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Another Submarine Restoration,....RAAF, DAP Beaufreighter!! ***FINISHED***


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Hiya Folks,

                 After experimenting with a Hasegawa Beaufighter which I had restored after it had been rescued from the flood in my cellar,...... and the very kind reception you all gave it along the way,..... here is the next restoration job,...... a 1/72nd High Planes DAP Beaufreighter! I`m on a bit of a roll with Beaufort`s at the moment and as this old kit,.... actually a Beaufort Mk.IX but widely known as a Beaufreighter has been sitting awaiting some TLC,..... it was time to bite the bullet!

I built this model well over 20 years ago and it was one of my first limited production kits,..... so it does look rather ropey compared to come of my newer models,.... the seams etc are looking a bit shoddy,..... so it had been slated for some work anyway,..... however the flood and its immersion underwater for some time made this even more necessary but it did also put this back a bit,....... but here we go,.......

 

This is how the model looked this morning,..... I do have the missing propeller `somewhere' I think,..... 

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I`ll be changing the markings on this model, and I`m aiming for this aircraft, A9-712/R from 10 LSU at Torokina, Bougainville in August 1945 which had Japanese writing applied to the underside of the wings to tell the Japanese troops still out in the jungle that their Emperor had surrendered and that the war was now over,..

 

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And another with the engines running and supply containers on bomb racks under the wings;

beaufort-A9-712-Japanese-characters-1.jp

 

At least one other Beaufort (not a Beaufreighter,.....note the turret!) also received these Japanese `markings' and it also has an interesting camouflaged forward cowling ring from an older Beaufort. Now is it overall Foliage Green and have black undersides or is it just shadow? Does it wear the ealier camouflage with black underides? The area of the nose does definitely look to follow the camouflage demarcation line of the undersides on earlier Beauforts;

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And this Beaufreighter wears more standard markings;

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I`ll probably be using these Print Scale decals which also has another photo of the real aircraft on the instructions,..... something which has to be applauded;

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I also have the original High Planes decals in the spares box,...... although I remember having some trouble with them back in the day,.... I`ll compare the two decals to see which matches the Japanese writing better. I`ll also send the info to my Son who is learning to speak and write Japanese,...... his old Grandads will be turning in their graves at the thought bless them! 

 

So first thing first,..... I stripped the `sticky out bits' off,.... such as the undercarriage, propeller etc and scraped at the paintwork and joint lines to see just how bad they were,.... and they were bad!

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The joints were then sanded and as the paintwork was very old,...... consisting of quite a few thickly applied coats of Humbrol enamel Bronze Green,..... and a top layer of enamel varnish that had reacted badly due to the cold water immersion, making it very rough,...... I started off by sanding the entire model too,.....;

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Then some filler was added to the seams which needed it;

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And the sanding continued;

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Still a way to go with the sanding,..... then the panel line will need to be re scribed as they re full of paint!

Cheers for now,

                         Tony

 

EDIT,.... Having checked the decal sheet and the High Plane decals,....... the Japanese writing is different and it looks like High Planes have it right! For the Printscale decals,... this sheet appears to have the same writing beneath each wing,...... whereas High Planes have different writing under each wing,... which matches other info that I`ve seen;

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Ta,....

          Tony

 

 

 

Edited by tonyot
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The Japanese writing on the Print Scale says 'Tofu noodles'...

 

 

I admire your dedication, I think if I had had a catastrophic incident with my completed models I'd use it as an excuse to bin them and start again. 

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On 4/5/2021 at 6:54 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Excellent a Beaufreighter,  this will be excellent Tony  and am eager to see the results after your Beaufighter restoration. 

A very interesting scheme too fella. 

Chris

Cheers Chris,.... hopefully it will turn out OK!

 

8 hours ago, Dunny said:

Interesting subject Tony - will look forward to seeing this progress!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Thanks Roger,...... I`ve been jogging along with this one,..... hopefully I won`t lose the momentum!

 

3 hours ago, At Sea said:

The Japanese writing on the Print Scale says 'Tofu noodles'...

 

 

I admire your dedication, I think if I had had a catastrophic incident with my completed models I'd use it as an excuse to bin them and start again. 

Cheers mate,..... and LOL,.... I`m still awaiting to hear back from my lad to see if he can decipher it!! 

Oh lots did go into the bin,..... well over 100,..... closer to 200,.... but I kept some back to see if I could fi them,..... mostly the more rare models. 

 

Chees lads,

                 Tony

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A bit more of an update,..... last night I also got the engines off and re scribed the model;

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I started to clean the canopy up too to see if it could be used,..... or if I`d have to use a spare;

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I think the canopy is OK after a bit of cleaning up,.... so I`ve covered it with some tape while some paint was applied to the model,...... three coats of Polly Scale RAAF Foliage Green,..... I also found the `missing' propeller which was good,..... and as they both had quite lumpy paint on them,.... they have been sanded down, as have the wheels and the undercariage legs have been painted silver;

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Cheers,

           Tony

 

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50 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Blimey Tony, you don't hang around.  Looking great in the new paint. 

Great job fella. 

Chris 

Thanks Chris,...... just been double checking the Japanese writing and it might be the same writing on each wing after all,....... the photo that I thought confirmed the High Planes decals didn`t show that wing after all! 

