Building the new 144th scale Beacon Models Spitfire Mk1 and Bf-109E

[Tim R-T-C]

 

Finally had a chance to the get the Beacon Models Spitfire and Bf109E onto the bench.

 

Having followed this project since day one I had great expectations and I can genuinely say that these models completely lived up to them.

 

 

From the glossy and clear instructions to the high quality parts breakdown and easy assembly, these kits are easily comparable to the Sweet, Platz and Eduard mouldings, which are typically considered to be the best available in 144th - but with the added benefit of having richly detailed cockpits too, which Eduard and Sweet in particular typically lacked at all and not requiring photoetch.

 

 

Finely detailed seats, accurate cockpit wall protuding detail, visible panel instruments and even a representation of the Spitfire control column will definitely reward a little careful painting. It is only a pity that the canopies cannot be posed open as provided. Hopefully someone will provide vacform options soon to help show off the beautiful interiors.

 

 

The kit boxing only comes with one scheme for each aircraft at present (although with great detail including stencils), but in the plastic there is a great selection of options including multiple props and later the cannon wings for the Spitfire and different bomb loads and even the E-1 wings for the Emil.

 

 

Beacon have released a generic sheet of letters and codes and other suppliers like Mark 1 offer a selection of suitable decals in scale so there are loads of scheme possibilities readily available in the aftermarket.

 

I'll be making my first two models into an early Mk1 Spitfire and a Bf-109 E-7 Trop using decals from the Sweet Fabric Wing Hurricane set and Armory 109E Mediterranean boxing.

 

 

Assembly was so simple that both planes were on their legs within a couple of hours, even allowing for cockpit painting and research. A little seam line filler will be needed but it is a world away from the all-filler Mark 1 Spitfire 14s and Armory Emils.

[Tim R-T-C]

Progress on the Spitfire Mk I

 

 

As I am making this into an early war model, it was my first chance to try the iconic, but short lived, white and night underside scheme.

 

 

As I am brush painting primarily, I dusted the underside with white from a Tamiya rattle can earlier this week to give an easier base to work on.

 

The two tone scheme was hand painted without masking, so a little rough on the divide, but meant I could speed up progress and as the plane will be permanently affixed to the vignette, the underside won't be directly visible.

 

 

An undercoat of brown has also gone down on the upper, ready for the rather odd looking RAF B scheme camouflage for this particular marking.

[TonyOD]

Not my scale but I'm curious to see what Beacon have done with 1/144, and will follow with interest. I did Revell's ancient 1/144 Spit around Christmas (not quite completed but it will be hanging on the three Christmas '23) and there wasn't a lot in the way of detail to speak of! I wonder if there is a place for Beacon as the "Eduard of 1/144"?

[Graham Boak]

They look very nice indeed, bar the excessive panel line detail which I presume is being somewhat exaggerated in the close-up photos.  It's one thing to have visible lines around moving controls or removable panels, but those representing structurally-fixed parts wouldn't be visible in this scale.  Ah well, that's what Mr Dissolved Putty is for.

[TonyOD]

6 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

It's one thing to have visible lines around moving controls or removable panels, but those representing structurally-fixed parts wouldn't be visible in this scale.  Ah well, that's what Mr Dissolved Putty is for.

 

Probably 99 out of 100 modellers would be happy to live with it, for the sake of something to make the look the model look more interesting? I'm not sure I'd have much joy getting some wash to stick in accurately rendered panel lines at 1/144 scale 😁 Or maybe there's a middle ground to be found.

[Tim R-T-C]

Thanks for the comments. Panel lines are a contentious topic in 144th, as discussed they shouldn't really be visible in the scale and some kits have lines so authenticity deep that they disappear under a layer of paint and will never take a wash properly.

 

But then a kit without them looks wrong - afterall look at all the larger scale Mustang kits that come with panel lines when authentically they were puttied smooth on almost every example.

 

The Beacon Models panel lines are definitely overcooked and the designers admitted this, but its balanced out by a well designed kit and from a standard viewing distance they are not obtrusive.

[TonyOD]

Like I said, not my scale… but I’m definitely going to end up building one 😁

[Graham Boak]

2 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Thanks for the comments. Panel lines are a contentious topic in 144th, as discussed they shouldn't really be visible in the scale and some kits have lines so authenticity deep that they disappear under a layer of paint and will never take a wash properly.

