Diamond Tread Wheels for Beaufighter

[Beggsy]

Hello all!

 

I'm close to launching into a project to model the first Australian built Beaufighter, A8-1.  The 1/72 Airfix TF.X and a conversion set are in the mail and I've started research...and hit a problem.

 

There's a very good picture of A8-1 on the adf serials website:

 

The two things I spotted that differ from other Mk.21s are the lack of wing machine gun ports (easy, just don't add them to the Airfix kit) and, more problematic, distinct diamond-tread tires.

 

I've looked all over the internet and can't find any resin beaufighter wheels with diamond tread.  So my question is;  are there any other similar-sized airplanes I could use the wheels from?

 

Alternatively, does anyone know a good way to scribe that kind if pattern into the kits wheels without it being wonky and looking awful?

 

I'm looking forward to getting started on this, I've got a plan to try and make the first Australain Beaufort (decals sourced, waiting for Airfix kit), Beaufighter and Lincoln (need to get a Lancaster and a conversion kit), as I work at the site where these were assembled.

[NAVY870]

Mk 21's had two .50 machine guns in each wing. 

[Beggsy]

18 minutes ago, NAVY870 said:

Mk 21's had two .50 machine guns in each wing. 

Yes, but only from A8-3 onwards.

[72modeler]

@Beggsy,

 

I hate to say this, but looking closely at the photo you posted it sure looks to me like the LH landing gear has a tire with diamond tread, but the RH one appears to have a tire with block tread fitted! What does the gallery think? I have seen  numerous period photos of aircraft that had tires with two different tread patterns, and there could be several good reasons why this occurred; bottom line- it didn't make any real difference in performance as long as the tires were the same size and inflated to the same air pressure. It seems that the two most common types fitted to Beaus that I have seen were smooth or block tread. I'm just guessing here, but didn't the Blenheim, Beaufort, and Beaufighter use the same size tire? if so,  and if the aircraft in your photo indeed had two different tread styles fitted, might not the diamond tread tire have come from one of those aircraft? In that case, you could do your Beaufighter with two block tread tires.

Mike

 

This just in! I pulled my copy of the Stuart Wilson Beaufort, Beaufighter, and Mosquito in Australian Service, and on p 51 there is a photo of a Beaufort with diamond tread tires.  On pages 84 and 105 of the same book there are two very clear photos of the Mk 21 you posted from both sides, and it clearly had a diamond tread tire on the LH side and a block tread tire on the RH side. In the Beaufighter specs page, the diameter of the tire used on the Beaufighter is listed as being 42 inches in diameter; I believe the tire used on the Beaufort was the same size...that being said, I'm guessing your Mk 21 had the usual block tread tire on the LH side replaced with a Beaufort diamond tread tire; you could do your model the way it appears in the photos, or you could take the easier but still accurate route of doing it with two block tread tires-your call!

[Beggsy]

Thanks for that!  The library I used to live close to has a copy of that book, but its shut down at the moment like so many other things.  Is the book still in print or would I need to go looking for a second-hand copy of it?  Pictures of A8-1 are few and far between on the internet so any physical books with photos are of interest.

 

I don't suppose that one has any information or pictures of Beaufort T9540/A9-1 does it?

 

Thanks for your insites and good spotting of the different wheels!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Found these ... Don't know if they'd work for you ? 
 

https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/barbr72249.htm

 

Dennis

[Wm Blecky]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Found these ... Don't know if they'd work for you ? 
 

https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/barbr72249.htm

 

Dennis

[Gazontipede]

2 hours ago, Beggsy said:

Is the book still in print or would I need to go looking for a second-hand copy of it? 

Unfortunately Stewart Wilson's 'in Australian Service' series books are long out of print, being published in the mid to late '90's.

A great pity and I'm kicking myself for not getting more of them at the time.

In Australia they can turn up in second-hand bookstores and aviation museums if you are lucky. (Although that isn't much use at the moment!)

