Airfix “New Tool” Bristol Beaufort A04021 (1st WIP) ** FINISHED **

[Dave Swindell]

3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

Or was it security?  I understood that the air tail was considered a bit sensitive so efforts may have been made to ensure it didn’t appear in photos intended for public consumption.

Quite possibly, but the photo's haven't been censored, the tail isn't fitted and doesn't appear to have been present during loading, so this is either before or during the development of the tail, or the armourers waited til the cameraman had used up all his film/plates then whistled them  up to fit them. As 22 sqn were only doing practice drops with torpedos at  this stage and dropping sea mines on ops I'd suspect the former rather than the latter, but I'm open to persuasion.

 

3 hours ago, Seahawk said:

PS I hope people haven’t forgotten the old Ian Allen book Beaufort Special. I’m sure there’ll be loads of useful photos and info in there.

I thought I'd given this a namecheck in one of my earlier posts but it must have been in a comment I edited out as I can't spot the reference. It may be old but it's still an excellent reference.

 

2 hours ago, dogsbody said:

This one?

That's the 1st edition 1976 - I missed that one and got the second edition 1990, I don't think the content is any different but the cover has  a white border.

[Mi Tasol]

On 3/26/2021 at 3:22 AM, dogsbody said:

I do have a question about this turret. What would be the colour of the folding/collapsable area under the gun? A grey/tan canvas?

 

Chris

The Australian Mk I/IE turret blind remains I have seen were tan, fabric like used for covering the aircraft control surfaces, and reinforced with steel strips about 3/8 wide spaced on about 5/8 centres.  I do not think the colour had changed from new as they were inside the box that held the roller that they retracted around but there may very well have been discolouration from the box and reinforcing strips rusting with age.  It is about 30 years since I saw them so the memory is not guaranteed perfect.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Mi Tasol
Spelling error

[Rabbit Leader]

On 3/26/2021 at 8:02 PM, Dave Swindell said:

As far as I'm aware there was no gun camera mount in the port wing, it was mounted just inboard of the stbd wing oil cooler, and is neatly moulded in the Airfix kit protruding slightly from the leading edge with a hole in the front. The implication of this statement for your model David is that this wouldn't be present on early Beauforts and should be removed, however it was fitted on 22 sqn aircraft by July 1940

 

These comments got me thinking a little deeper and before I sand off my Starboard wing camera port,  I took to photographs to investigate this further. 

I may be reading this incorrectly, however are we suggesting that if the chosen Beaufort has evidence of the starboard nose camera brackets, then no starboard wing camera port would exist? 

Here is a good series of early Beaufort Mk.1 photos, four of which are of L4456 taken at Boscombe Down circa January 1940. This aircraft has both nose brackets and starboard wing camera ports fitted. Photographs of other early Beaufort serials are not as clear and more often than not this area of the starboard wing is hidden behind the protruding starboard engine and nose (as seen from the port side) or wing leading edge oil cooler (of photo's taken from the starboard side).  

 

Now I'm not sure if I should retain the kit supplied gun camera or sand it off? 

 

Cheers and thanks for the great discussion .. Dave 

 

 

[jackroadkill]

2 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Now, I'm not sure if I should retain the kit supplied gun camera or sand it off? 

I took mine off.  If you leave yours on then at least one of us will be right!

[Rabbit Leader]

1 minute ago, jackroadkill said:

I took mine off.  If you leave yours on then at least one of us will be right!

What serial do you intend to model yours Jack? 

[jackroadkill]

8 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

What serial do you intend to model yours Jack? 

 

Mine will be N1075, a mk I of 489 Squadron, coded XA-A.

[Dave Swindell]

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I may be reading this incorrectly, however are we suggesting that if the chosen Beaufort has evidence of the starboard nose camera brackets, then no starboard wing camera port would exist? 

The article implied that it was the nose bracket then the wing camera, however photo evidence shows that the bracket, or at least the facility to fit it was retained throughout Beaufort production both in the UK and Australia after the introduction of the wing camera. I probably could have worded my reply better (apologies to @jackroadkill) as I was trying to get across that the article wasn't completely accurate, and although it implied that the wing camera wasn't initially fitted I'd found evidence that it was there in July 1940 together with the nose bracket. The excellent Air Britain photos you've linked to show it there in early 1940 judging by the very early production timescale and colour scheme (B fuselage roundel, no fin flash and what appears to be aluminium undersides) so I'd fairly confidently say now that all production Beauforts were fitted for both wing and nose camera mounts.

 

The side on photo has also answered another of my queries I think. The photo shows there is no window below the starboard wing, but close examination shows a panel of the same size in the same position, and I'd guess there's one in the underside in the same location as the vertical camera window. It looks to me like all Beauforts were manufactured with the mounting positions for vertical and oblique recce cameras and blanking plates in the fuselage for the window apertures so the relevant window could be fitted when the camera is installed. This would make sense both from a production commonality point of view, and a photographic point of view as well, you wouldn't want the camera windows getting dirty and damaged in general use if recce cameras were only used occasionally.