 

But then a kit without them looks wrong - afterall look at all the larger scale Mustang kits that come with panel lines when authentically they were puttied smooth on almost every example.

 

The Beacon Models panel lines are definitely overcooked and the designers admitted this, but its balanced out by a well designed kit and from a standard viewing distance they are not obtrusive.

No.  A kit with them looks wrong.

[TonyOD]

18 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

No.  A kit with them looks wrong.

That’s purely a matter of opinion, surely? 

[cmatthewbacon]

Personally, I think all such statements should come with a mandatory "...to me." at the end. It's absolutely "eye of the beholder" stuff. You can say empirically that a completely accurate scaled down 144 (or 48, or 72) times smaller aircraft "wouldn't have panel lines this deep or wide" (or sunken rivets come to that). But whether a model _looks_ wrong or right with them is down to the looker...

best,

M.

[Graham Boak]

If you can see something which shouldn't be present then this is not a simple matter of the eye of the beholder.  If you happen to like this artificiality, then I agree that is subjective and up to you.  Having a liking for things doesn't make them right.  The current Airfix Spitfire Mk.9 is quite a nice kit (if not inspired) but the wing is too broad and hence messes up the proportion of the nose/tail.  Many modellers don't notice it or don't care but that does not make it right.  Not everything only exists in terms of opinions.

 

However, a simple statement that "X looks right", without justification, should indeed be qualified - or at least answered by "No, it doesn't", if it is wrong.  Which is what happened here.  

[Tim R-T-C]

Well then, we'll agree this kit looks wrong because it, like 99.9% of modern kits, has panel lines, but there you go. 😉

 

Green paint applied last night, decals next.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Tim R-T-C

[k5054nz]

I imagine if one doesn't flood the poor thing with a wash as so many seem fond of then in person the lines would be much more palatable than the photos suggest, but I've not had the good fortunate to see the kit in person.

 

It's wonderful to see this kit being built after following the development for so long.

[Ngantek]

Great work on these, they look really nice. The eternal panel line battleground continues; I will say that in person, I thought they looked just a tad in your face, but nonetheless lovely looking models. I'd rather have them than not to be honest, I think it's easier to go the other way if one wants to remove them, but then that might just be because my scribing is horrific.

 

On 24/02/2023 at 08:15, Tim R-T-C said:

Panel lines are a contentious topic in 144th

This I can readily believe; really if one wants them, there's no perfect solution, since the physical realities of surface tension and so on require a certain minimum size as has been said. Models always look like models, especially at this scale, so it's really is a question of what looks better to the eye of the beholder; excessively highlighted panels or a toylike uniformity. 

 

On 14/02/2023 at 09:29, Tim R-T-C said:

From the glossy and clear instructions to the high quality parts breakdown and easy assembly, these kits are easily comparable to the Sweet, Platz and Eduard mouldings, which are typically considered to be the best available in 144th - but with the added benefit of having richly detailed cockpits too, which Eduard and Sweet in particular typically lacked at all and not requiring photoetch.

This is great to hear. I've been really impressed by Sweet and Platz kits (Eduard are Platz reprints, no?) . Frankly I'd have grabbed this kit if it were a subject of more interest to me, so I do hope it works out for Beacon. 

 

Great work so far, I'm kinda astonished how flawless that paint is, hand brushed and at this scale.

 

Andy

[Johnson]

They look like lovely kits Tim, and I'll second Andy's comment on the brush work, superb on the Spitfire.

 

A question however, one for the 109 experten possibly? If this is a BoB scenario, should the Bf109E-4 have a tropical filter (that I think I can see)? If not, relatively easy surgery to remove.

 

Cheers,

[dnl42]

Looks very nice! 

 

I'm hoping they'll sell just the Spitfire.Also looking for more subjects.

[Tim R-T-C]

15 hours ago, Ngantek said:

Great work on these, they look really nice. The eternal panel line battleground continues; I will say that in person, I thought they looked just a tad in your face, but nonetheless lovely looking models. I'd rather have them than not to be honest, I think it's easier to go the other way if one wants to remove them, but then that might just be because my scribing is horrific.

