Bristol Beaufighter MK II, 789 Sqn, FAA, South Africa. 1945 ***FINISHED 05/04/2020***

[DaveyGair]

This is the second build I fancy doing for this GB, a Merlin engine Beaufighter Mk II, 789 Sqn, based in South Africa around.1945.

I can't seem to find any photo's of Beaufighter's in this squadron on the 'net so will have to trust HPM's research.

I'm using Airfix's TF.X boxing, the first I will have built, along with the AlleyCat conversion. Straight tailplanes are courtesy of a few MPM boxings of the Hasegawa kit I bought cheaply on E-Bay a year or two ago, hopefully they will match up well enough with the Airfix Fuselage, nowt a bit of modelling won't fettle!🙄

The leftover wings and engines will be used on a High Planes Mk Ic I have in the stash, of which I have built one which went OK, just the cowlings weren't the greatest to get right!

I am waiting for the decals to arrive from Singapore, there's plenty of time yet an can get the thing built and ready for paint in the meantime.

 

 

 

 

Will post pictures of the decals when they arrive, only been a week now although it didn't take that long for the last ones I ordered to arrive.

 

Davey.

[stevehnz]

I'm not sure I realised Alley Cat did this as a conversion, I bought the HPM kit with the decals you were looking for, possibly before Alley Cat did this, it does look a better way to go especially with this lovely Airfix kit as a base. I'll be watching on keenly.

Steve.

[rob85]

This is a great project, always loved the merlin beaufighters.

 

Rob

[DaveyGair]

9 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I'm not sure I realised Alley Cat did this as a conversion, I bought the HPM kit with the decals you were looking for, possibly before Alley Cat did this, it does look a better way to go especially with this lovely Airfix kit as a base. I'll be watching on keenly.

Steve.

Hi Steve, thanks for looking in.

Possibly a bit easier, if a bit expensive, the resin being just over the price of the actual kit, then decals on top unless you have spares to cobble together.

The decal sheet from your kit is the one that is available separately, as well as another sheet for RAF machines which I have already. I will be getting another conversion to do an overall Black painted MK II Nightfighter sometime in the future, by which time Airfix will have released a Mk II themselves!

 

Davey.

[DaveyGair]

Decals arrived today.

I used the kit decals on my High Planes Beaufighter build and they worked fine, I got a little bit of silvering which was entirely my fault.

 

 

 

Here's the machine I will be doing, a bit more colourful than the others.

Note the different demarcation lines on the engine nacelles.

Be finished the Stuka soon, so will be getting on with this shortly.

 

Davey.

 

 

[Col.]

That's an interesting set of schemes on the High Planes sheet Davey 

[SleeperService]

On 3/18/2020 at 2:08 PM, DaveyGair said:

This is the second build I fancy doing for this GB, a Merlin engine Beaufighter Mk II, 789 Sqn, based in South Africa around.1945.

I can't seem to find any photo's of Beaufighter's in this squadron on the 'net so will have to trust HPM's research.

I thought it was my lack of googlekarma. Hopefully if any do turn up they won't bring nasty surprises. I shall follow with interest 🥮 (I don't like popcorn )

[DaveyGair]

57 minutes ago, SleeperService said:

I thought it was my lack of googlekarma. Hopefully if any do turn up they won't bring nasty surprises. I shall follow with interest 🥮 (I don't like popcorn )

I didn't often used to do much research in the past (photo's often used to be wrongly captioned anyway!), but I'm glad I did on occasions, re; the Lockheed Hudson build I'm going to do on this GB.

By the way, I'm not keen on popcorn either. Now... chocolate! 

 

Davey.

[DaveyGair]

OK, here we go. Been getting on with this, along with the MPM PBO-1 Hudson in the last couple of days.

 

Took photos as I went along but this is the first update, so a few to look at, not that they're that interesting!

The fit is very good, in some ways too good, as is the case with these new tools from Airfix.

I just added belts to the seats and did a bit of a wash and dry brush to bring the detail out. I was going to add the prominent heater hose beside the pilot but forgot and joined everything together!

The AlleyCat wings went on very well, I used Rapid Epoxy. You have to cut the spars right back to get them on. I thought about drilling out the indents in the castings, but this would have to be super accurate to get the 'sit' of the wing right.  The Port wing joined on snugly without adhesive compared to the Starboard wing, may vary with different batches and how the plastic is put together. There is a bit of filler to add, but this is probably my modelling!

Compared to photo's and drawings the plan view and Dihedral look good, to set this, you just have to make sure the nascelle bottoms (the gear door openings) are level with the ground.

By the way, I made a mistake in an earlier post. The Alleycat conversion is £15, so a few quid CHEAPER, than the kit! 

 

Davey.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by DaveyGair

[DaveyGair]

Been fettling the joins on the fuselage and wings, not an awful lot of filler required. In the process went and dropped the damn thing! After much cursing found the starboard wing had come cleanly off at the join with no damage to the wing itself, phew!!

Added the engines, then worked on the tail-planes (a spare set from a Hasegawa kit), stuck the vertical fin on first then modified the tail planes to fit, not a difficult job but will need some filler. Promptly broke off the starboard tail-plane as well!! 