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38 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Thanks Chris,...... just been double checking the Japanese writing and it might be the same writing on each wing after all,....... the photo that I thought confirmed the High Planes decals didn`t show that wing after all! 

Would there  be anything at the IWM?  I like At Sea's translation!!!

Chris

 

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3 hours ago, tonyot said:

Oh lots did go into the bin,..... well over 100,..... closer to 200,....

Ouch!

 

From all I’ve seen, the High Planes Beauforts were very good - shame I’ve never seen the plastic in the flesh. Looking forward to seeing this one back on the shelf!

 

Regards,

Adrian

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32 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

The wonders of Google Translate:

1-D218652-E508-45-BF-9-A61-853384-EFF694
 

Regards,

Adrian

Adrian,.... you are a bloody star,..... thank you! I`m presuming that is for the 2nd piece of writing down,,,, and that the part prefixed by wht looks like an `8' isn`t connected? 

Yeah it was quite painful going through all of those models and trashing them,...... I broke most up and lots of stuff went in the spares box like wheels, props, seats etc.  I still have some more to go through yet too. It was quite a shock to look down in the cellar and see a cold, muddy `swimming pool' down there with shelves and models floating around! 

The High Planes kits are beautifully detailed and as smooth as silk on the exterior with gorgeous detail,...... but the inside surface is very rough and they take lots of vacuform like preparation to construct,...... when I tackled this one I wasn`t experienced enough to be fair as they are quite hard to build,...... the worst thing with the Beaufort`s was that they only had the early style turret housing and for a later model you had to raise the turret area yourself using plastic card. I`ve built a few of their Beaufighters and they were nice too,..... especially the Mk.II with Merlin engines.

 

Cheers again mate,

                             Tony

 

EDIT,.... Just speaking to my lad who is learning Japanese,... he say that the writing under each wing should be different as together they read Surrender Japan,.... or Japan Surrendered,.... but with some grammatical mistakes! 

Edited by tonyot
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Hiya Folks,..... thanks to Adrian,.... and my lad,..... I think I`m there now with the under wing writing,...... using the High Planes decals with different writing under each wing it reads as,..... NIHON KOFOKU,..... which basically reads as ,......Sunrise Land Surrenders,..... so that will do for me! The Print Scale version with the same writing under each wing would basically read as ..... surrendered, surrendered,...... 

 

So,.... I measured out the areas of white needed, and masked them off,..... leaving some sections quite raggedy as per the original;

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And then used a rattle can to apply the white,..... here is how the writing will read;

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Shame I didn`t still have my High Planes decal placement instructions,...... but after my trouble last time,.... I`ll paint on some varnish to make sure these decals don`t shatter,.... hopefully! 

Cheers

           Tony

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The translation is of the pale bit I highlighted with my finger. “Japan” in Japanese is “日本”, so the transfer above the highlighted one seems to have the rightmost character the wrong way up. Of course, it may be what they painted...


Ah, you just posted. Hope this isn’t too late!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

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8 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

The translation is of the pale bit I highlighted with my finger. “Japan” in Japanese is “日本”, so the transfer above the highlighted one seems to have the rightmost character the wrong way up. Of course, it may be what they painted...

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

Cheers Adrian,..... yeah my lad picked that up too about the character being upside down,.... I showed him the photos above and he says that looks OK to him,..... do you agree or do I need to change anything? Wasn`t Japanese text written backwards until after WW2? 

 

Thanks again mate,

                            Tony

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11 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

I have no-o-o idea! It’s looking good!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

Me neither mate LOL! Cheers bud,..... just gonna stick some vrnih on it now and leave it overnight!

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Excellent job on the restorations so far. Seems like there are more than a few restorations going on here abouts lately. Might want to think about hanging them in the cellar once done. And I thought I was the only one who still had bottles of Polly S paint in the cabinet.

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10 hours ago, LorenSharp said:

Excellent job on the restorations so far. Seems like there are more than a few restorations going on here abouts lately. Might want to think about hanging them in the cellar once done. And I thought I was the only one who still had bottles of Polly S paint in the cabinet.

Thanks mate,...... yeah I bought everything that I could when I heard that Polly Scale were stopping production,..... but I`m running out of my main colours though,...... especially RAF Dark Green! 

 

9 hours ago, stevehnz said:

An interesting refurb in more ways than one. Nice going Tony. :) 

Steve.

Thanks Steve,.... hopefully it will turn out OK? 

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39 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Glad you got the decal placement sorted fella, this is going to look awesome  when done.

Great job

Chris

Cheers Chris,...... got to go out and see the doctor,..... then hopefully I`ve got a few hours to get on and put the decals on.

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19 hours ago, tonyot said:

Polly Scale

Wow!  That brings me back to my youth--using railroad paints for everything from armour to aircraft.

 

This is a big job you're doing Tony, and well on the way.  Huzzah!

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2 hours ago, John Masters said:

Wow!  That brings me back to my youth--using railroad paints for everything from armour to aircraft.

 

This is a big job you're doing Tony, and well on the way.  Huzzah!

Cheers John,..... I`ve only ever used the aircraft paints,.....  but they are sorely missed in this household. ..... I wish I had ample stocks of my most used colours.

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