dwomby Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 There were almost 6,000 Beuafighters built in WW2. The RAF mainly retired theirs soon after the war except for target tug duties. However, 2 squadrons - 45 and 84 - used them in the first few years of the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960 )when the Royal, and Royal Australian, Air Force waged war on communist terrorists. RD784 was named "Winnie the Pooh" and had been with 84 squadron but is depicted here after her transfer to 45 squadron. The Beaufighters, with 4 20mm cannons plus 8 rockets and 2 bombs, must have been quite formidable ground attack machines but probably had a hard time finding their targets in the overgrown jungles of Malaya. I replaced the poor Matchbox cowlings with ones from the Aeroclub set for the Lancaster B.II and carb intakes from a C-47, moulded a new rear canopy and scratchbuilt the stacked rocket rails that seem to be unique to these Operation Firedog Beaufighters. The squadron codes were white paint masked with EZ-Mask lettering, the serials are off my inkjet and the name on the port nose is handpainted (poorly). The problurs were made using artwork by James Perrin. Her paint was pretty patched up towards the end of her time with 45 squadron. I have tried to roughly represent her condition rather than accurately reproduce it. David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
floridaplastic Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Great model !!!! I think the Beaufighter is beautiful since I was a kid....... yours is terriffic !!!! Wow...... HOW did you make those prop-blurs please???? Friendliest regards John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dwomby Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 12 hours ago, floridaplastic said: Great model !!!! I think the Beaufighter is beautiful since I was a kid....... yours is terriffic !!!! Wow...... HOW did you make those prop-blurs please???? Friendliest regards John Thanks, John. I'm not sure of the etiquette re. posting links to other modelling websites on here but, hoping it's ok, this is the link you need to get to the artwork by James Perrin. Note they are for personal use only. https://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=27313#p27313 I use software to resize them to match the prop I need and then my inkjet to print them on clear overhead transparency sheets. It took me a few tries to get the scaling process right and also to find the right thickness of overhead transparency to be stiff enough but not too obvious. I cut them out of the sheet using an OLFA circle cutter. I usually just glue them between the spinner and cowling but for this one I cut small circles in the centres of the propblurs so they would sit the right distance out from the cowling. If you have any problems, let me know. David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Beautiful work man! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
floridaplastic Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 David my friend-in-models, Thank You Thank You Thank You........ an absolute gentleman; then too most likely a highly knowledgeable and specialized modelling scholar 🙂 (at the least) !!! Your technique explanation is clear as a bell...... and thank you for the link to the artwork. When I first saw your build I couldn't understand how you could print on smooth & glossy plastic, or especially how the plastic could go through a printer. Now I get it; naturally "clear overhead transparency sheets", already made for printers, are the answer you came up with ----- brilliant! Can you please share what you found to be "the right thickness of overhead transparency" for this purpose? Have you found the thickness needs to change as each scale difference increases the the size/diameter of the circle? Again, many many thanks. I look forward to hearing back from you. Friendliest regards, John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dwomby Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 (edited) 51 minutes ago, floridaplastic said: David my friend-in-models, Thank You Thank You Thank You........ an absolute gentleman; then too most likely a highly knowledgeable and specialized modelling scholar 🙂 (at the least) !!! Your technique explanation is clear as a bell...... and thank you for the link to the artwork. When I first saw your build I couldn't understand how you could print on smooth & glossy plastic, or especially how the plastic could go through a printer. Now I get it; naturally "clear overhead transparency sheets", already made for printers, are the answer you came up with ----- brilliant! Can you please share what you found to be "the right thickness of overhead transparency" for this purpose? Have you found the thickness needs to change as each scale difference increases the the size/diameter of the circle? Again, many many thanks. I look forward to hearing back from you. Friendliest regards, John John, Thanks. I only build in 1/72 and the thickness I have has been fine for all I've built so far. This is what I have. It's 4.5mil thick. it does flex but seems to stay pretty much flat when on the models. I expect other brands would work just as well. I think I got this off Amazon. A word of warning - they look like a shiny disc if the light catches them. The photos I take are angled to minimize that but in the display case, you will see it sometimes and they look a bit silly then. Here's a few more examples of the propblurs. David Edited April 21, 2022 by dwomby Quote Link to post Share on other sites
floridaplastic Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 David my friend, super super super. 4.5 for 1/72....... gotcha. I went to the link you gave me for the artworks and it too answers a lot of questions. Now for me to get over nervousness at a new technique and 'give it a go'. Thank you again! Happy modeling amigo. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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