Other than that eBay might be worth a shot, or possibly even Gumtree?

[theplasticsurgeon]

6 hours ago, Beggsy said:

more problematic, distinct diamond-tread tires.

 

I've looked all over the internet and can't find any resin beaufighter wheels with diamond tread.  So my question is;  are there any other similar-sized airplanes I could use the wheels from?

 

I've seen the look achieved, but never actually tried this myself.

Prepare the wheel as normal with a dark grey tyre.

Then fix a small piece of fine mesh net curtain material, and foam-sheet to a board,  paint the net only with a darker grey.

Carefully roll the wheel over the material, whilst the paint is still wet. 

The pressure used will dictate the amount of tread pattern transferred to the tyre.

 

 

[Beggsy]

35 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Prepare the wheel as normal with a dark grey tyre.

Then fix a small piece of fine mesh net curtain material, and foam-sheet to a board,  paint the net only with a darker grey.

Carefully roll the wheel over the material, whilst the paint is still wet. 

The pressure used will dictate the amount of tread pattern transferred to the tyre.

Now that sounds clever!  I may give that a try with one of the kit wheels and see how it turns out.

 

3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Found these

Found a set from an Australian store, they've gon straight into my cart.  Great find!

[72modeler]

@Beggsy,

 

Yep! Long, long out of print, and when you can find one, you will have to sell one of your offspring into slavery to buy it! Luckily, I got smart and purchased the entire series as they came out- they are outstanding references!

 

The mesh idea sounds pretty good; I have a method I have used with some success: Pain the tire and the tread area in the appropriate color, with the tread area usually in a lighter color to simulate dirt, mud, etc. Using a drafting pencil, carefully draw lines in one direction at a 45 degree angle; then, do the same in the opposite direction. If you make a mistake, or the first set of lines don't come out even, you can always wipe the lead away and retry. When satisfied, seal the lead with a flat clear coat. In  1/72 scale, this looks very realistic; in the larger scales- not so much, so there's method #2: Paint the tire as before, but shoot 2-3 coats of paint on it. Using the scribing tool of cholce, or a needle chucked into a pin vise, or an X-acto knife, carefully and gently scribe lines at a 45 degree angle, repeating in the opposite direction.You can then gently sand or rub  the scribed tread with a finger to eliminate the ridges on either side of your scribed lines. I did this on a 1/72 B-24 and it turned out very nicely- you can even put a wash into the tread you scribed to bring it out more. Works really well on 1/48 scale wheels. Good idea to practice on some old parts first.

 

Since you only need one tire with diamond tread, one of the methods shared should work for you!

 

Re Beaufort T9540/A9-1: there are two   in-flight photos of it in the Wilson monograph; looks like it's in Temperate Sea Scheme; has R-1830 engines, and Curtiss Electric props; no codes- just serial T9540, as in the text it was stated that the first batch of 90 aircraft were initially earmarked for the RAF in Singapore, so it was later re-serialled A9-1 as were the remainder of that batch.  It was the first Australian Beaufort, and the first Mk V; she was written off after a crash on 9/42.  

Mike

[dogsbody]

Or just build the kit with the tires that come with it and if anyone who sees it has ever seen that photo, just tell them that the photo was taken pre-tire change.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Beggsy]

6 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I did this on a 1/72 B-24 and it turned out very nicely

You must have steadier hands than me!  Scribing is the bane of my existence.  The pencil idea sounds good though.  Thanks!

 

Given that I've bought the block-tread wheels, I'll now have two from the kit to try different techniques on.

[Magpie22]

On 4/7/2020 at 11:41 AM, Beggsy said:

 

 

I don't suppose that one has any information or pictures of Beaufort T9540/A9-1 does it?

 

 

Begsy,

I've got half a dozen or so in-flight shots of T9540. PM me with your email address if interested. What else do you want to know about that ship?

