406 Sqn. Beaufighter Nf.II, Airfix and Alleycat marriage.***FINISHED 03/10/2021***

[DaveyGair]

When I get the Blenheim and a Hurricane I'm doing nearly done here's what I'll be doing next.

I have already done a Mk.II using this conversion kit and it went without a hitch.  

Not sure about the Dihedral Tail-plane shown in the drawing for the colour scheme, pretty certain it would have been a flat tail-plane. The only (fuzzy) photo of this aircraft I have come across on the 'net has the tail cut-off! If anyone has the book mentioned in the details, 'Fighter Squadrons of the RAF, John Rawlings, Crecy books and can verify this I'd be most grateful.

 

Davey.

 

 

Previous build.

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Wow.. that does look nice and s possibly an easier way to get a Mk.II done rather than tackle the HPM kit (for me that is!). 
I’ll look forward to seeing how you get on with it, but don’t do too good a job… my Beaufighter stash is at four already!! 
Cheers.. Dave 

[dogsbody]

The only photo I've ever found of a Mk.II with dihedral tailplane. From the SAM Modellers Datafile book.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

[DaveyGair]

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

The only photo I've ever found of a Mk.II with dihedral tailplane. From the SAM Modellers Datafile book.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

 

Yeah that's the only clear one I've found.  According to 'Modellers Datafile' book on the Beaufighter both types of tail could be found on the Mk.II, I just can't be definitive on this. Need someone who has the book mentioned in the decal sheet instructions @tonyot?

 

Davey.

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, DaveyGair said:

 

Yeah that's the only clear one I've found.  According to 'Modellers Datafile' book on the Beaufighter both types of tail could be found on the Mk.II, I just can't be definitive on this. Need someone who has the book mentioned in the decal sheet instructions @tonyot?

 

Davey.

I don`t have that book sorry,...... but a lot of later Mk.II`s were retrofitted with the dihedral tailplane,........ quite a few of the Royal Navy Beau Mk.II`s had it fitted including the one that I depicted in my own marriage of the Airfix kit with the Alleycat set;

 

By the time the dihedral tail was being introduced most Beau II`s were used in 2nd line roles as trainers or with the RN as fleet requirements target trainers for gunners,..... so they were photographed less!

Here is another photo,... maybe another view of the photo that Chris posted,..... still with radar fitted,.... the tail is a lighter colour;

 

 

 

Cheers

           Tony

Edited June 23, 2021 by tonyot

[DaveyGair]

Thanks Tony, I'd just like to know if the reference in the book that High Planes used has a clear photo of the tail-plane.

I might just use the Airfix Dihedral tail and keep the Resin set for another kit, although I don't think I'll be doing another Airfix one soon as I still have two MPM Hasegawa boxings and a High Planes Mk.1 to build, so that'll be 7 Beaufighters I'll have in the collection!

 

Davey.

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, DaveyGair said:

Thanks Tony, I'd just like to know if the reference in the book that High Planes used has a clear photo of the tail-plane.

I might just use the Airfix Dihedral tail and keep the Resin set for another kit, although I don't think I'll be doing another Airfix one soon as I still have two MPM Hasegawa boxings and a High Planes Mk.1 to build, so that'll be 7 Beaufighters I'll have in the collection!

 

Davey.

Sorry Davey,.... didn`t read your request from the start properly,..... just from where I was mentioned,...... well I`ve dug out that book,..... the full photo is in the book,.... but the tail is cut off,....... judging by other sqn aircraft and the early date,..... I would go for the flat tailplane pal. 

[tonyot]

Here is a link to a 406 Sqn RCAF Beau,.... looks like the aircraft you are doing,..... but I cannot read the serial in your pics;

https://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/rcaf-fighter-squadrons-overseas/406-squadron-combat-report-30th-september-1941/

[DaveyGair]

1 hour ago, tonyot said:

Here is a link to a 406 Sqn RCAF Beau,.... looks like the aircraft you are doing,..... but I cannot read the serial in your pics;

https://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/rcaf-fighter-squadrons-overseas/406-squadron-combat-report-30th-september-1941/

 

Cheers Tony, I saw that photo on the 'net, the model is R2238, the photo reads R238*, maybe the decals are wrong?  It is also hard to see if that tail-plane is level or actually has a dihedral, just judging from the shadow it seems to angle up slightly from the root.  Apparently Serials R2052 to R2479 were Mk.I/II (R2052 being the prototype) so the one in the photo is definitely a Mk.II

I'll make a decision when I get round to building it.

 

Davey.

