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1/72nd Airfix Beaufort conv to a RAAF aircraft using the Uncle Les conversion set **FINISHED***


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Another interesting build Tony. Maybe a heavy coat of Halfords Primer on the prop blades then sand! Only if you can't find replacements.

 

Colin

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19 hours ago, dogsbody said:

While rooting through the shelf that contains my aftermarket stuff, looking for something I thought may have landed there, I found this Engines & Things set. I forgot I even had it.

It's for the old FROG kit. I was going to say that I must have ordered it online a good number of years ago, but now, on reflection, I'm sure I bought this pre-Internet, from some mail order place, perhaps Squadron.

 

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Whether it would fit onto the new Airfix kit, I don't know.

 

 

 

 

Chris

Hiya Chris,.... you would need to lengthen the nacelles too as they are longer for the Twin Wasp variants. 

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9 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looking great Tony, great to see the paint going on too.

Chris

Thanks Chris,..... I`ve had to do a bit more work too,.... see below.

 

4 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Another interesting build Tony. Maybe a heavy coat of Halfords Primer on the prop blades then sand! Only if you can't find replacements.

 

Colin

Thanks Colin.... good tip,.... I`m just going to spray paint them now using a rattle can funnily enough nd take it from there.

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Hiya Folks,..... another update,....

 

Well I got the second coat of RAAF Earth Brown applied;

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Then,... I thought about the turret area. I`ve decided to model a Beaufort with nose art and quite like Beaufort Mk.VIII, A9-486 `Scotty`s Homin Pidgin' using decals from the Special Hobby kit,.... so looking into this variant I realised that I would have to alter the turret area. So,.... I sanded away the air baffle and added two triangular pieces of plastc card to the sides of the turret area, plus another section to replicate the solid rear section seen here;

DSCF1052.jpg

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See,... I told you that I make it up as I go along!!

Anyway,.... here we are so far,.... ready for another sanding then a further coat of Earth Brown,... the props will also get painted too;

DSCF1054.jpg

 

Cheers

         Tony

 

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Coming along nicely Tony , looking good , only the Aussies would come up with a name like uncle Les  😁 I can see les in a Bar drinking 4X with his mates

saying , well mates what shall we call our resin conversion sets ? How about UNCLE LES , LES, RIPPER  

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44 minutes ago, keith in the uk said:

Coming along nicely Tony , looking good , only the Aussies would come up with a name like uncle Les  😁 I can see les in a Bar drinking 4X with his mates

saying , well mates what shall we call our resin conversion sets ? How about UNCLE LES , LES, RIPPER  

He`s actually a good lad is Les,.... sent me a few extra bits.  

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12 hours ago, keith in the uk said:

Coming along nicely Tony , looking good , only the Aussies would come up with a name like uncle Les  😁 I can see les in a Bar drinking 4X with his mates

saying , well mates what shall we call our resin conversion sets ? How about UNCLE LES , LES, RIPPER  

Not quite how it happened Keith as I'm a one-man resin pouring dynamo since the '80s and the name was adopted because my sister had kids in the '70s ( see - I really AM an uncle !! ) , but I'm happy for you to envision me having an inebriated committee when the decision was made !   
On another point of  detail, I'm from the southern part of the country, we don't XXXX here, if I'm to imbibe it'll be a Cascade if I want to enjoy it or a VB if I crave  something that smacks of hops, skunk and metal.
Come and check out why the locals are always hassling me for esoteric bits or mild abuse.
http://www.uncleles.net
https://www.facebook.com/uncleles1
:)

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Looking great Tony and I like what you’ve done with that angled turret framing (best words I could come up with!). Excellent choice of scheme too. 
Cheers.. Dave 

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13 hours ago, keith in the uk said:

in a Bar drinking 4X with his mates

That would make him a Queenslander......... nobody else drinks the stuff.

 

The Beaufort is looking good Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

Why do Queenslanders call their beer XXXX? Because they can’t spell beer.