BTW, I wouldn't get too uptight about the tyres you put on A8-1. She was around a long time so would have gone through a few sets. The'block' and 'circumferential groove' types were the most common on RAAF Beaus. Smooth tyres were not favoured, as the Beau had a major problem with swing on take off, so tyres that gripped and helped pilot to track safely on narrow strips were preffered. The type uded depended on the supply situstion at the time. Block tread on both wheels would be appropriate. The photoos you and Mike referred to were taken at No. 1 APU Laverton.

Peter M

[Beggsy]

That's good info, thanks!  The location of those photos was something I'd yet to determine.  Good to know about the problems with smooth tires too, I'll make sure both of them have a tread of some form.

 

As for the Beaufort, the main thing I'm currently pondering is the colour (which admittedly may not be apparent in black and white photos).  @72modeler mentioned the temperate sea scheme, but my decal sheet shows temperate land.  I have no idea if the decal instructions are right though.  

 

Any pictures are useful though.  I'll pm you my email address.

 

Thanks!

[72modeler]

Keeping the caveat in mind of attempting to ascertain colors (OK, colours!) in b&w photos, @Magpie22 might be able to help, as it sounds like he has better photos, but the two in the Stuart Wilson book don't look to have the same contrast for the temperate day scheme as for the temperate sea scheme. My thinking is also that since that first batch was intended for the RAF, those Beauforts woulds have been finished at the factory with the scheme that was normal for them at the time, which was TSS. Maybe @tonyot  or @LDSModeller or @Graham Boak could help on that matter. I wish I knew more on the subject, but sadly I was born on the wrong side of the pond!

Mike

[Magpie22]

Beggsy,

Apologies for the late reply.

 

I believe that T9540 was finished in RAAF Foliage Green and Earth Brown upper surfaces with Aluminium under surfaces.

 

This is based on RAAF A.G.I. C.11 Issue 3 of October 1940, which required General Reconnaissance and Medium Bombers to be finished in camouflage scheme S.2, which specified the colours as:

• Upper surfaces: K3/177 Foliage Green and K3/178 Earth Brown.
• Under surfaces: K3/162 Aluminium or K3/179 Night.
• The camouflage pattern was to be the same as that in RAF DTD drg. 1159.

Four types of national markings were specified:

• M1. A blue ring surrounding a red circle, the latter to be 2/5 the outside diameter of the blue circle.
• M2. A blue ring surrounding a white ring and the latter surrounding a red centre. Proportions to be 1,3,5.
• M3. This was scheme M.2 surrounded by a yellow circle of same width as the blue circle.
• M4. Vertical stripes of red white and blue of the same width painted on fin.

Wirraways were the only aircraft produced with the M.1 marking on the upper wing - all other aircraft had M.2. All aircraft, except bombers, were required to have M.2 markings under the wing. Hudsons were an exception, but they were painted in the US to an earlier spec. Initially M3 and M4 markings were applied only to Seagull V aircraft, as they were  operating off RAN vessels alongside RN vessels. An order was later issued to also add these to aircraft going to Malaya, i.e. Wirraway, Hudson and Beaufort, the latter two also receiving the M.1 marking on the upper wing.

 

A9-1, aka T9540, first flew in August 1941. Issue No.4 of A.G.I. C.11 did not appear until July 1942, so Issue No. 3, (plus ammendments which do not appear to be applicable to this argument), was the Instruction in place at the time. 

 

Mike has suggested that the aircraft sent to Malaya may have been finished in the RAF Temperate Sea Scheme as they were earmarked for delivery to the RAF. This is a possibility as the RAAF had by then introduced K3/187 to K3/191, which covered the colours Extra Dark Sea Grey, Dark Sea Grey, Dark and Light Slate Grey, and Sky Grey, for application to seacraft, i.e. Seagull V, Sunderland and Short 23 Empire. Note that the only under surface camouflage colour, other than Black and Aluminium, available at that time was Sky Grey. The RAAF's K3/195 Sky Blue was not introduced until very late in 1941.

