1/48 Sea Beau

[AS.12]

It is stunning, if a little to extreme in weathering for me, but looks really odd standing on 'tippy-toes'.  I'd have expected him to weight-bulge the tyres the little.

[PR19_Kit]

The wing fold hinges are outstanding! 

[zenrat]

Nice work but I agree about the pre shading and weathering.

Did I read somewhere (possibly here) that the trailing edges of propeller blades in reality suffer more chipping than the leading?

Not on Grumman Trackers, they didn't. There was a generally even chipping across the whole face of the blade & leading edge. Where there was almost no chipping was the back of the blade (the "face" of the blade being the bit that bites into the air as the blade is turning, the "back" is the reverse of that side of the blade & is the bit that can be seen when viewing the aircraft from the front).

Thanks Womby, that makes sense.

Interesting.  Painted as a Target Tug.   Too much counter-shading and weathering for my liking though but well executed.     

I wouldn't disagree, but it's a lovely model 

I also find the colour of the cowl rings interesting as they tend to come down more on the "side of the fence" I find myself on. Although I see them more of a darker bronze colour, but it's things like that that enliven this hobby of ours 

I like shiny polished copper/brass/bronze cowl rings.  From a purely aesthetic PoV.  I know they might not be accurate but IMO they contrast nicely against drab military coloured satin or matt finished paint work.

[Old Wombat]

No shiny bits on mine, all will be camouflaged, & I do next to no shading & try to keep panel lines to a minimum, & usually only those panels which are removed/opened frequently for maintenance.

[NARSES2]

I like shiny polished copper/brass/bronze cowl rings.  From a purely aesthetic PoV.  I know they might not be accurate but IMO they contrast nicely against drab military coloured satin or matt finished paint work.

As do I. A lot of people will say they were a very dark, almost black, metallic shade, but I still use an old tin of Antique Bronze from Humbrol's Authentics range.

[Old Wombat]

Waiting for "Home & Away" to finish, so I can venture back out to the modelling site.

Should be able to get the detailing work done to the decal stage, minus the Eduard 1/48 Ammo Belts 12.7mm which are working their way towards me via AusPost.

[NARSES2]

So she's having 0.5" in the wings instead of 0.303" ?

Talking of guns. Shouldn't that Beaufighter target tug model have its wing guns sealed as well as the 20mm cannon ports ?

[Old Wombat]

So she's having 0.5" in the wings instead of 0.303" ?

Nope, the wing guns are being deleted & the ports will be faired over.

[NARSES2]

Right so the navigator gets one ? Or do I have to hold my horses and wait and see ? 

[Old Wombat]

Right so the navigator gets one ? Or do I have to hold my horses and wait and see ? 

You got it!

The Nav/RO's Vickers K gun is being replaced with a Browning .50cal to give him a bit more bite than bark.

[NARSES2]

Sensible and I'm surprised it wasn't done in the real world. Or was it on the DAP built examples ?

[Old Wombat]

Sensible and I'm surprised it wasn't done in the real world. Or was it on the DAP built examples ?

I thought so but the actual DAP Beaufighters just had the bubble canopy for the Nav/RO without the gun.

[NARSES2]

Ta 

[Old Wombat]

It's taken a bit longer than planned but that's normal.

Here are the internal mod's done so far. Still waiting on ammo belts & .50cal MG, whilst wondering if I should fork out for some resin seats.









A bit rough & spectacularly inaccurate but suitable for "busying up" the inside.


Cheers!

[Snowtrooper]

From the looks of it, the fuselage is a big open space but the bulkhead between the cockpit and the rest of the plane seems to be solid? Always thought there would have been access to the cockpit from the inside too. (Could be the perspetive fooling me though.)