

Colin

[tonyot]

52 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Tony, just found your build this morning, nothing better to do than look at friends builds... looking good. Not tnothing to do, just working myself up to hauling out the compressor and airbrush for quick coat of OD on a 24th scale jeep.

I'll follw your build with interest. Doesn't Neil's Sterling look magnificent?

 

Colin

Doesn`t it just mate,..... he won the internet with that one for sure,...... what an awesome model! 

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,...another quick update,.....

 

The main airframe is complete now,...... just a bit of filler to add, not too much;

 

And this is the aircraft that I am aiming to replicate;

 

I wasn`t sure whether it was in the late night fighter scheme of MSG with dark green disruptive pattern or dull aluminium,..... but it looks like aluminium to me, which was seen on at least one other Beau MkII and other RN second line types in the area such as Oxford`s, Martinet`s, Defiant`s, Reliant`s etc were also painted silver,...... so I`ll be going for that. The centres of the roundels appear to be light blue,.....unlike the usual white for Eastern Fleet types!

Cheers

         Tony

Edited December 31, 2018 by tonyot

[Pete in Lincs]

Tony, The instant I saw this thread I had a flashback to a 70's Airfix magazine article

which did a kitbash conversion to the MkII. Something I hadn't known existed until then.

We lived in modelling ignorance in those days! All hail the interweb!

 

The build is coming along very nicely.

[72modeler]

Tony,

 

Please tell me you're not going to do a diorama of the photo- all that expensive resin and work and you're going to torch it? Ha! (Yes, I am a sick puppy!) She sure looks slick with those Merlins and spinners out front, doesn't she? I'm still waiting for my set to arrive from 'Roo Land, so I guess I have time to start finding an overall night one with the dihedral stabilizers. ( I really like Mk IIF RX-Z, T3370 from No. 456 Squadron, but the color profiles I have seen show it with and without the dihedral tailplane; but so far I haven't found a photo to confirm which type it had- do you have anything on this one?)  It looks like the Alley Cat conversion fits very well... that and the fact that you obviously know your way around a model! Can't wait to see the finished product. Happy New Year- and may none of your decals silver!

Mike

[tonyot]

36 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Tony,

 

Please tell me you're not going to do a diorama of the photo- all that expensive resin and work and you're going to torch it? Ha! (Yes, I am a sick puppy!) She sure looks slick with those Merlins and spinners out front, doesn't she? I'm still waiting for my set to arrive from 'Roo Land, so I guess I have time to start finding an overall night one with the dihedral stabilizers. ( I really like Mk IIF RX-Z, T3370 from No. 456 Squadron, but the color profiles I have seen show it with and without the dihedral tailplane; but so far I haven't found a photo to confirm which type it had- do you have anything on this one?)  It looks like the Alley Cat conversion fits very well... that and the fact that you obviously know your way around a model! Can't wait to see the finished product. Happy New Year- and may none of your decals silver!

Mike

Cheers Mike, Happy New Year to you too mate.

I`m really sorry but I`m not aware of any operational night fighter Mk.II`s with the dihedral vee taiplane,

 

All the best

                  Tony

[GrzeM]

Can you belive that for many years I thought that the only version of the Beaufighter was the Merlin-engined one???

It was in deep-commie time, available informations about the western airplanes were scarce, but some photos and pictures of the Polish 307 Squadron Mk. II Beaus have been published... I think I had a sticker with it on my desk...

Very interesting build!

[72modeler]

Thanks for the quick reply, Tony- I wasn't able to find any photos of IIF's with the dihedral tailplane, either, other than a few written comments that it was supposedly fitted randomly throughout production, but I have yet to find any photos of operational IIF's with them. I guess I will have to settle for KP-K, T3145, which is one of the IIF's on a Print Scale sheet; the codes are grey and the serial is red. I will say the Coastal Command  IIF's with the yellow codes and spinners are pretty handsome, too! I have the AML flat tailplane resinconversion, so reckon I will put it to use.

Mike

[tonyot]

29 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Thanks for the quick reply, Tony- I wasn't able to find any photos of IIF's with the dihedral tailplane, either, other than a few written comments that it was supposedly fitted randomly throughout production, but I have yet to find any photos of operational IIF's with them. I guess I will have to settle for KP-K, T3145, which is one of the IIF's on a Print Scale sheet; the codes are grey and the serial is red. I will say the Coastal Command  IIF's with the yellow codes and spinners are pretty handsome, too! I have the AML flat tailplane resinconversion, so reckon I will put it to use.

Mike

No worries Mike,...... the grey codes and red serial sound great,.... I recently did a Beau MkIf in an all black scheme with the same combination for 68 Sqn RAF.

tHE `Coastal' Mk.II scheme you refer to is actually Fleet Air Arm,...... I did one years ago using an old resin kit and I`m building a High Planes kit in a similar scheme too,.....here is the early resin kit;

 

Cheers,

            Tony

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Keeping an eye on this thread! 

 

  I have the same Alley Cat conversions earmarked for a Mk.II build in the Nightfighter section of the forthcomiing Specialist GB.

[TheBaron]

You've got to love a chap who says:

4 hours ago, tonyot said:

 And this is the aircraft that I am aiming to replicate;

followed by a picture of it in bits on the ground.

 

I just can't work out whether it oozes optimism or pessimism!

 

Splendid work Tony - that's looking seriously sharp already.  

 

[72modeler]

3 hours ago, tonyot said:

I did one years ago using an old resin kit and I`m building a High Planes kit in a similar scheme too,.....here is the early resin kit;

That's the very one I saw on the internet! I knew it had to be yours when I saw it, and I remembered we had some discussion a while back on this scheme and the radiators, IIRC.

Mike