 

I believe that we can discount the RAF Temperate Land Scheme as the RAAF did not introduce locally produced RAF Dark Earth, Dark Green, and Sky into its inventory until very late 1941. Of course, it is possible that a large order was shipped out from the UK. I prefer to think that the RAF may have adopted the same attitude as the RAAF which was happy to accept UK produced A/C in RAF green and brown as close enough to the locally specified colours.

 

The photos. We are now walking upon the extremely shaky ground of b/w photo interpretation. All the shots below appear to have been taken on a panchromatic type film and o/y lens filter. As Mike points out the upper surface colours are of low contrast on the prints. RAF TSS or RAAF camouflage?? Your guess is as good as mine! One thing I believe that we can say with certainty is that the lower surfaces are aluminium paint. Their reflectivity is much higher than the matt camouflage paint - they are unlikely unlikely to be RAF Sky or Sky Grey. The RAAF sent Hudsons to Malaya with aluminium undersurfaces, why not Beauforts as well?

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of A9-13, aka T9552, She was received in January 1942, but did not go to Malaya. Her under surfaces are finished in the newly received paint, K3/195 Sky Blue. Note the lake of sheen compared with the shots of A9-1 above.

 

 

Good luck with the model. 

Peter Malone

[Beggsy]

That's some top quality research there!

 

There's one other possibility though.  While the RAAF may not have had the RAF colours in their inventory, I believe T5940 was shipped to Australia partly assembled.  Tomorrow I'll try to dig up where I read that to see if there's any chance that the parts were pre-painted.  I think thats unlikely though.

 

The underside definitely looks to be Aluminium.  I reckon that would look a bit odd mixed with the RAF TSS colours so I'm also leaning towards RAAF brown and green.

 

I found a couple of photos of the few Beauforts that did make it to Singapore for the RAAF.  No tail codes visible to identify which is which, but I'll dig up the reference and post them tomorrow.  May as well coallate all the breadcrumbs here for whoever next wonders the same thing.  

Edited April 12, 2020 by Beggsy
Fixed typo

[Beggsy]

Oh, and the Beaufighter kit and resin wheels arrived today.  The wheels look great!  Thanks again @Corsairfoxfouruncle !

Edited April 12, 2020 by Beggsy
Changed Beaufort to Beaufighter. Wishful thinking, I guess!

[Magpie22]

1 hour ago, Beggsy said:

I believe T5940 was shipped to Australia partly assembled. 

Are you thinking of L4448? This was shipped from the UK in October 1939. It sat around for a while, eventually being converted from Taurus to P&W power. It first flew in Aus in May 1941.

Early production aircraft, and this would have included T5940, benefitted from the import of some components and sub assemblies. I doubt that this would have had an effect on the camouflage of the finshed A/C.

Peter M

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

5 hours ago, Beggsy said:

Oh, and the Beaufort kit and resin wheels arrived today.  The wheels look great!  Thanks again @Corsairfoxfouruncle !

Always happy to help whenever I can. 

[72modeler]

@Magpie22

Peter,

 

You know, now that I look at the photos you posted (Thanks so much, BTW!) I think you are correct that the undersurface color is aluminum- you can definitely see the metallic sheen on the paint under the nose! That being said, if the upper colors were indeed TSS, then that would be a very attractive scheme! Sure will be glad when the Airfix new-tool Beau is out! (The first case probably already having been pre-ordered by @tonyot, I guess the rest of us will fight over the 2nd case lot!)   

Mike

[Beggsy]

Ok, the quote was "T9540, the first Australian Beaufort built from imported parts and the first of the RAF order, flew on August 22 from Fishermen's Bend, achieving a speed of 271 m.p.h. on test."

 

I agree, that sounds unlikely to be large enough parts to be pre-painted.

 

 

Here are the photos from Singapore:  

 

 

 

The caption for both of them reads:

"RAF personnel inspect six Australian-built Bristol Beaufort Mark Vs, shortly after their arrival at Kallang, Singapore. The aircraft were intended for the re-equipment of No. 100 Squadron RAF but, as they were unarmed and their crews possessed no operational training, five were returned to Australia, while the sixth was employed on photographic-reconnaissance duties."

