jRatz Beaufighter Strike Force -- Airfix 1/72

[JohnRatzenberger]

Progress has been made, but work is now halted for Hurricane Irene prep ....

Mustang wings are mated to fuselages and filler applied where needed. I'm going to take down rivets & panel lines because I was "somewhat indiscriminant" when I sanded the main seams down ... Then tails added.

Beaufighters will also be sanded for same reason, then wings and tail added. I have one with a really bad underside, so it got lots of filler and will carry the torpedo. I'm afraid the wing roots aren't even as a result but I'll force & filler my way out of that. I haven't started the engine/nacelle remake yet.

[Martin R]

John,

Keep you and yours safe. Good luck!

regards,

[bluesteel]

Great work so far John. But I didn't know Coastal Command Strike Squadrons operated Hurricanes, let alone called one Irene?

But seriously, batten well down and stay safe...

[Dirkpitt289]

Good luck with Irene. Can't wait to see more of this most excellent build!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Added to the usual problems is a hurricane, but I have gotten a little more done ....



No, these are not overwater -- it's a glass porch table ... and the odd shadows are various posts, etc on the porch ...

Tomorrow, maybe Beaufighter tails and some filling/sanding ....

I did, belatedly, discover the Airfix Beaufighters do not have cannons underfuselage and will have to now drill some appropriate holes ... Aaargh !!! Why didn't I catch that earlier ???

[Martin R]

John,

Firstly, given the curve ball that Mother Nature threw you, and the goal of completing 7 separate aircraft, I think you have accomplished a commendable amount.

Re Beau underfuselage cannon, why not just paint some masking tape a red oxide colour, slap it on where the cannon troughs are situated, and say that the 'erks' have covered the troughs with doped fabric? It worked for me on the Airfix Beau GB.

regards,

[JohnRatzenberger]

Here they are, all primered ....




Next step is to clean up any major flaws and polish down the primer. I've been researching colors. The Beaufighters are simple dark grey and sky. I found that Mustangs were supplied in US equivalents, but sometimes (partially) unit repainted in Brit colors, so I think I'll have a couple variations.

[Dirkpitt289]

That is a sharp collection of plastic you got going on there. I'm loving this build

[bluesteel]

Looking very good indeed. I like the water effect. Hmmm.... I wonder how much it would cost to ship your porch table to Telford too?

[JohnRatzenberger]

Looking very good indeed. I like the water effect. Hmmm.... I wonder how much it would cost to ship your porch table to Telford too?

Monetary cost isn't relevant .... it's the damage I'd take from SWMBO if I even mentioned that ....

BTW, do you want drop tanks on the Mustangs or not ???

[bluesteel]

Looking very good indeed. I like the water effect. Hmmm.... I wonder how much it would cost to ship your porch table to Telford too?

Monetary cost isn't relevant .... it's the damage I'd take from SWMBO if I even mentioned that ....

BTW, do you want drop tanks on the Mustangs or not ???

Although they often dropped their tanks on starting combat, they did go up to the point of combat with them still attached. There's a nice account here:

http://www.polishsquadronsremembered.co ... 30_44.html

It appears they didn't drop their tanks in this instance until right at the point of entering combat as, even though nearly empty, as it might have given away their position in the sun. So if we are depicting a dogfight, then no tanks, if just up to the point of combat - tanks. Maybe a couple with tanks, one jettisoning and another without

But of course we'd need a few Me109s/Fw 190s in the dio for that...

[JohnRatzenberger]

Today I started opening up the nacelles ... ok so far.

I spent some time on paint selection, realizing that I have few if any US colors to use as equivalent; I may just use the standard RAF colors on the Mustangs unless someone has direct equivalents for
ANA 613 OD
ANA 603 Sea Grey
ANA 602 Lt Grey

[JohnRatzenberger]

Nacelles are opened up, cowl flaps are sanded into closed position.
Now working getting the engines to fit -- have to sand down cylinder heads and lop some stuff off the back.
Pix tomorrow.

[Martin R]

Nacelles are opened up, cowl flaps are sanded into closed position.
Now working getting the engines to fit -- have to sand down cylinder heads and lop some stuff off the back.
Pix tomorrow.

John,

Keep going! Those Beaus are going to look soooo much better with your mods to the cowlings. Pics when convenient, please.

regards,

[JohnRatzenberger]

Here's the nacelle and engine work.



I used my Dremel (it's well over 30 years old, BTW) with the cone-head to open a hole in the Airfix engines, then the round-head to further open the hole, then lastly the cylindrical-head for the final push. After I cleaned out the plastic, I put in a tube of coarse sand-paper and twisted it to make the hole as even and round as possible. They are not perfectly circular, but .... I had to sand off the tops of the cylinder heads to get them to fit into the nacelles, then lop off all the parts on the back. After that, Interior Green inside the nacelles, Tamiya SG-Black on the engine, followed by a steel dry brush on the cylinders. Oh, yes, I used a razor saw to cut along the cowl flap lines, then sanded them flat to the nacelle so they look closed .... One day I'm going to have to ponder why so many kits came with open cowl flaps ....

Then they got glued on ....




Next up should be to start painting ....