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Thanks for the kind remarks folks and I`m staying out of the XXXX thing,..... I`m a Theakston`s Best Bitter man,...... followed closely by Thwaites,.. (both nice and cold by the way,... not warm!).....I don`t drink weak gassy rubbish!! 

 

Right,... a bit of an update,...... the final coat of Earth Brown applied;

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Cheers,

          Tony

 

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That was a nice catch up there, some cracking work going on Tony, all good info to take on board when we eventually see some out here, I reckon the Aussies must have half inched our allocation too. ;)

I'm looking forward to grabbing a couple, probably need a @uncle les conversion for an all green one too. Were these in the Bismarck Sea scrap?

Steve.

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Thanks Chris, there are a couple of outfits like MJW models get their stuff through Hannants, I'll check them out on these, often slightly cheaper & I'd rather use smaller outfits with their friendly & personal service. :)

Steve.

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2 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That was a nice catch up there, some cracking work going on Tony, all good info to take on board when we eventually see some out here, I reckon the Aussies must have half inched our allocation too. ;)

I'm looking forward to grabbing a couple, probably need a @uncle les conversion for an all green one too. Were these in the Bismarck Sea scrap?

Steve.

Cheers Steve,..... I think that Beauforts from 100 Sqn RAAF at Milne Bay did take part as torpedo bombers using US torpedoes during the Bismark Sea scrap mate, but only on one strike and no hits were scored.  Eight took off,.... they were split up by bad weather and only two reached the convoy. 

 

2 hours ago, Norman said:

Looking the business Tony !

Thanks Norman.

Edited by tonyot
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Nicely done, Tony!  This is taking great shape, and you can't see the conversion job, so you've concealed it well.  That's quite the stockpile of Polly-S you've got there, too.  I'm envious.  

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So,..... for the Airfix/Uncle Les Beaufort I`m probably going for this subject,..... A9-486, `Scotty`s Homin Pidgin' probably coded QH-K (other codes have been mentioned too like J), of 100 Sqn RAAF, New Guinea, 1944;

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Using the decals from the Special Hobby kit,.... although I need to research the camouflage scheme as it appears to be wrong on their instructions;

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I also have a Special Hobby kit almost finished too and although I do like this scheme on a sheet from Print Scale, seen below top right,....depicting A9-432,JM-T 'Hallelujah Brothers- We Are Saved',.. I`m not too sure about it,..... first of all they describe it as being from  100 Sqn when the codes are actually 32 Sqn,... 

1-72-bristol-beaufort-mk-ii-viii-ix-wet-

 

Below is the real `Hallelujah Brothers- We Are Saved',.... (note the lady is sat on a barrel, unlike the decal option!) but as it has bomb logs,..... surely it mustn`t be from 32 Sqn RAAF, wearing JT codes as they were Australian based on anti submarine duties?

Beaufort-A9-XXX-41.jpg

I have found a few pics of a very similar nose art, carrying the name Eskimo Nell, where the lady has dark coloured hair,.... now could this be the same aircraft flown under a different crew with a new name?;

 

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This view of Eskimo Nell does show a temporary black underside,...... I`d love to know the serial, codes and unit,..... for sure ;

beau-fs-034.jpg

 

So that is the two choices,.... I did fancy this one but it was missing from the partial sheet that I had left over from the old Encore kit,.... having put the decals onto the Encore release of the old Frog kit years ago;

beau-fs-045.jpg

 

Now there is an excellent restoration of a 100 Sqn RAAF Beaufort, A9-557 at the Australian Wr Memorial that I would love to see,... which began like this,... I believe the nose came from a different aircraft?;

Beaufort-A9-557-Romsey-May1987-Peter-Arn

And it now looks like this,... a wonderful memorial and reference source,....

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Beaufort-A9-557-RAustralian-War-Memorial

Beaufort-A9-557-Australian-War-Memorial.