 

You can't tell which aircraft is which, but they were probably all painted the same.

 

 

[tonyot]

19 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

Beggsy,

Apologies for the late reply.

 

I believe that T9540 was finished in RAAF Foliage Green and Earth Brown upper surfaces with Aluminium under surfaces.

 

This is based on RAAF A.G.I. C.11 Issue 3 of October 1940, which required General Reconnaissance and Medium Bombers to be finished in camouflage scheme S.2, which specified the colours as:

• Upper surfaces: K3/177 Foliage Green and K3/178 Earth Brown.
• Under surfaces: K3/162 Aluminium or K3/179 Night.
• The camouflage pattern was to be the same as that in RAF DTD drg. 1159.

Four types of national markings were specified:

• M1. A blue ring surrounding a red circle, the latter to be 2/5 the outside diameter of the blue circle.
• M2. A blue ring surrounding a white ring and the latter surrounding a red centre. Proportions to be 1,3,5.
• M3. This was scheme M.2 surrounded by a yellow circle of same width as the blue circle.
• M4. Vertical stripes of red white and blue of the same width painted on fin.

Wirraways were the only aircraft produced with the M.1 marking on the upper wing - all other aircraft had M.2. All aircraft, except bombers, were required to have M.2 markings under the wing. Hudsons were an exception, but they were painted in the US to an earlier spec. Initially M3 and M4 markings were applied only to Seagull V aircraft, as they were  operating off RAN vessels alongside RN vessels. An order was later issued to also add these to aircraft going to Malaya, i.e. Wirraway, Hudson and Beaufort, the latter two also receiving the M.1 marking on the upper wing.

 

A9-1, aka T9540, first flew in August 1941. Issue No.4 of A.G.I. C.11 did not appear until July 1942, so Issue No. 3, (plus ammendments which do not appear to be applicable to this argument), was the Instruction in place at the time. 

 

Mike has suggested that the aircraft sent to Malaya may have been finished in the RAF Temperate Sea Scheme as they were earmarked for delivery to the RAF. This is a possibility as the RAAF had by then introduced K3/187 to K3/191, which covered the colours Extra Dark Sea Grey, Dark Sea Grey, Dark and Light Slate Grey, and Sky Grey, for application to seacraft, i.e. Seagull V, Sunderland and Short 23 Empire. Note that the only under surface camouflage colour, other than Black and Aluminium, available at that time was Sky Grey. The RAAF's K3/195 Sky Blue was not introduced until very late in 1941.

 

I believe that we can discount the RAF Temperate Land Scheme as the RAAF did not introduce locally produced RAF Dark Earth, Dark Green, and Sky into its inventory until very late 1941. Of course, it is possible that a large order was shipped out from the UK. I prefer to think that the RAF may have adopted the same attitude as the RAAF which was happy to accept UK produced A/C in RAF green and brown as close enough to the locally specified colours.

 

The photos. We are now walking upon the extremely shaky ground of b/w photo interpretation. All the shots below appear to have been taken on a panchromatic type film and o/y lens filter. As Mike points out the upper surface colours are of low contrast on the prints. RAF TSS or RAAF camouflage?? Your guess is as good as mine! One thing I believe that we can say with certainty is that the lower surfaces are aluminium paint. Their reflectivity is much higher than the matt camouflage paint - they are unlikely unlikely to be RAF Sky or Sky Grey. The RAAF sent Hudsons to Malaya with aluminium undersurfaces, why not Beauforts as well?

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of A9-13, aka T9552, She was received in January 1942, but did not go to Malaya. Her under surfaces are finished in the newly received paint, K3/195 Sky Blue. Note the lake of sheen compared with the shots of A9-1 above.

 

 

Good luck with the model. 

Peter Malone

Excellent info there,..... thanks Peter.