Bristol Beaumaris

[kitbasher]

Powered by two Bristol Hercules VI 14-cylinder radial engines, each delivering 1,600 hp (1,200 kW), the Bristol Beaumaris was.....

[PR19_Kit]

Powered by two Bristol Hercules VI 14-cylinder radial engines, each delivering 1,600 hp (1,200 kW), the Bristol Beaumaris was

Yes, and........?

[Mr.Creak]

Powered by two Bristol Hercules VI 14-cylinder radial engines, each delivering 1,600 hp (1,200 kW), the Bristol Beaumaris was

... more difficult to describe than originally thought?

[lancer]

A figment of somebody's fevered imagination??

[kitbasher]

The Bristol Beaumaris was, or rather is, a long-standing whif idea of mine that is slowly coming together.....

[NARSES2]

Teasing us again arn't you 

[Captain Canada]

... more difficult to describe than originally thought?

....A figment of somebody's fevered imagination??

LOL...you guys crack me up ! Looking forward to seeing what it really is !

[kitbasher]

Well I've had the idea for some time, the wings and engines for just a little less time (I'm talking near glacial Kitbasher kitbashing glacial time here), and the fin, rudder and tailplanes for about a year.

The idea has gone through three incarnations so far.  The first involved cross-kitting with something of a different scale, the second involved mating the donor of the fin, rudder and tailplanes to another of the same kit.  That's mating the kits, not with the donor by the way.  The third would have seen cross-kitting with something altogether different and probably would have happened had I pulled my finger out and bought a particular kit at a knock down price in the Modelzone sale a few months ago. But I didn't and so it was back to Plan B.  Doable but frankly probably too much of an effort and it'd never get finished.  Well, not this year anyway.

So back to the original idea and maybe tomorrow I will find I have all of the bits I need.

[kitbasher]

And I do! (birthday present)

[kitbasher]

Powered by two Bristol Hercules VI 14-cylinder radial engines, each delivering 1,600 hp (1,200 kW), the Bristol Beaumaris was.....

.....an Air/Sea Rescue flying boat designed to supplement the Supermarine Walrus.  With a longer range and greater capacity than the 'Shagbat', the Beaumaris was intended to range over the North Sea, South West Approaches and parts of the Eastern Atlantic from English, Scottish, Icelandic and Canadian bases. Longer range ASR missions would continue to be flown by Sunderlands.  The failure of the Vickers Warwick as a bomber, the advent of Lindholme lifesaving equipment and the Warwick's conversion to land-based ASR duties resulted in Beaumaris production curtailed to 200 examples.  An amphibious version - the Beaumaris Mk II - was proposed but did not proceed beyond the project stage.

So here's the Beaumaris deal.  The original idea stemmed from wondering whether a flying boat derivative of the Bristol Blenheim could have been an alternative to the Walrus.  One idea was to plug a planing hull on to an Airfix Blenheim, but this seemed too much like hard work to me.  Idea number two was to graft Blenheim rear fuselage, wings and engines to a cheapo Airfix Sea king fuselage but Holborn MZ had run out of the later by then, and of course closed down.

My first idea - and the one I've come back to - was inspired by the sight of an Airfix 1/144 Boeing Clipper in the SIG display a couple of Hendon's ago, and more recently Rad's Biggles Clipper at SMW2012.

So here's the plan:

• Fuselage - Airfix Boeing Clipper
• Wings, tailplane, most of the fin/rudder, turret and probably most of the cockpit canopy (but not the forward nose glazing) - Airfix Blenheim.  Span will be extended slightly at the wing root.  This will not be double or triple-finned - a single fin and rudder only.
• Engines, props and cowlings - Matchbox Beaufighter, leftovers from my Griffon 'Beaufighter FB.11'.
• Wing floats - modified Airfix Beaver floats.

Not sure about the markings - Temperate Sea Scheme is a given - it's the style of the roundels I'm not sure about.  At the moment I'm pretty sure they will be early 1942 type 'A' and 'A1'.

Leftovers from both kits will either feed another idea I've had simmering away for a while, or form the basis of a wholly new build that's only come to mind recently.  The Beaumaris and this latter idea may be build side-by-side.

So some preliminary chopping has already begun, but I won't get serious until a couple of other builds that are close to completion are actually completed.

[Mr.Creak]

Hmm, can I retract my earlier comment and swap it for
... more interesting than I'd supposed.

Scale-o-rama'd Clipper, nice.
But, won't the Beaver floats be a tad large? Depends on what mods you do though.

[kitbasher]

You're right if they are not 'treated'. Front and back ends to be cut off and reassembled to make shorter floats.

[NARSES2]

This will be interesting. Definately right re period IMHO early 42 sounds perfect for her 

[kitbasher]

I have now segregated the necessary Clipper and Blenheim parts, the engines have been sourced and I'm ready to go!

[kitbasher]

Okeydokey.....

The Beaumaris is an actual build, honest, and work has begun.

Despite comparing scaled Blenheim and Clipper dimensions I must admit to being surprised by the sheer bulk of the Clipper, even in 1/144 scale.  Matching up the Blenheim wings instantly revealed that the span was not quite there - the Beaumaris proportions wouldn't be right so some surgery was called for. Fortunately I'd a spare set of Airfix Blenheim  wingsin h spares box so, with the aim being ensure essential 'Bristolness' of the build I decided to cut and shut the two pairs to get something akin to the Clipper's span.  The first picture compares the components with a Blenheim wing, the second shows one assembled wing with initial lashings of filler:


The Blenheim tailplanes are also slightly too small - and very thin.  I considered using the Clipper tailplane but again, not Bristol enough.  Plan B was to cut and extend the Airfix tailplanes and then I decided to use the remnants of the wings to create new tailplanes of similar span to the Clipper's (Clipper top, new tailplane bottom):


The second wing and tailplane haveyet to be started on.

And to the fuselage.  I've removed the centre fin and I'm in the process of extending it to look like a slightly larger Blenheim fin/rudder.  As far as the fuselage is concerned, all of the Clipper's doors and windows have been fitted and spread with filer - too many tiny windows for a Beaumaris.  A number larger 'port hole' style windows akin to a Sunderlands have been drilled instead.  Finally, the sponson joints have been scraped away, locating tab slots have has scrap plastic fixed to them (on the interior, of course) and wait to be filled.  When dry, the fuselages will be given a good sanding.


The plan for the cockpit is to use the Blenhein interior.  The latter's mid-upper turret will be fitted and I need to find a DF loop fairing from somewhere.  A nose turret is planned, as is an astrodome.