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A period view of the nose area of an Aussie Beaufort (A9-488),... showing the nose guns and the propellers;

beaufort-A9-488-Jan45-Morotai.jpg

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I mention the propellers because I did some work on the latter today,...... and compared them to a set of Aeroclub metal propellers,.... which was interesting when it came to the length of the blades! The conversion set propellers are longer and have been painted black, the Aeroclub propellers are shorter and have been sanded and polished and also seen are the Special Hobby props, which are mid way between the others,..... also seen is the ASV antennae for the rear fuselage which I bought from High Plane`s;

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Here are the ASV antennae on the rear fuselage;

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 And last of all,.... some general reference pics;

A nice pic of the cockpit area for anybody building an Airfix Beaufort,..... of note is the ASV receiver set on the right hand side, the colour of the control spade and the relative complexity of the position;

beau-fs-020.jpg

 

Colour stills from a film taken at Milne Bay,.... showing Beaufort A9-75, with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum artwork,... which also appears on the Print Scale sheet,..... but while serving with 6 OTU and only one set of Tweddle`s are included and they are in the wrong position while the camouflage pattern is different too,..... poor research and solely based on side view drawings from the Warpaint book I would say! ;

Beaufort-A9-75-from-100-Squadron-3.jpg

Beaufort-A9-75-from-100-Squadron-2.jpg

 

Many RAAF Beauforts also had treaded tyres, unlike those in RAF service;

beau-fs-098.jpg

 

Cheers for now,

                       Tony

 

Edited to add a few missing letters,.... my keyboard is broken and I`m always missing letters out without realising it until later! 

Edited by tonyot
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40 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Nicely done, Tony!  This is taking great shape, and you can't see the conversion job, so you've concealed it well.  That's quite the stockpile of Polly-S you've got there, too.  I'm envious.  

Thanks mate,.... sorry I was just typing an update. Yeah I squirelled quite a bit of Polly Scale paint away when I heard they were ceasing production,.... but I`m running out of my main colours now. 

9 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

Wow! That 'pit pic is awesome!

 

 

 

Chris

Good innit,.... I just had to include it! 

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Lovely updates and reference picks Tony, all inspirational stuff. 

Now my good wife has just messaged me to say 'another' parcel has arrived and the only thing I'm waiting on is the High Planes Hobbies (Models) Beaufort conversion set. Looks like I'll be knocking off work early today! 

But don't worry mate, my Taurus powered build is still progressing and I'm happy to say the Eduard masks performed flawlessly... more updates to come. 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

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19 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Lovely updates and reference picks Tony, all inspirational stuff. 

Now my good wife has just messaged me to say 'another' parcel has arrived and the only thing I'm waiting on is the High Planes Hobbies (Models) Beaufort conversion set. Looks like I'll be knocking off work early today! 

But don't worry mate, my Taurus powered build is still progressing and I'm happy to say the Eduard masks performed flawlessly... more updates to come. 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Hope it is nice mate,.... I`m really looking forward to a couple of these HPM Beaufort sets.

Looking forward to seeing your updates with the Mk.I,

20 hours ago, dogsbody said:

My PollyS and PollyScale stockpile.

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Chris

Nice mate,..... gotta admit I have a few boxes put away,.... and have a `ready stock' of my most used colours to hand,...... but some of my favourite colours have run out now! 

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A quick update,.....

                            ,..... Well I`ve spent most of the day researching Beaufort camouflage patterns,,,,,, and confirmed that a small number including A6-486 had the usual green and brown colours transposed (some others were A6-488 & A6-700),.....

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As opposed to the more usual scheme where the dark section (green) is towards the front;

beau_fs_045.jpg

 

3844658.jpg

 

so I copied a painting diagram from a High Planes Beaufort and then swapped the colours around,..... then added a first coat of Foliage Green to the model. I did experiment with using Dark Green,.... but it didn`t look right,... when compared to the colours in this period film still,... which also depicts another well known camouflage pattern;

Beaufort_A9-75_from_100_Squadron_3.jpg

 

Here is the model with the diagram mentioned,...;

 

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And added yellow tips to the prop tips plus the front of the hub. 

 

Edited by tonyot
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