 

This I can readily believe; really if one wants them, there's no perfect solution, since the physical realities of surface tension and so on require a certain minimum size as has been said. Models always look like models, especially at this scale, so it's really is a question of what looks better to the eye of the beholder; excessively highlighted panels or a toylike uniformity. 

 

This is great to hear. I've been really impressed by Sweet and Platz kits (Eduard are Platz reprints, no?) . Frankly I'd have grabbed this kit if it were a subject of more interest to me, so I do hope it works out for Beacon. 

 

Great work so far, I'm kinda astonished how flawless that paint is, hand brushed and at this scale.

 

Andy

 

Thank you 😊

 

Eduard did make their own kits in 144th, very high quality exterior details but some like the Ju-87 and Spitfire IX show their age and lack cockpits entirely. More recently they did release some Platz sprues in limited edition baggings. All are now sadly out of print and rare to find.

 

On the panel lines, I am going to finish these two models with no filler and no wash to see how they look once painted and varnished. All my models are built with model show table display in mind, so a nice 30-150cm viewing distance, interesting to see how they compare to other models at that distance.

 

Some modellers have been experimenting with putty in the panel lines and the results do look good.

 

11 hours ago, Johnson said:

They look like lovely kits Tim, and I'll second Andy's comment on the brush work, superb on the Spitfire.

 

A question however, one for the 109 experten possibly? If this is a BoB scenario, should the Bf109E-4 have a tropical filter (that I think I can see)? If not, relatively easy surgery to remove.

 

Cheers,

 

Thank you 😀

 

The 109 kit actually comes with enough plastic parts to make all the main Emil variants, the topical filter is a seperate part I fitted because I am making mine into an E-7 Trop. The sprues even include an alternative wing for an E-1 without the gun barrels.

 

11 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Looks very nice! 

 

I'm hoping they'll sell just the Spitfire.Also looking for more subjects.

 

Thanks 😁

 

I belive some bagged editions with just one or the other are going to be available soon. There are many future projects planned but all reliant on sales of this first release.

[RichieW]

Overstated panel lines or not I think the models have great charm and you are doing a terrific job. 

 

Richie

[Tim R-T-C]

The Spitfire is on a temporary hold because I need to order some different decals for the letter codes.

 

 

I had a shot at paint on the Emil and discovered that the Ak 3rd gen RLM79 (1941) is very very yellow!

 

Really not sure if this is going to need a complete repaint 🙄

[Johnson]

11 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

the Ak 3rd gen RLM79 (1941) is very very yellow!

It does look a bit bright for sand Tim. Bit naughty of AK! Hopefully you'll get it sorted.

Cheers,

[Tim R-T-C]

 

 

Fortunately I managed to knock the yellow back considerably by blending the two AKI RLM79s to make a more yellow earlier version of the colour, without the bright yellow of the pure tone they provide. 

 

 

 

Undersides decalled so far.

 

 

 

Meanwhile on the Spitfire, my Mark 1 Decals letters arrived for the 24" codes.

 

   

 

These were combined with the excellent stencils from the Beacon kit. You can see in contast the much thicker roundel which was purloined from an old Sweet Aviation Models kit and has nasty edges, but hopefully will be reduced by decal softener and a varnish coat. 

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Tim R-T-C

[Johnson]

14 hours ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Fortunately I managed to knock the yellow back considerably by blending the two AKI RLM79s to make a more yellow earlier version of the colour, without the bright yellow of the pure tone they provide. 

A great improvement Tim!

[Tim R-T-C]

 

Got these two back on the bench at long last. The 109 had decals fitted without any issues and matt varnished. Canopy and matt varnish on the Spitfire too.

 

 

I fitted a canopy to the Emil. I decided to try the three part posable canopy provided in the Armory kits as the Beacon model is just a single piece. Although width and depth are the same, the Armory canopy is about 1mm shorter, leaving a fractional gap. This won't be very noticeable on the open canopy, but would preclude using one of their closed canopy parts.

 

 

I also fitted the final parts to the Spitfire including the lovely two blade prop.

[Tim R-T-C]

 

Making a vignette in the desert

[Tim R-T-C]

 

I've posted an RFI for the Spitfire, now featuring delightful three wheel fueller.