[Learstang]

I have this conversion combination (AlleyCat + Airfix) so I'll be watching your build with interest. I decided to do this conversion after badly glueing together the wings on the Airfix kit, whereby I put an irreparable bend in the wings. The interesting thing is I did this after correctly glueing the wings on an earlier Airfix Beaufighter. Oh, well, the NF.II is an interesting version of the Beau.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Seahawk]

For once you may have photos of the same aircraft.  Rawlings' Fighter Squadrons... 2nd Ed (p.426) shows the port side: code presentation M-HU, date Feb 42.  Tail not in shot.  The Juno Beach link Tony provides shows the starboard side: code presentation HU-M.  The latter photo also appears in Simon Parry's Beaufighter Squadrons In Focus (p.73), where the serial is clearly legible as N238x (you can blame F/L Johnson for standing in the way of the last digit).  That photo is dated as 15 Sep 1941 at Acklington.  Although, again, the tail is not in shot, a photo of HU-Z (serial obscured) taken at the same location on the same day shows clearly that it has a horizontal tailplane.  I think you're far safer with a horizontal tailplane than a dihedral one.

 

PS Mr Highplanes' eyesight is considerably better than mine if he can be sure HU-M has unshrouded exhausts from the photo as reproduced in Fighter Squadrons, either 1st or 2nd edition.  On balance, I think he's probably right but I couldn't be dogmatic about it: photo is from a distance and the weather appears to be drizzle.  None of the photos of 406 Sq Beaufighters in Parry's book show the exhausts.

[rob85]

I really want to build  this conversion as well so you can show me how first!

 

just been in the Hereford model shop and they are now stocking hobby 2000 kits, it looks like the beau 1f they do will be back in stock soon! So need one and another airfix kit with the conversion set so can start ticking off all the marks!

 

Rob

[tonyot]

Hope you are getting on OK with this one mate. 

[DaveyGair]

12 hours ago, tonyot said:

Hope you are getting on OK with this one mate. 

 

Haven't started yet mate, going to finish the Blenheim Mk.1 I have going on here then I'll make a start 

 

Davey.

[2996 Victor]

Hi Davey,

 

I'll be following this build as well, if I may? I've got several Airfix Beaus in my stash, and I can quite easily see one becoming a Mk.II. Quite fancy an FAA example like yours, but it'd be good to find some more info on them. Otherwise, it'll be the ubiquitous all-over Night NF Mk.II!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[DaveyGair]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:42 PM, 2996 Victor said:

Hi Davey,

 

I'll be following this build as well, if I may? I've got several Airfix Beaus in my stash, and I can quite easily see one becoming a Mk.II. Quite fancy an FAA example like yours, but it'd be good to find some more info on them. Otherwise, it'll be the ubiquitous all-over Night NF Mk.II!

 

Cheers,

Mark

 

Welcome mark, I am now getting going with this, the last one went quite quickly  and I'm hoping this one is the same.

 

So, kicked off with assembling the interior, installing the side consoles and tail-wheel ready for interior Green. 

I still can't definitively discover if this had a flat or dihedral tail-plane, I bought the early conversion kit the same time as I got the Mk.II conversion so will use the flat tail-planes correct or not!

More soon.

Davey.

 

 

[2996 Victor]

Really looking forward to seeing your progress with this, Davey!

 

I've got the AlleyCat conversion on order now, I've gone for the "late" version with the shrouded and six-stack exhausts options. I think I've decided on a Polish 307 Sqn night-fighter.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[DaveyGair]

Been a while since doing any airplane modelling, spent the last month going down another 'Rabbit hole' (as my wife puts it!) and getting into the 'Bolt Action' miniatures game, having always been interested in Wargaming since the 70's.  I've painted 105 individual figures (as well as assembling the multi-part plastic ones), plus vehicles and heavy weapons.

 

Anyway, realised this GB is nearly finished and I want to get this Beaufighter finished.

So far I've assembled the fuselage after painting the interior and adding belts.  The wings were cleaned up, there is a ridge along the trailing edge that needs to be dealt with, maybe it's to ensure the edge is thin enough although it's not THAT fine.

You will notice the spars need trimming down before fitting, the indents in the resin wings are there but not deep enough.

 

 

The wings aren't a bad fit to the fuselage, the upper join line is good, the lower not quite as good but a bit of filler will sort that out.

They were joined with Rapid-Epoxy, being fairly hefty.

 

 

I haven't ended up using the resin tail-plane, I was disappointed with the thickness, which varies from one side to the other and I tried to thin it down but it would take forever and lost all the panel lines.

I decided to use the kit parts suitably 'modified' into straight tail-planes. The angled edges for the rudder have yet to be adjusted.

