Revell Beaufighter 1F Nightfighter (03854) 1:48

[Mike]

Beaufighter 1F Nightfighter (03854)

1:48 Revell

 

 

The Beaufighter was originally developed as a fighter variant of the Beaufort, aiming to utilise as many components from the light bomber as possible to speed development, construction and minimise tooling costs.  It didn't quite work out that simply, as it needed additional power that could only be provided by the new Hercules engines that was in development, as even a Merlin engine would leave it underpowered as they later found out.  This meant a mid-wing mount had to be created so that the props had sufficient ground clearance, and a skinnier fuselage was used to reduce weight and drag.  It was still fairly quick to reach production, and although it wasn't as amazing as the Mosquito, it turned out to be a good multirole aircraft once it had matured sufficiently, able to assume roles for which it was never intended for.

 

The initial Mk.1 wasn’t a speed demon by any stretch of the imagination, and some were converted to Nightfighter specification to gauge their performance against the incoming enemy bombers that were attacking London and the rest of England every night by that time.  After a few quieter sorties, the 1F began to show promise, downing a number of bombers, the first of which was a Do.17.  It was able to carry the bulky early radar equipment without serious penalties, so was a natural for the task where speed wasn’t quite so crucial in the dark.

 

The Kit

This is a minor retool of the TF.X from Revell, one of the first to be released from the newly reinvigorated company, and the first new tooling of a Beaufighter for a long time, so it’s good to see them following through with new versions.  It arrives in one of their chunky end-opening boxes (think 1:48 Tornado), and inside are sixteen dark grey sprues with a slight sparkle which is a little odd.  A trio of small clear sprues, the decal sheet and new-style colour instruction booklet with the obligatory safety warning sheet tucked inside.  There are 163 parts in total, and when you pull the wing sprue out of the box you realise that the Beau was quite a large aircraft.  Surface detail of the aircraft's skin is restrained, with lots of fine engraved panel lines, and even what appears to be an attempt at replicating the unevenness of the skin of the aircraft around the fuselage sides and on the nose cones, a few of which you won't use.  You get a full-length floor inside the fuselage with plenty of interior details, which also includes the wing roots as seen from the inside, the equipment in the back and the radar Op's seat base.  The differences are around the cowlings, which are smoother than the TF.X, the original flat elevator parts and the lack of rocket pack trays and thimble-nose that came later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the cockpit, which is stuffed into the very tip of the internal floor, with a portion of the forward spar at the rear, cockpit bracing structure and a three-sided console in front, onto which the instrument panel is fixed, and a decal can be added if you don't fancy painting it yourself.  Rudder pedals are moulded-in, and a control column drops into a slot in the centre of the floor, with the seat with moulded-in belts placed hard up against the spar.  The rear spar forms the box, and this is full height, with moulded-in doors into the rear compartment, and two ammo drums behind that feed the belly cannons.  Behind that is the base for the radar operator's chair, which also has lap belts moulded-in, another framework bulkhead that has a central equipment rack in it.  Behind that is an empty space with the tail-wheel well at the rear, which is moulded into the floor as a curved box, and can accept the tail wheel in either deployed or stowed positions by using a different strut on the same wheel.  The fuselage can then be closed around the assembly, after de-flashing some holes along the top seam for later use.  The nose cone is separate, and you have a choice of two, but we use the original sleek nose that gives the Beau such a nice line.  The canopy is fitted next, and has an apron in front of the windscreen moulded-in to make fitting it easier, and a separate top panel for the pilot's exit.  My example had taken a hit to the top roll-over bar, causing it to snap off, but as it was a clean break, I was able to glue it back with small dots of super glue.   The gun-sight is also clear, and needs partially painting before installation, which would look more realistic if you add some clear green to the edges of the glazing to simulate thickness.  The new rear crew member's dome is able to be fitted open or closed, with no machine gun this time around.

