PeterB Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 Hi, Due to having perhaps too many builds on the go I was rather late starting my Beaufort for the Bristol GB, but should have finished it before the deadline had I not fallen ill. As it was I had to suspend work for a while but have now started again albeit rather slowly. For the record this it the box. And this is as far as I managed to get. Like other modellers I struggled a bit with the engines. Having to paint them before assembly made it difficult to find the alignment marks and if I were to do another one I would try and paint the various parts during/after assembly if I could but I got there in the end. I also struggled a bit with the nose glazing though I suspect that was mostly down to me being clumsy. As a result I have one or two "steps" that should not be there, but I was too under the weather at the time to bother. Anyway, I am a little better now though still not firing on all cylinders, and am still waiting for the docs to decide exactly what is wrong with me. I was going to leave this for the KUTA but I am worried that I might have a problem getting the Eduard masks off if I leave them much longer - they have been on 6 weeks already - so here is how it looks now. The unpainted bit on the top is the big D/F loop in the folded position - later versions had a non retractable version, sometimes in a streamlined fairing. Next up the rest of the undercarriage, and the various bits in the bomb bay. Not actually a lot to do I guess. Cheers Pete 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 Nearly there now Peter looking good so far, I hope you feel better soon . Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 25, 2021 Author Share Posted October 25, 2021 So do I Chris - it is rather tedious at the moment! Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 Hopefully its all onwards & upwards for you now Peter, with this & with yourself. Looking forward to seeing this progress but taking care of yourself trumps this. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 Glad you're able to be back at your bench; the kit is a lovely build and yours looks great. I'll look forward to seeing it completed, and hope your health issues are resolved soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 I finally managed to prepare the bomb bay for carrying the torpedo. The "open" doors in the front and rear extension were a ruddy fiddle but I managed in the end - next up the rest of the undercarriage. Pete 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 Compared with the speed I was building two or three months ago, progress is glacial, but at least I am moving again, unlike last month! The u/c looks tricky but is actually not that bad and stronger than I expected. I had a slight problem with the rear support struts as they were a very tight fit between the various bits in the bay I fitted at an earlier stage - my alignment of those is clearly not quite right and that could cause problems with the wheel doors judging by comments on Dave's WIP thread posted when the kit first came out. Speaking of which I have just re-read that thread and it seems several modellers had problems with the front/rear bomb bay extension doors and they thought Airfix had got the numbering wrong so that could explain why I struggled a bit! Now I have a small problem deciding on which actual plane to model. I had intended to build N1016 OA*X from 22 Squadron which torpedoed the Gneisenau in April 1941 but I have not as yet found any pics of it. Airfix say that it had the rear firing gun under the nose but the illustration in the Warpaint book shows it without, though that may not be accurate. Pics of 22 Squad aircraft I have found also have no gun but they are from the earlier "L" serial batch and undated. I know the gun did not prove very effective and was apparently prone to problems with the ammo feed, so was not always fitted , and was eventually removed ( 22 seem to have preferred a gun in the nose glazing to try and supress flak), but that leaves me having to decide to either take a guess as to whether it was on this plane on that night, or else change the markings for one I do have pics for, either with or without the gun. Any thoughts out there - maybe somebody such as @tonyot or Chris @dogsbody has a pic of this plane in their archives? Cheers Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 (edited) 23 minutes ago, PeterB said: Compared with the speed I was building two or three months ago, progress is glacial, but at least I am moving again, unlike last month! The u/c looks tricky but is actually not that bad and stronger than I expected. I had a slight problem with the rear support struts as they were a very tight fit between the various bits in the bay I fitted at an earlier stage - my alignment of those is clearly not quite right and that could cause problems with the wheel doors judging by comments on Dave's WIP thread posted when the kit first came out. Speaking of which I have just re-read that thread and it seems several modellers had problems with the front/rear bomb bay extension doors and they thought Airfix had got the numbering wrong so that could explain why I struggled a bit! Now I have a small problem deciding on which actual plane to model. I had intended to build N1016 OA*X from 22 Squadron which torpedoed the Gneisenau in April 1941 but I have not as yet found any pics of it. Airfix say that it had the rear firing gun under the nose but the illustration in the Warpaint book shows it without, though that may not be accurate. Pics of 22 Squad aircraft I have found also have no gun but they are from the earlier "L" serial batch and undated. I know the gun did not prove very effective and was apparently prone to problems with the ammo feed, so was not always fitted , and was eventually removed ( 22 seem to have preferred a gun in the nose glazing to try and supress flak), but that leaves me having to decide to either take a guess as to whether it was on this plane on that night, or else change the markings for one I do have pics for, either with or without the gun. Any thoughts out there - maybe somebody such as @tonyot or Chris @dogsbody has a pic of this plane in their archives? Cheers Pete Sorry Pete,.... I don`t have a photo of that particular Beaufort. Don`t know if any of these are of use? Cheers, Tony Edited November 2, 2021 by tonyot 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 All I have is this, from the IWM: ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: COASTAL COMMAND (CH 17131) 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. Copyright: ? IWM. Original Source: <a href="http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205218926" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205218926</a> Chris 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 (edited) Thanks for trying Chris. To date I have not found any pics of 22 Squadron machines with the gun under the nose, and it is a bit too late for me to add the one in the upper glazing. I think I will build it as per the box but without the ventral gun rightly or wrongly - and of course as soon as I wrote that Tony produced pics showing one or two that did - think I will just go and swear at stroke one of the cats!😁 Both "L"serials but no dates? Probably modify the decs I think just to be safe. Pete Edited November 2, 2021 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, PeterB said: Thanks for trying Chris. To date I have not found any pics of 22 Squadron machines with the gun under the nose, and it is a bit too late for me to add the one in the upper glazing. I think I will build it as per the box but without the ventral gun rightly or wrongly - and of course as soon as I wrote that Tony produced pics showing one or two that did - think I will just go and swear at stroke one of the cats!😁 Both "L"serials but no dates? Probably modify the decs I think just to be safe. Pete Pete,.... there are some 22 Sqn Beaufort`s with the under gun in the pics I`ve posted mate,..... just above!! Oh you`ve seen,..... LOL! Sorry I don`t have dates,.... but they were at North Coates apparently. Edited November 3, 2021 by tonyot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 3, 2021 Author Share Posted November 3, 2021 No problem Tony and thanks for the help. I have spare 36" grey codes which are about the same colour but have a rather wider "stroke" than the Airfix ones, but then so do most of the ones in the pics I have seen, so they should be OK. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 Here's the rest of the IWM's Beaufort photos: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=Bristol Beaufort&pageSize=&media-records=records-with-media&style=image Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 The undercarriage is now finished and it is starting to look as if I will complete this before too long assuming I can get the ruddy masks off - they have been on a long time so lord knows what I will find underneath! I suppose Airfix have been quite clever with the wheel bay doors - they have long tabs which are meant to slide down between the outer wall of the well and the inner support frame and have locating pips to glue on the the frame, but the clearance on this build was, as anticipated, too tight. However a few strokes of my trusty file sorted that. In the original Bristol GB build thread I mentioned that the torpedo tail "wing" was a bit of a fiddle to fix as there was very little contact surface to glue it to. In the real thing it was a flimsy wood or perhaps thin metal construction and was intended to break of on impact witht the sea, and I gather that on some designs of air dropped torpedo the tail unit was in fact just pushed in place - in the other version of the markings Airfix provide it is painted brown so probably that one is meant to be wood. Clearly the intention was that the horizontal wing made the torpedo hit the sea at the correct angle - too steep and it would go deep or even hit the bottom, and too shallow would cause it to at best bounce off course and at worst break up. The vertical endplates would presumable help to keep it straight when gliding down. So the only other major work is the assembly and fitting of the Bristol B.IV turret and the fuselage fairing. Cheers Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 Whilst waiting for the paint and glue to dry I have been reading up about the top turret. According to my book about British turrets, back in 1934 Bristol designed their first power operated mount which was pretty simple. It was based on a vertical pillar, on top of which the gun(s) were mounted and was located in a bearing at the bottom so it could rotate. The gunner sat on a glorified bicycle seat which was fixed to the pillar and rotation and elevation/depression was provided by hydraulic rams. This basic structure was used both in the Bristol B.I turret on the Blenheim and the B.IV on the Beaufort and can be seen in the kit parts. On the Blenheim the B.I was totally exposed to the slipstream though it could be partially retracted, but on the Beaufort it was largely protected by the forward fuselage so the structure was able to have lighter framing, or so the book says. The original Beaufort turret was the B.IV Mk.I which had one gun but the kit has the later B.IV MkIE with two. I mentioned previously the WIP thread Dave started when the kit was first released and it shows builds by several modellers, and this turret is one of the things discussed as being potentially a problem. Like their Defiant kit Airfix made it to be just dropped in place but in this case it is then partially covered by the fuselage fairing, and several colleagues felt it could be hard to mask and also likely to get damaged, particularly if the fairing had to be filled and sanded. Several suggestions were made such as cutting off the lower part of the mount as it would not be seen anyway, or modifying the construction sequence but I am going to try and do it as per the instructions – rightly or wrongly. I decided to remove the Eduard masks after painting as I was not sure I would be able to get at them later once the turret was in place. I will use some tape to mask it during spraying on the finishing varnish coat. Cheers Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 Ok, it's not perfect but not too bad. Bit of touching up then I will start on the decs. Pete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Looks very nice Peter, thanks for the info re the turret. I look forward to seeing the decals on and hope those masks come off okay too. Great work Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 It’s looking super. Glad to see it (and you!) back on the move. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 9, 2021 Author Share Posted November 9, 2021 Well. the decs are on. I will give it a quick coat of flattish varnish and then see how I get on at removing the masks - I have left offf the various aerials etc so I can get at them easier. If and when they are off I will apply liquid mask, add the remainng bits, and give it another spray. Pete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 9, 2021 Author Share Posted November 9, 2021 (edited) As expected it took a bit of doing but I managed to get the Eduard masks off without losing any windows! Probably as well I did not decide to leave it until the KUTA next month or I might really have struggled after they had been on 3 months and overpainted several times. In fairness they worked very well and I only had to touch up a couple of the frames. As you can see all the remaining bits are on and once they are painted I will apply liquid mask to the glazing and spray a finishing coat of varnish. The paintwork could be better but I am quite pleased with it - so far. I am going into hospital for more tests on Wednesday so, depending on what happens I should get this finished this week. Cheers Pete Edited November 9, 2021 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 Great work Peter, it looks good, glad the masks came off okay. Good luck for your medical appointment too. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 The paintwork could be better (the green is not as "blue" as it looks in the pics) and there are one or two small fit problems, but they are probably down to me not the kit which is pretty good. It has been a bit of a struggle as I explained earlier, but I am pleased with the result. Cheers Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Looks nice, Peter. The Beaufort and Vulcan are only just now beginning to land on our western shores. -d- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Looks great Peter - worth the wait! Good luck with your medical stuff too. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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