 

 

 

 

 

More soon.

 

Davey.

[AdrianMF]

Nice work on the tailplanes. When I used an Airfix Beaufighter to help out my FROG Beaufort (before the Airfix one came out) I was surprised how straightforward it was to convert the early dihedral tailplanes into the even earlier flat ones.

 

Looking good!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[DaveyGair]

On 9/23/2021 at 12:59 AM, AdrianMF said:

Nice work on the tailplanes. When I used an Airfix Beaufighter to help out my FROG Beaufort (before the Airfix one came out) I was surprised how straightforward it was to convert the early dihedral tailplanes into the even earlier flat ones.

 

Looking good!

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

Cheers Adrian.  I nearly used a pair from one of the two CMR(Hasegawa) boxings I have but will need those for the two I have planned to build, so went for the surgery on the Airfix parts.

Here's where we are so far. The airframe's together, just a bit of filler here and there before attaching the clear parts, masking and a coat of Black primer.

More soon.

 

Davey.

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveyGair]

Bit more done since Monday. Got the paint on and have started bringing all the parts together.

Cleaned up the prop hubs and individual blades, gear doors and exhausts, ready for paint.

The Mk.1 conversion kit has the early type one-sided spoked wheel hubs which all the photo's of Mk.II's I've seen are fitted with.

The Airfix main gear are a direct fit into the wheel wells with a little thinning around the legs to go into the square location holes (the wings seem to be a copy of the kit parts with modified nascelles).

I Glossed parts of the Airframe to take the decals, of which I have made a start. The High-Planes decals have a 'spotty' appearance on the Varnish layer which I'm hoping will disappear under Gloss and Matt coats.

I've done my usual cock-up of removing the canopy masks before applying the final Matt coat! Good job there's not many of them here!

More soon.

 

Davey.

 

 

[DaveyGair]

On 6/23/2021 at 6:33 PM, Seahawk said:

For once you may have photos of the same aircraft.  Rawlings' Fighter Squadrons... 2nd Ed (p.426) shows the port side: code presentation M-HU, date Feb 42.  Tail not in shot.  The Juno Beach link Tony provides shows the starboard side: code presentation HU-M.  The latter photo also appears in Simon Parry's Beaufighter Squadrons In Focus (p.73), where the serial is clearly legible as N238x (you can blame F/L Johnson for standing in the way of the last digit).  That photo is dated as 15 Sep 1941 at Acklington.  Although, again, the tail is not in shot, a photo of HU-Z (serial obscured) taken at the same location on the same day shows clearly that it has a horizontal tailplane.  I think you're far safer with a horizontal tailplane than a dihedral one.

 

PS Mr Highplanes' eyesight is considerably better than mine if he can be sure HU-M has unshrouded exhausts from the photo as reproduced in Fighter Squadrons, either 1st or 2nd edition.  On balance, I think he's probably right but I couldn't be dogmatic about it: photo is from a distance and the weather appears to be drizzle.  None of the photos of 406 Sq Beaufighters in Parry's book show the exhausts.

 

Just thought I'd reply to this as I've just discovered a photo on the interweb, it's on the 'ww2aircraft.net' website which I can't copy a link to.

Is this the one in the book? It definately shows unshrouded exhausts.

 

 

Davey.

 

[jackroadkill]

This is looking very smart now.  That black finish is very fetching.

[2996 Victor]

Hi Davey,

 

I'd just like to add that this is looking very nice indeed! I've got plans for a similar build, so I'm watching intently. The whole conversion seems to be beautifully engineered and well-fitting.

 

I know what you mean about canopy masks..... 

 

Cheers,

Mark

[rob85]

On 10/1/2021 at 5:54 PM, DaveyGair said:

Bit more done since Monday. Got the paint on and have started bringing all the parts together.

Cleaned up the prop hubs and individual blades, gear doors and exhausts, ready for paint.

The Mk.1 conversion kit has the early type one-sided spoked wheel hubs which all the photo's of Mk.II's I've seen are fitted with.

The Airfix main gear are a direct fit into the wheel wells with a little thinning around the legs to go into the square location holes (the wings seem to be a copy of the kit parts with modified nascelles).

I Glossed parts of the Airframe to take the decals, of which I have made a start. The High-Planes decals have a 'spotty' appearance on the Varnish layer which I'm hoping will disappear under Gloss and Matt coats.

I've done my usual cock-up of removing the canopy masks before applying the final Matt coat! Good job there's not many of them here!

More soon.

 

Davey.

 

 

Very menacing, and very cool