 

Now for the wings.  The lower wing is a full width piece, and includes a short length of the lower fuselage to give it a strong join.  Four small holes must be opened up in this area before proceeding, after which the gear bays are constructed in the lower half of the "power egg" from individual panels and a front bulkhead.  Behind them the flap bay is completed by the addition of an upstand part that spans the gap between lower and upper skins.  This is of course repeated in both sides, and the upper wings are glued in place once this step is completed, then the flush landing light, the supercharger intakes and wingtip lights can be added along with the inner and outer sections of the flaps, which can be posed open or closed, by adjusting the leading-edge tabs that are present.  The ailerons are each two parts and these fit on pins and can be left loose or posed how you see fit.  Before mating the fuselage to the wings, the lower hatch is installed in either open or closed positions. 

 

Next up are the engines, and these are depicted fully with two banks of pistons and plenty of nice detail.  The exhaust collector ring and the forward cooling vanes are all there, although a little bit of wiring will be needed to complete the look.  The three new smooth cowling sections are all build up around the front ring, and then you have a choice of adding open or closed cooling flaps, by using one or other of the sets provided glued to the aft of the cowling.  This is done twice of course, and the engines aren't handed, so the exhausts are on the same side, as are the hedgehog flame hiders that trail along the nacelles, which have glare shields over them to protect the pilot's night vision.  A choice of large or small intakes are fitted to the top of the cowlings, and the tiny rear tip of the nacelle under the wing finishes off that section.

 

The tail of the Beau is noticeably cranked upward with quite a large dihedral on later variants, but this early one has flat fins with a single two-part elevator running across the full width with trim actuators added below.  The tail fin isn't moulded into the fuselage, but this early fillet-less version fits into a slot on the top of the elevator assembly, and separate rudder parts allowing you to pose the rudder deflected if you wish.

 

The main landing gear can be left off totally if you are posing your model in flight, with the single piece gear bay doors dropped into the aperture in the bottom of the nacelles.  If you are building the landing gear down, you will need to construct the H-shaped legs in stages, sandwiching the two-part wheels between the legs as you go, and this completed assembly is attached to a small section of the spar for ease and strength of attachment.  This is glued into the front of the bay, with another set of retraction jacks fitted diagonally from the bay rear into the lower section of the leg.  The single door panel is split lengthways with a blade or fine saw and added half to each side of the bay, then the prop is fixed to the front, either with or without a spinner, which has a backplate for completeness.  Then it's a case of fitting a pitot under the wing, aerial on the fuselage, and radar antennae on the leading edges of the wings to complete the model, and some wire/thread for the aerial if you're feeling brave.

 

 

Markings

There are two decal options provided on the sheet, and if you thought they were going to be anything other than black, there’s some bad news coming.  They’re both black, but with different coloured fuselage codes to differentiate.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Beaufighter Mk.1F No.604 Sqn. RAF, Middle Wallop, England, April 1941
• Beaufighter Mk.1F No.68 Sqn. RAF, High Ercall, England, Late 1941

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decals are by Zanetti, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

I liked the TF.X and I like the Mk.1F just as well – I love Beaufighters (and an awful lot of other aircraft too, for completeness).  It’s a well-detailed model that ticks a lot of boxes for the modeller, whether they’re of the out-of-box, or advanced flavour.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[AlCZ]

Woow ! Czechoslovak 68th squadron ! SUPERB !  

[Richard Cawsey]

The instructions are now online at https://downloads.revell.de/Manuals-Modelkits/03854.pdf

It appears the kit does not include some of the parts needed for an early nightfighter version, including the segmented wheels, short exhaust pipes, towel-rail antenna and early-style tailwheel. Nor is there any radar receiver in the rear cockpit. Other than that, it looks pretty good. . .

[stever219]

On 9/23/2020 at 2:19 PM, AlCZ said:

Woow ! Czechoslovak 68th squadron ! SUPERB !  

?!?!?!????  Don't know where you got that from.

[Julien]

53 minutes ago, stever219 said:

?!?!?!????  Don't know where you got that from.

 From July 1941, No. 68 Squadron always had a strong element of Czech pilots in exile with up to eight flying crews consisting entirely of Czech personnel. These ties and the squadron's night fighter activities were recognized in 1944 when Air Chief Marshal Charles Steele presented a crest to No. 68 Squadron that displayed an owl's head and had the Czech motto Vždy připraven – "Always prepared" or "Always ready".

[brewerjerry]

Hi

   It would be nice if they use the research and make a new one in 1:32 scale, to replace the old one 

   cheers

     jerry