[jackroadkill]

2 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

apologies to @jackroadkill

I wouldn't worry; I've seen some photos where the wing camera is fitted and some where it's not.  I went without it as the one I'm building was used during training in Scotland in Autumn 1940, so I'm guessing they may not have had the cameras fitted.  It's conjecture only as there are no photographs of the aircraft - this fact is going to help me cover a multitude of sins an inaccuracies!

[Rabbit Leader]

Canopy masks arrive - Steps 59 to 63

 

The Eduard canopy masks arrived soon enough so it was back to the main construction following Airfix’s well laid out instructions. Now I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets nervous when handling clear parts and some how I stupidly managed to crack the lower nose bomb aiming clear part (F14) whilst removing it from the sprue. I thought a dip in Clear may sort out the issue, however it didn’t and there’s no way to fix it. Once again, I robbed the part from my second kit and dropped an unlikely email to Airfix Spares to see what they could possibly do. To my utter surprise I received a positive email within a day, however the Spares department have asked for a GBP 9.00 payment to ship this to me in Australia!  Now I’m always prepared to pay a nominal fee and did explain to Airfix that it was all my fault, however I’m not prepared to pay 45% of the whole kit’s normal retail price for the sake of just a single (albeit important) part?? I’ll have to think of something for this 2nd kit a little later, however have never struck this type of response from Airfix before.. (mmm. and how many short shot  parts have I fixed rather then complained about?). 

 

Anyway, Rant over.. let’s move on.. 

The Beaufort’s nose glazing is a real stand out, so it pays handsomely to get this right - proof of my success will be known at the end! Although the parts are very clear, I decided to ‘Clear’ them to avoid any potential ‘fogging’ when the four pieces are cemented together. Once dry I applied Eduard’s canopy masks which although expensive are indispensable to getting the canopy masking process right. Like most Eduard masks I’ve used, they tend to be just a smidgen oversize in some places, however are so much better than what I could have done by hand. So here’s a few photos of my slow construction with the clear nose glazing in place. These parts seem to fit quite well, however some minor sanding may be required where the glass does not exactly line up with the nose plastic. So far, this step has been the least enjoyable part of the build so far. I recommend you take your time, don’t crack any clear parts and good luck when you tackle this delicate stage. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

[mark.au]

Shaping up nicely, Dave.  I think it might be worth pointing out the short-shot issue to Airfix spares, it can’t do any harm and is a very reasonable retort.

[bigbadbadge]

Glazing looks good in place, shame about the cracked item , just thinking about it would a High planes or Frog glazing section fit, I don't have either to check, but if it does might be worth a wanted request on the forum .  You'll be the first to cross kit the new  Beaufort. 

Great work Dave

Chris

[jackroadkill]

Get them to ship it to me and I'll send it on to you, Dave.

[Rabbit Leader]

7 hours ago, mark.au said:

Shaping up nicely, Dave.  I think it might be worth pointing out the short-shot issue to Airfix spares, it can’t do any harm and is a very reasonable retort.

Thanks Mark, just to clarify there were no imperfections with this particular kit, it was just me being clumsy. I’ve often just accepted Airfix’s short shot parts and made attempts to correct them, next time I’ll just put in a complaint like most others do. 

 

4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Glazing looks good in place, shame about the cracked item , just thinking about it would a High planes or Frog glazing section fit, I don't have either to check, but if it does might be worth a wanted request on the forum .  You'll be the first to cross kit the new  Beaufort. 

I’m not familiar with these kits, however doubt they’ll fit as well as the Airfix parts do. I’ll try another way. Cheers 

 

4 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

Get them to ship it to me and I'll send it on to you, Dave.

Thanks for the offer. I’ll email them again after the Easter break to see if that’s an option they’ll accept.
 

Cheers and thanks for the suggestions.. Dave 

[Brandy]

Alternatively you could open a Shop and Ship account and have them send it to their UK address in Slough. Aramex will ship it to you for a nominal fee, they're excellent!

 

Ian

[tonyot]

Looking good Dave,.... that mask looks just the job. Your photography is awesome too.... really clear and close up too!

 

My pair are coming along,..... decided to built them both as Mk.Ia`s,..... one RAF & one SAAF,...... having got the engines done on both models I have drilled holes in the nose glazing `very carefully' to mount a pair of forward firing Vickers K Guns,.... using the spare ones for the kit as I`m going with the later style turret, using spares box Brownings. I`ve also dug out a part started High Planes Beaufort too which has been lying around painted for years!;

 

Glazing test fitted;

 

Cheers

         Tony

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Those nose guns look fantastic Tony, with my track record of clear parts I don’t think I’d have enough guts to attempt that job. Might have to wait for the upcoming Mk.1A box which (hopefully) has a twin holed nose piece included? 
Cheers.. Dave 

[tonyot]

29 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Those nose guns look fantastic Tony, with my track record of clear parts I don’t think I’d have enough guts to attempt that job. Might have to wait for the upcoming Mk.1A box which (hopefully) has a twin holed nose piece included? 
Cheers.. Dave 

I was rather nervous and did slip a bit causing a slight scratch,..... one down,..... one to go! I`ve been filling and sanding those sink marks on the wing trailing edge sections,...... are you finding the plastic rather soap like and hard to sand out scratches,.... as well as removing seams? 

