1/48 Bristol Beaufighter TF.X late tailplanes and elevators for Tamiya

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I held off on finishing this for a while to see if the Revell kit was any good. I've seen one now, and will be sticking with my Tamiya kits having compared them to the Avieology drawings. Still, it may reduce the interest in these so I'm going to begin with a batch of 30 sets and see how they go.

 

This is a direct fit replacement tailplane and elevator set for the Tamiya 1/48 Bristol Beaufighter TF.X (Kit no. 61067). Simply replace the kit parts with these and you're done. These represent the Mod. T361 late tailplanes and elevators with enlarged balance which was achieved by extending the leading edge of the elevators forward to the tailplane spar inboard of the outer hinges. Comparison with the kit parts will reveal reprofiled tips with a tighter curve towards the leading edge loosening towards the trailing edge - the kit parts are oval shaped. Furthermore, comparison will reveal that these new "enlarged" elevators are infact smaller than the Tamiya kit parts. The reason for that is because Tamiya appears to have measured the RAF Museum's late Beaufighter and used its elevator chord, then added aerodynamic balance horns again outboard of the hinges - this is incorrect and results in elevators much too large for any Beaufighter.

 

 

 

They are supplied as separate tailplanes and elevators, but are cast with the servo tabs in the "up" position. The servo tabs, unlike the trim tabs, are not controllable by the pilot but rather are mechanically linked to the tailplane and move in the opposite direction to the elevators. They are, in effect, an elevator for the elevator and their purpose is to aerodynamically lighten the controls to reduce physical effort required of the pilot. When the aircraft is parked in the ground and the elevators allowed to droop, the servo tabs will mirror this.

 

I expect these will be available on our webstore in approximately 6 weeks time.

[Tony C]

I'm in for 3 sets, any idea on pricing?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

6 hours ago, Tony C said:

I'm in for 3 sets, any idea on pricing?

Hi Tony,

 

Unfortunately not yet - they're being sent away this week and it's the first time the casters will have seen them. The volume of resin is less than the Mosquito nacelles, but there are four moulds required instead of two. I am not yet experienced enough at this to safely guesstimate pricing so would prefer not to say a number just for the sake of saying a number then having to significantly correct it later!

[Dave Swindell]

On 16/06/2019 at 16:23, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The servo tabs, unlike the trim tabs, are not controllable by the pilot

That may be true for the Beaufighter, but some aircraft (eg Bristol's Britannia) the pilot has no direct control of the control surface, he instead controls the servo tab which then forces the control surface to the desired position. In this case the control surfaces are free floating and at rest the servo tab could be in any position (depending on control input) compared to the control surface. In either case the desired design objective is to reduce the control input force required from the pilot.

Anti-servo tabs act in the same sense as the control surface and increase the load on the controls.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

For those who may be interested, you can now be automatically notified as soon as these are in stock:

https://www.sovereignhobbies.co.uk/collections/sovereign-hobbies/products/sovereign-hobbies-bristol-beaufighter-tf-x-late-tailplane-conversion-1-48-for-tamiya?variant=28474623262804

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

These have arrived from the casters. The tab actuators are quite fragile but serviceable. For those who want the full resin ones, they are available now. We will be getting alternatives photoetched in brass as an alternative soon.

 

 

Stew performed the first trial assembly using cast parts on the intended kit for us to check all was in order and that the fit was as good as hoped:

 

We don't expect that any trimming will be required at all besides cleaning up the removal from the casting blocks, and the fit is nice and snug - a direct "plug and play" replacement for the original kit parts as intended: