1/48 Sea Beau

[KiwiZac]

As I said elsewhere: the interior of your navalised Beaufighter is inaccurate?

[Old Wombat]

As I said elsewhere: the interior of your navalised Beaufighter is inaccurate?

As I said elsewhere; "Yep"

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.)

The kit came with a solid wall between the cockpit & cabin, with a fairly small hatch lined into the cockpit side. I have, in fact, removed that bulkhead & built a frame replicating a stronger rib section around the vacant space.



Thanks for looking, guys!

[NARSES2]

Nice "busying up" 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Chris!

I've closed her up, now, &, of course, it's almost all invisible deep inside the fuselage. However, if the cockpit canopy remains clear enough when I fit it, the general "busy-ness" will be visible when you look through from the front - which was the general idea to begin with.



BTW: Anyone who has seen the insides of a DAP Beaufighter will know that the heating pipework was not fitted to them because they operated in Australia & the tropics. This navalised version has them as the Navy can be required to operate its aircraft anywhere at short notice.

[kitnut617]

BTW: Anyone who has seen the insides of a DAP Beaufighter will know that the heating pipework was not fitted to them because they operated in Australia & the tropics.

Interesting comment Guy, a bit off topic but when my Dad came over for a visit in the 90's I took him to see the two Lancasters that are nearby (one in Calgary and the other in Nanton). He served in 617 Sqn from '44-46' so had some experience around Lancasters.  We were able to climb through the Nanton one starting at the rear side door and worked our way up to the front, then out the hatch that's under the nose. All the while my Dad would say as we worked our way forward, 'didn't have those' or 'that's an interesting bit of kit'  or 'those were further back' (or forward depending on what it was) and the interior heater the plane had came under close examination with a lot of comments about it. The Nanton Lancaster is a Mk.X BTW as is the Calgary example.

[Old Wombat]

Started working on the wing fold system ... This could take a while!

[philp]

Know how you feel.  I am trying to do a navy F-84G in 72nd scale and still haven't decided what I want to do to the fold area.  The fact that it is a Hobby Boss kit and the wing is solid isn't helping anything.

[Old Wombat]

[sound of wind whistling by at high speed]

Old Wombat:     So far, so good!

[NARSES2]

Good to hear 

[Old Wombat]

This is where I'm at with the wing folds.

Inner wing sections a couple of moves short of done. I have the connections for the outer wing hydraulics & electricals to fit & the tube support for the inner section of the hydraulic ram (the bit that holds the outer wing up when finished).



Once they're done it's on to the outer wings.


Thanks for lookin'!

[kerick]

That looks great! I like the wire

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, kerick!

[PR19_Kit]

That looks very intricate indeed, even in 1/48! 

[NARSES2]

Very impressive 

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Kit & Chris!

I'm hoping it looks a bit better under paint but it does, to me, look reasonably like a simplified/primitive version of the Tracker wing fold that inspired it.