Paul's Black Friday Beau **FINISHED**

For SMW 2016, the CC SIG will be staging a diorama representing the infamous 'Black Friday' raid on the Norwegian coast on February 9th, 1945.

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PaulBradley
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Paul's Black Friday Beau **FINISHED**

Post by PaulBradley »

One of two a/c I shall be building for the CC SIG Black Friday display is the Airfix 1/72 Beaufighter. Not sure which a/c or squadron as yet, but there's no need to be too concerned prior to the painting stage and I'll sort that out shortly. All the aircraft in the display will be mounted on poles 'in flight,' so no need for undercarriage, but this does mean I'll need to add a way to mount the model.

Assembly has been very swift - the wings were built in about 5 minutes, complete with closed undercarriage bays. The parts not used in this build will go in a baggie in my Matchbox Beau's box for later use! Fuselage was also quite simple, my only concession to an upgrade was to use a Yaku instrument panel, which is a significant upgrade on the kit part (sorry, I forgot to take photos...). Just a minor seam on the top of the fuselage to deal with.

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The mount is my standard procedure for these things - a length of soft aluminium tubing cut with a pipe cutter. Holes were made in both the cockpit floor and fuselage underside and these were slightly offset so that the model would exhibit a slightly nose down attitude when complete:

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The tubing was inserted into the fuselage and is held in place with superglue. The end of the tube protruded slightly from the bottom of the model and this was simply sanded back then blended in with filler.


With the fuselage complete, the wings were attached - there were irritatingly small gaps on both roots that couldn't be ignore - Perfect Plastic putty was used as a filler:

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The tail surfaces were also added using superglue, and so at this point, I have a complete basic airframe:

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Another quick modification is to the wingtip light housings. I used a mini hand drill to drill small recesses into the backside of each housing, then I filled those recesses with a dot of red paint for the port wingtip and green for the starboard one - instant 'bulbs!' The housings were superglued into place then sanded to shape. Result - seamless wingtip and light housings with coloured 'bulbs.'

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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by JamesPerrin »

The gaps are surprising on on of Airfix's more recent tools. Even the wing chord looks greater than the roots.
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

They are - and all the more surprising given the glowing reviews I've seen. :roll:
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by JamesPerrin »

Shrinkage? We know that main production has been done by a different company than the initial batch sometimes.
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by TomW »

JamesPerrin wrote:Shrinkage? We know that main production has been done by a different company than the initial batch sometimes.

Could well be James, I know that my example from the pre-order batch didn't show those issues. Great progress so far Paul :-D my Beau is at approximately the same stage so I'll open a thread this weekend.

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Tom
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2016 A:B = 29:11
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2014 A:B = 25:9
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2011 A:B = 39:11
2010 A:B = 51:10
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

Cool - let me know what decals you want; see the chat thread. :grin:
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

First coat of Sky on the undersides:

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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by ShaunW »

Very nicely done Paul, this is coming along a quite a pace!
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

Cheers, Shaun - it's an easy kit to build fast!
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

Another coat of Sky, followed immediately by a slightly darkened mix for post-shading; this applied more heavily on the rocket blast plates and around the cannon muzzles and link ejector slots:

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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by TomW »

That is a fine looking underside Paul ( oo'er missus :lol: ) You're right about it being a great kit to build quick, almost as if it was meant for modellers to build multiples of :ha:

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Tom
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Coastal Command SIG Leader 2012 - 2016

We'll call him Dinghy Watts...... - Paul Bradley

2016 A:B = 29:11
2015 A:B = 38:14
2014 A:B = 25:9
2013 A:B = 20:17
2012 A:B = I didn't keep score
2011 A:B = 39:11
2010 A:B = 51:10
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

A base coat of EDSG:

Image

Need to do some faded areas, post-shading and add some areas of patchy finish.
Paul

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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

Second, slightly lighter EDSG coat added in a slightly random and patchy manner:

Image

One further lighter coat to be added in certain patches, then I'll need to touch up the Sky undersides.
Paul

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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by TomW »

Looking really smart Paul :grin:

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Tom
Veni, Venari, Vamoosi

Coastal Command SIG Leader 2012 - 2016

We'll call him Dinghy Watts...... - Paul Bradley

2016 A:B = 29:11
2015 A:B = 38:14
2014 A:B = 25:9
2013 A:B = 20:17
2012 A:B = I didn't keep score
2011 A:B = 39:11
2010 A:B = 51:10
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Re: Paul's Black Friday Beau

Post by PaulBradley »

Cheers, Tom. The contrast between the faded and non-faded areas doesn't stand out as much as I'd like, but I'll be adding another slightly lighter patchy coat to hopefully remedy that.
Paul

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