The kit ailerons fitted perfectly into the resin wings.

Everything on solidly now 🙄, bit more sanding and filling of the tail-planes and other small areas then we'll see where we are after an undercoat.

 

Davey.

 

 

[stevehnz]

That is looking very promising, butter fingers well overcome.

Steve.

[DaveyGair]

7 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That is looking very promising, butter fingers well overcome.

Steve.

Getting worse as I get older Steve. She's also a hefty brute with the resin wings and engines added, my excuse anyway! 

 

Davey.

[Beard]

 I've had my eye on the Alley Cat mk II conversion for a while (because don't really fancy the High Planes one I've got in the stash) so, although you appear to have done most of the work, I'll be following.

[rob85]

2 hours ago, Beard said:

 I've had my eye on the Alley Cat mk II conversion for a while (because don't really fancy the High Planes one I've got in the stash) so, although you appear to have done most of the work, I'll be following.

I just had the same thought, always been worried about doing this conversation though it’s always interested me. Alley Cat appears to be the way to go!

 

very nice work @DaveyGair 

 

Rob

[DaveyGair]

11 hours ago, Beard said:

 I've had my eye on the Alley Cat mk II conversion for a while (because don't really fancy the High Planes one I've got in the stash) so, although you appear to have done most of the work, I'll be following.

 

8 hours ago, rob85 said:

I just had the same thought, always been worried about doing this conversation though it’s always interested me. Alley Cat appears to be the way to go!

 

very nice work @DaveyGair 

 

Rob

I would thoroughly recommend the set, the fit is lot better than I would imagine, I just noticed the port engine is slightly angled downwards, just a tad. I'm not going to remove it again (as it was pointing inwards a little!). All this is just my impatience to get it done, absolutely not a criticism of the kit!

 

Beard, if you don't want the HighPlanes kit I'll take it off your hands 😉

 

Davey.

 

PS; don't forget to order the early type horizontal tail-planes, the Hasegawa ones are fairly accurate but needed a bit of carving to fit.

Edited March 28, 2020 by DaveyGair

[Beard]

1 hour ago, DaveyGair said:

Beard, if you don't want the HighPlanes kit I'll take it off your hands 😉

I didn't say that I didn't want it, just that I didn't like the look of it. 

[DaveyGair]

1 hour ago, Beard said:

I didn't say that I didn't want it, just that I didn't like the look of it. 

Sorry, misunderstood.

I built this one OOB, it was a lot of prep work but I think it turned out OK, even with my limited skills and impatience!

 

 

[Beard]

There's no need to apologise, and I may change my mind after the next time I look at it. It's way down in the stash mind but your one gives me hope for it, if I ever get round to making it.

 

[DaveyGair]

She's now been into the paint shop.

A quick inspection after shooting some primer (done with dark glasses on and a squint) revealed the joins weren't bad, just needed to add a bit more filler to hide the gun camera access panel.

Not sure about the supplied exhausts, I think they should be fishtail type but without shelling out more cash for replacements (none in my meagre spares box) I'll just use them.

 

 

 

Camo sprayed using my usual Vallejo ModelAir, EDSG/DSG over AM Sky Blue, which after a bit of research I decided to use RLM65 which looks OK to me.

 

 

 

Onwards and upwards, comments and criticism's welcome.

 

Davey.

[Franz75]

Beau is looking very nice. This version wasn't the best, so many accidents, especially during takeoffs and landings  It gets the nickname "flying coffin" Alley Cat did a nice job on these wings I see.  
 

[DaveyGair]

4 minutes ago, Franz75 said:

Beau is looking very nice. This version wasn't the best, so many accidents, especially during takeoffs and landings  It gets the nickname "flying coffin" Alley Cat did a nice job on these wings I see.  
 

 

Thanks Franz.

Yes, they are beautifully cast, all the parts are, no air bubbles present at all! I'm going to get another one to do an RAF Nightfighter (hoping that Airfix will bring a Mk II out in the meantime, not a chance!).

I notice that Airfix provide an early rear one piece canopy and yet neither is used in the two boxings available, so maybe there will be a Mk1f and a MkVI boxing coming soon.  A MkII would entail new wings so probably unlikely, but we can always wish!

 

Davey.

[DaveyGair]

Just having another browse for FAA Beaufighter Mk II's and came across this photo. The exhausts on the Merlin engine the fitter is working on look like the ones provided in the kit, so will go with that. I can sleep better now!

 

https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/uk/raf/beaufighter/beaufighter-mk-ii-faa-gibraltar-january-1944/

 

Davey

[stevehnz]

That does look to be coming along nicely Davey, the finish line in sight now?

Steve.

[DaveyGair]

10 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That does look to be coming along nicely Davey, the finish line in sight now?

Steve.

Decals on today Steve. Been experimenting with your 'Johnsons Klear' decal setting system on a scrap model, if it works Ok will do it on the Beau'.

 

Davey.

[stevehnz]

1 hour ago, DaveyGair said:

Been experimenting with your 'Johnsons Klear' decal setting system

Hardly "mine", I'm was just an enthusiastic acolyte once I'd read of it & tried it & thought it needed publicising more. Here is hoping it works well for you.

Steve.