1/32 Revell Bristol Beaufighter Pt. 1

Gallery Article by Ryan Gay on Mar 24 2014

 

 

I have been building models for a long time, and have been visiting this website for many years. I decided it was time to submit an aircraft. The one I chose is to date the most difficult one to build since I've started building as a kid. I finally decided I had the nerve to undertake the daunting task of correcting it. I knew from the beginning it would require research, time and patience to complete this kit. I'm sure there are resin and photoetch kits I could use to produce a more exact aircraft, but nothing can replace the feeling of accomplishment when one does all the scratch building. 

I wanted to know how long it took me, and how many new pieces it would take to finish this Bristol, so I kept track of all the data. The moulds were produced in 1974, and this kit was injected in the 90's. Suffice it to say, this is an older kit. I spent 140 hours researching and building this aircraft, using an additional 557 pieces. I put 96 of them in the engines, 449 in the interior, I had to put 8 cables and brakelines on the wheels, and added the 4 guns to the aircraft.

I usually start building my aircraft with the first step, afterwards I build how I feel it should go using the directions as a guide as opposed to law. I do this, because I am always correcting and changing my models. Starting with the engines, as the directions said, I already saw the first corrections. I needed to make the pipes (they are always missing) and I believe the two small parts on the front are the governors. I cannot be certain about that. Each "governor" consists of 10 small pieces and a bit of putty to make the form I copied from a picture. Aside from styrene tubes and sheets, I used copper wires, Tamyia putty, tissue and extra sprue from the kit as material for the extra pieces. None of the colours I used are direct from the bottles of Tamyia, Vallejo and Hobby Color. I mixed and thinned all of the colours to create the exact tone I required. A few years ago, I discovered a wonderful product by AK interactive, which replicates fuel stains, grease and a number of other problems machines get from the weather. I used these products to assist me in the process of aging my plane. 

Even though I show the pictures of the exhaust dampeners with the engines, they were the very last thing I built. It took me a while to figure out what to do about them. I was very reluctant to build them myself. Each dampener consists of 24 pieces. I almost left the original pieces, but after all the work, I couldn't in good conscious leave the inaccurate kit parts. The colour is a mixture of copper, steel, aluminum, black, and brown. After I mounted the dampeners on, I weathered a bit more with charcoal. 

 

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As it always is with wheels, the cables are missing on the struts. I had to cut and correct them slightly and added the brakelines. I could not find a good picture of the wheel wells online spending lots of time looking. I finally found exactly what I was looking for; after I finished the model. Since I didn't want to just research the wheel wells, and I wanted to finish the model, I just left the original pieces. I knew they were wrong, but there was not much I could do about that without reference. 

Because I used so many different layers and colours on my parts, I came up with a different approach for weathering. I tried it first on the wheel wells before I did it on the interior. After I painted the base colour, and the main colour, I used a q-tip and with it I rubbed off layers of paint gently with water. I wanted to create a "rub-off" effect that is often visible on older painted objects. I like the effect. It can be powerful to make a realistic effect when used correctly. 

Picture number 21 are all of the original interior pieces. There are 11 pieces. They are all wrong. So wrong in fact, I cannot fathom what was going through the die makers mind when building the die of the aircraft. It doesn't take much to make the interior even slightly more accurate. I believe all these older models were about the same though. Before, the models were toys, and now - artwork. 

I started with the navigators seat, as I wasn't ready to tackle the pilots seat yet. I scrapped the entire navigators pod, and built everything myself from picture reference and my best guesswork. Control boxes, cables, the radio, seat, navigation controls, com-system, ribbing for the structure, seat belts and instrument panel were all missing. I tried to envision how the radio operator went about his business, and weathered the area accordingly. 

In part two of my article I will explain the pilots seat, and the exterior work I had to do along with the painting and weathering of my aircraft. 

Ryan Gay

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Photo 21

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Photos and text © by Ryan Gay