I've finally managed to get comfy enough in my new job to start spending a few nights a week plodding along with a new kit, and i mean plodding. This my first build of 2021 and we are already two months in! Time just keeps going by faster and faster, it's already Feb 2021, crazy man. I was going to jump into another 109, a G6 with an early Hartmann scheme - pre tulip nose, but the more i looked at the Beaufighter kit, the more i wanted to unbox it..so i did, and pushed Hartmann aside.
The box art paint scheme doesn't do much for me and neither does the other option included in the instructions so i started looking for something a bit more interesting ...and in my internet travels i came across this interesting scheme, which is the only actual pic i can find of this particular aircraft, as well as some profiles.
The box art paint scheme doesn't do much for me and neither does the other option included in the instructions so i started looking for something a bit more interesting ...and in my internet travels i came across this interesting scheme, which is the only actual pic i can find of this particular aircraft, as well as some profiles.
On first sight i knew this was the one i wanted to paint. Many hours of research hasn't turned up much excepting that it was serial LZ293 that was eventually with 236Sqn in march 1944 and crashed near Davidstow Moor a/f Cornwall in august 1944.
I have before seen the colour scheme referenced as an anti u-boat scheme used by a/c based at Davidstow moor, although, it may just be the coastal command scheme. Note the strip around the wing root. This was red doped fabric to seal the joint between fuselage and wing fairing. Not a well known fact.
One other bit i dug up is that this plane below is supposedly the same plane after a repaint...and before it's crash, obviously. And that is about it. Unfortunately i have no Beaufighter books in my collection and there just does not seem to be much info on the net about this plane at all.
The kit doesn't come with the needed Yagi Array, the ASV (Air to Surface Vessell) shown in the image above of LZ293 in the air, what's a Yagi Array i hear you ask..?
Some (extremely minor) research turned up this
If anyone is interested there is a bunch of links in THIS really interesting thread about early ASV Radar and Yagi arrays.
I should be able to make that up fairly easily and i'll also need to add the directional finder and glass canopy for it just aft of the cockpit. Besides that i've milliputted up the 6 extra mg ports in the wings and tamiya puttied them, smoothing still to be done. I'm going with a two tone top camo that i haven't done as neatly as say my spitfire in the same colours and changing the white to cover the complete top engine nacelle section, just because i think it adds interest..and looks cool I've also mucked around a bit with preshading colours as i want her to be a bit daggy and have a workhorse look about her. The underneath and side work i have done is possibly too dark and may require a lot of thin white coats to cover it, but i'm in no rush, and i would like patches of it to show through.
I should be able to make that up fairly easily and i'll also need to add the directional finder and glass canopy for it just aft of the cockpit. Besides that i've milliputted up the 6 extra mg ports in the wings and tamiya puttied them, smoothing still to be done. I'm going with a two tone top camo that i haven't done as neatly as say my spitfire in the same colours and changing the white to cover the complete top engine nacelle section, just because i think it adds interest..and looks cool I've also mucked around a bit with preshading colours as i want her to be a bit daggy and have a workhorse look about her. The underneath and side work i have done is possibly too dark and may require a lot of thin white coats to cover it, but i'm in no rush, and i would like patches of it to show through.
The taping has begun. I started taping on Monday night and planned to have that finished and get some white down this week but have not managed to find the couple of hours i need. Weekend just rolled in though so i should be able to start whitening her up tomorrow morning, after bacon and eggs of course.
Filler finished and the white down, it all looks a bit over exposed at the moment, especially under the lights.
Plenty of little things done in the last little bit. I always feel like i am doing things back to front or in the wrong order..but i suppose it keeps me busy. The wheel bay sides needing a spray of colour, that i should have had done prior...required more funding to the Tamiya tape division.
Test fit of the undercarriage, they are still to be final weathered and need some clean up.
Torpedo, seams filled and ready for prime and paint. I don't know if the actual aircraft ever carried a torp owing to there seemingly being only the one pic floating around the net, and that shows it in a rocket configuration. I like the torp, so she's getting one :)
Engines weathered and fitted
Checking out how it all looks so far test fitted up.
Work on the Yagi begins. Some left over bits, dissected and rejoined.
Fuselage and wing fairing red dope colour applied, Tamiya red with some hull red mixed in to darken.
Even Robert Citino approves of the colour scheme!