Cheers

         Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

23 minutes ago, tonyot said:

... are you finding the plastic rather soap like and hard to sand out scratches,.... as well as removing seams? 

 

Now that you mention it, I am finding that seam clean up is taking a few more goes than normal. Once I primed the engine cowl joints, I was surprised to still see more evidence of gaps, although I was only using Mr Surfacer rather than CA or any other harder gap filler. I'm sure once I prime the whole airframe, I'll need to go over a few more sections again, My plastic appears to be typical Airfix, so 'soapy' is a good analogy.  

Cheers.. Dave 

 

[dogsbody]

Don't forget that bit of framing around those nose guns!

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[dogsbody]

This Beaufort has only one nose gun.

 

Beaufort I W6537/OA-F of No 22 Squadron starting up at St Eval, December 1941. The accumulator trolley in the foreground supplied the necessary electrical power to the aircraft and was disconnected once the engines were running. Unlike other Beaufort squadrons, No 22 fitted a Vickers 'K' gun in the nose compartment of its aircraft, to be used for flak-suppression during low-level attacks.

 

 

 

Chris

[The Spadgent]

Wow. Loving this thread. You’re doing a great job.  Thanks for sharing. Looks like a lovely kit. I’ll tag along for the ride if that’s ok.

 

Johnny.

[Rabbit Leader]

Let's talk about that Daimler turret? 

 

Just another one of those 'too the side' interludes that perhaps needs some discussion.

The early Beaufort Mk.1 Daimler turret sits snugly within the rear half of the fuselage and Airfix suggest that you build up the turret as one assembly, insert all these parts inside the turret locating hole and trap this all together by attaching the rear fuselage fairing across the top. A quick dry run of the corresponding parts left me a little unsure about this sequence. My preference would have been to get the rear fuselage fairing join right, without having to deal with a nice painted up clear turret getting in the way.  Attaching the fairing first, will not allow you to insert the completed turret in place, so after a few head scratching minutes, I managed to come up with a new sequence that I think might work.   

One quick note - these photos were taken a while back and I've since closed up the entry hatch and smooth it all over. The kit looks pretty rough in these close-ups, however its really not that bad to the naked eye. 

 

Photo 1. The rear / upper fuselage piece sits over the turret opening. Note the ugly gap at the top and sides that all need to be filled and sanded. 

 

 

Photo 2. The turret's clear parts are split vertically and I plan to install the rear half to the main turret mechanism and dropping this assembly into the corresponding fuselage hole.

Since taking these photos I now believe that if one wishes to model their Beaufort with a single Lewis gun, the gun should be located in the sideways mounted position rather than the top position (as I have done?)  If anyone can confirm or deny this, I'd be most interested.  

 

 

Photo 3.  Once this assembly is installed, the second clear piece can be attached to close up the turret. This way, all the heavy filling and sanding can take place prior to installing and potentially damaging the clear parts... something I'm prone to do. Anyway, I'm sure there's many ways to tackle this stage, so if anyone else has another method, please feel free to add your comments here.  I'll take better photos later on to show how successful (or otherwise) my method has been.  

 

 

Cheers and regards.. Dave 

[Rabbit Leader]

3 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Wow. Loving this thread. You’re doing a great job.  Thanks for sharing. Looks like a lovely kit. I’ll tag along for the ride if that’s ok.

Johnny.

 

Thanks Johnny and its great to have you onboard. I've been part of a few Group Build threads over the years, however have never done a detailed WIP like this before. Hopefully it will all work out and if I can point out a few issues along the way, then that's good news as well.  

Cheers.. Dave. 

[AdrianMF]

2 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Since taking these photos I now believe that if one wishes to model their Beaufort with a single Lewis gun, the gun should be located in the sideways mounted position rather than the top position (as I have done?)  If anyone can confirm or deny this,

There is a very clear picture of a single sideways mounted Lewis gun here , seventh picture down.

 

Incidentally, FWIW, the gun mounting itself looks a little high compared to this picture. The pivot point should be at the centre of the arc described by the opening in the glass, so below the horizontal framing line.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[jackroadkill]

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Unlike other Beaufort squadrons, No 22 fitted a Vickers 'K' gun in the nose compartment of its aircraft, to be used for flak-suppression during low-level attacks.

 

Chris, do you know what timeframe this picture is from?