Airfix 1/72 Bristol Beaufort Mk.1 - No. 22 Squadron RAF Coastal Command, circa April 1940

[Rabbit Leader]

By some strange stroke of luck, Airfix’s brand new tool Bristol Beaufort kit landed on Australian shores first. I therefore decided to take this rare opportunity to start a Work in Progress thread to help showcase what those clever folk at Margate have just offered us. The WIP (found here) is a little long winded, however I’ve tried to discuss what’s in the box and some of the issues that I came across whilst building this new kit. Most (if not all) of these issues were my own doing and I cannot stress enough how important it is to find and align the engine locating tabs in order to assemble these units correctly. 
 

Although Airfix provide two lovely and historically significant 1941 era colours schemes, I decided to deviate slightly and back dated my build to an early 1940 Beaufort. During this period many Coastal Command aircraft wore an Aluminium undersurface with ‘Type A’ fuselage roundels and No. 22 Squadron was the first unit to equip with Bristol’s Beaufort at around December 1939.  By then the war was only months old and I can imagine the crews relief when they gladly gave away their obsolete Vickers Vildebeests for what would have been an ultra modern aircraft design. 
 

This new tool Airfix build is as OOB as you can practically get. The only addition was an Eduard Seatbelt for the pilot and I lashed out and bought a set of Eduard masks to help with the clear glazing... honestly, I cannot recommend this enough, I only wish they were a fraction cheaper! Decals are either from the kit (which are excellent) or from my ever growing decal bank. Main paints used were Gunze Lacquer Grey Green, AK Real Colour Dark Earth, Tamiya RAF Dark Green and decanted Tamiya AS-12 Airframe Silver for the underside. Clear coat(s) were a mix of Tamiya Semi Gloss and Flat Clears thinned with their own Acrylic Thinner. The torpedo carrier has been ‘borrowed’ from a stashed Airfix Swordfish kit and is used essentially as a prop for No. 22 Squadron was mainly dropping mines at this early stage of the war (not operational with torpedoes until September 1940). 
 

So here’s a series of final glamour and WIP photos and I fully expect to see plenty of these being build in the up and coming Bristol Group Build (starts 12 June). This is a brilliant kit, the overall fit is superb, it has adequate detail throughout and once assembled really captures the graceful lines of Bristol’s Maritime strike bomber. Go out and get a couple, if we’re really lucky Airfix might just upscale this to a 1/48 Aussie Mk.VIII. 
 

Cheers and regards.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Farmerboy]

May l be the first to say how superb that is, top notch modelling, good job!

[Doc72]

Looks great, well done!

[Stew Dapple]

She's a beauty Dave, good work  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[PhantomBigStu]

Terrific work Dave

[Zigomar]

I like it! Nice built!

[IanC]

A neat and crisp build, as they say. Nicely displayed too. 👍

[Max Headroom]

That’s a bit special👍
 

Trevor

[dogsbody]

Dave, that looks awesome! Very well done.

 

There's a lot of info there to help me if/when I start mine.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[bigbadbadge]

Great work on this fabulous kit, you have a wonderful model there Dave, congratulations. 

Chris

[JWM]

Very nice result really.

Regards

J-W

 

[noelh]

That is a fine build of that kit. I haven't given in and bought one yet but it's getting harder to resist the urge. 

[Michael51]

A great build and a very informative WIP,

 

Michael

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

Love it Rabbit. Saw this kit on Amazon this week and was rather tempted. Your photos are very nice! I liked the aluminium underside scheme you picked too. It it a type I've not heard of until very recently. Sort of a cross between a Hamden, Beaufighter and Blenheim! Guess it may have been almost obsolete on the outbreak of war ..? Did it become Me109 fodder? 

 

Beautifully done Sir!  My compliments and thank you for showing it! 

 

 

Regards, Andy

[jackroadkill]

Nice job, Dave - she's come out really well.  Your colour scheme and markings look great.  I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did mine.

[occa]

That's totally perfect, build, color job, the slight weathering - everything is just right.

[dogsbody]

19 minutes ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

 Guess it may have been almost obsolete on the outbreak of war ..? 

 

Not obsolete! It had just entered service in 1940.

 

 

 

Chris

[IanC]

16 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

 

Not obsolete! It had just entered service in 1940.

 

 

 

Chris

 

Yes, state of the art in 1940 and great things were expected, but like so many other designs at the time it was soon left behind by the pace of development. Less than two years later the Beaufighter was taking over the strike role.

 

Shipboard flak was the main killer, rather than fighters.

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

Thanks gents for the additional information. I had a look at this plane and yes  torpedo attack profile was... suicidal almost! Brave guys indeed who flew them! 

[Dunny]

Superb finish Dave, and a most entertaining build. I only wish I could get my grubby paws on one (or two!)

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[BerndM]

Awesome work. Looks like Airfix has produced a real quality kit.

[Winenut]

That looks superb Dave

 

Really nice build and finish

 

It's rather good to be able to see quite a reasonable amount of the interior detail through the nose, cockpit and turret glazing

 

Congratulations!

 

Bruce

[Greg Law]

Well done Dave well worth the time and effort. 

[Jeff G]

A great finished product, I’ll miss following along! Fingers crossed for a 1/48 (we’re never satisfied are we?!)

[noelh]

12 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

Thanks gents for the additional information. I had a look at this plane and yes  torpedo attack profile was... suicidal almost! Brave guys indeed who flew them! 

Aeroplane magazine back in the eighties ran a series of articles by Roy Conyers Nesbitt on his Beaufort experiences. The casualty rate was horrendous. He also wrote a number of books on the subject. Somehow he survived but a lot of his comrades did not.