Bid for SMW2008 fame and fortune

[Martin H]

ready in time for the Hendon show? (may31st)

[kitbasher]

ready in time for the Hendon show? (may31st)

This year?
(only joking - I hope so) 

[John Howling Mouse]

When it's turning out this good, let it take as looooooong as it needs to, kitbasher.  This is phenomenal.   

[kitbasher]

Canopy finally masked up (L) and a coat of Humbrol 78 added to represent the interior colour (R).

Masked up Fairey Falcon plus almost finished Matchbox Tempest F.6 - the cause of the delay once I'd decided the Falcon would never be done in time for Telford.

Canopy gets a coat of Humbrol Matt Black (L), and an overal coat of Xtracrylic Night Black is added (R).  My first use of Xtracrylics.  The jury's out on this at the moment.  Used a couple of Revell acrylics (eg, their Tar Black is, I've found, a good base colour for tyres), and they seem OK for relatively minor work.  Guess I'm a dyed in the wool enamels man, or it's just that they work better with handbrushing (which is what I do). 

[Martin H]

im looking forward to seeing this baby on our stand at the Hendon show...pity their real battle is away for TLC

[kitbasher]

So, still a work in progress as can be seen from the photo, but the end is finally in sight.
Most of the canopy masking has been removed.  The nose radar aerial was knocked off by accident, but will be refitted (along with wing leading edge aerials and  afew remaining odds and sods after final painting has been done).
Fuselage and fin markings courtesy of RAFDec 7209, the real T3937 being a Boulton-Paul Defiant covered on that sheet.  These were a dream to apply - thin, stuck down well and generally look the business.  Defiant upperwing roundels are too large for the Falcon, so suitably sized items came from a generic Modeldecal sheet.  Now, I love Modeldecal sheets (I've still a lot to use up), but the two roundels felt - rather surprisingly - much thicker than the RAFDec items, but the latter are more modern and I imagine benefit from advances in production techniques.  When did Modeldecal cease trading - 10 years ago or more?  The little nose emblem, by the way, is my own embellishment - it's a small bat taken from an old Matchbox Meteor night fighter decal sheet.  Just felt appropriate.
Once the varnishing is completed I'll paint up the ehausts, touch up here and there and do a little weathering.  Then it's the backstory and a 'photoshoot'.
Still not convinced about the Xtracrylic 'Night', so when I get round to building my 'Phantom of the Ruhr' Lancaster (a late uncle of mine flew one mission in the 'Phantom' during 1944 when it was on 550 Sqn - so it'll be in 550's colours not BBMF) I think I'll be back to an enamel version.

[Brian da Basher]

Woah that's smashing, kitbasher!!! Love the night scheme!

Brian da Basher

[John Howling Mouse]

The subtle yet noticeable variations in the "black" paint are superb!   

[kitnut617]

Somehow I missed this thread, but this is outstanding kb,  as said further up, it's hard not to think that this isn't an actual kit and I was scratching the old grey matter trying to figure out what kit it was.

I've not got a Battle to compare, but are the wings from the Me.410 very similar to the Battle's ?

[sotoolslinger]

Wow that is very cool.The color is superb looks like eggplant

[GTX]

Damn fine work - what's the proposed armament?

Regards,

Greg

[kitbasher]

Thanks gents for your generous comments, glad you like it.

The subtle yet noticeable variations in the "black" paint are superb!   

Er, I think these are due to slightly streaky brush strokes (sorry).

I've not got a Battle to compare, but are the wings from the Me.410 very similar to the Battle's ?

Actually, not much.  Very similar in span, and chord is similar at the wing root, otherwise not really.  The Me 410 was chosen simply because it seemed to fit, had two engines, and one was going cheap at Scale Modelworld 2007!

Damn fine work - what's the proposed armament?

Four 20 mm cannon under the nose as per Beaufighters and Mosquitos.  On this morning's update you can just make out one of the 2 .303 MGs ahead of the pilot.  I hought it needed the 4 cannon and 4 MG mix that the Beau and the Mossie both had, but wing MGs as carried by the Beau wouldn't work.  I also felt that the nose was too narow for 4 MGs as well as the cannon plus an early AI radar, so kept it to just the pair.
No rearward facing MG either - the Battle had a rear gunner - as the 'scopie' faces the front (see 16 September's post).

[Ed S]

Looking good.  You did a great job on the canopy framing.



Ed

[kitbasher]

The only bit of the radar that was in the nose of the Mosquito NFII and the early Beaufighters was the arrowhead aerial.  Everything else was in the cockpit or elsewhere in the airframe.  You'll also need a pair of aerials at each wingtip going through the wing (see the destructions on the Tamiya Mossie NFII to see what I mean).

Afraid I don't agree with you entirely here, mon brave.  My original plan was to do exactly as you suggest regarding the radar antenna to be in keeping certainly with the Mossie NF.II but not always the Beau If night fighter.  I've checked numerous sources (looking for photos only) and while some certainly did only have the 'Christmas tree' array, I've found more Mk If's with the leading edge dipoles than without.  Here's a few:

From what I can gather they were a feature of AI Mk IVA radar (late 1940 onwards), so it is conceiveable that aircraft without the dipoles were fitted with earlier AI sets (maybe even the Mk IV before the IVA became available?).  My understanding is that the dipoles facilitated elevation and azimuth sweeps to be undertaken by the AI, thus reducing the reliance on Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) in the final throes of a night intercept.  The nose array was a transmitter and receiver, but clearly limited in performance on its own.
With regards to the wing tip aerials these are, I believe, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) aerials.  Common to the Mossie as stated - and indeed the Meteor - but less so on earlier Beaus it seems, and where fitted were raked backwards rather than being vertical.
The markings as originally intended (ie for the Defiant) were carried in 'late 1941'.  Given the origins of the Fairey Battle are closer in time to the Beau than the Mossie I think it would be more appropriate to keep the Falcon closer to the former as well.  So I can go one of two ways with the radar - with or without the leading edge dipoles.  Were I to put the Falcon in the late 1940 frame I'd not fit them, but if I stay with late 1941 I think they are appropriate.  Yet to make my mind up.
As for the IFF aerials, I minded to omit these as can I find very few photos showing these as fitted.  Instead, I would contend that many Beaus had IFF cables fitted from the mid-fuselage point to the leading edge of the tailplane tips.  My recollection of early IFF was that it was basically a signal booster, the frequency of which could be adjusted to suit those of air defence units so that the 'friendly' radar response was much stronger than the enemy radar returns.  This was before the days of selectable aircraft codes and the birth of Secondary Surveillance Radar as we know it today.  So I think this is the way I'll go with the IFF aerials - replicate the cables.

You'll also need some flame dampers - I've plenty of spare Lancaster ones from the Revell kit.

D'oh!  Of course!  How could I have not thought of that!!  That said, I'm sure I've seen the odd picture of Mk II Beaus without the shrouds, but don't recall where.  A trawl through my ready references only throw up drawings of shroudless Mk IIs which could easily be in error (for whatever reason), whereas in all of the small number of photos I can find (plus those on the internet) they've all got shrouds fitted.  I'll try and make some before taking you up on your offer.

Looks good, but I'd add some kill markings and possibly some nose art.

There is already nose art - as mentioned in the update.  Kill markings are a good idea and I'll rustle some up on the PC.

All of the above got me thinking about the need for a gas detector panel, but I have concluded that these would not have been carried in late 1941
Good feedback, thanks.

[kitnut617]

You don't think then that as radar was a very secret subject back then, that the 'censor' guy hadn't been and "touched-up" a large number of the "Official" photos of nightfighter Beaus so they didn't show any aerials to give the game away.  The photos that are emerging now are more from personal collections than from the official standpoint.