A few pics of my lame excuse for a master pattern for the Revell Beaufighter kit. As the fuselage floor is the most critical (and strongest) part of the aircraft, this is where I shall start. You'll all get the general idea...the pattern is only partially complete, and is posted here to give you all some impression of how it will eventually appear in-situ. I have yet to make the actual escape hatch interiors, and detail the floor surface.
I had a look at the Duxford Beaufighter (DAP Mk.21) last Sunday, and took lots of pictures of the areas that I needed to know about. One thing I have established, is that the rear crew escape/entry hatch is in the wrong position on both the Revell kit, and the SAM Datafile drawings! It is too far forward, in fact, it is pretty well represented as being directly underneath the observers/gunners seat. This cannot be so, otherwise, it could not open. The front of the aft escape hatch is nearly central to the seat, but the aft edge of the hatch is quite a bit further back (I would guess approximately another 6.0 mm or so aft, I shall have to verify this). So be warned, check the photographs carefully, and don't rely on the kit panel lines or scale drawings (unfortunately, I fell into this trap, and at the time only having the kit and no accurate reference material, decided to use the kit hatch position as my datum for the rear hatch - it is incorrect, so I shall now have to rework the pattern, as it is wrong in this respect
). The forward pilot's escape/entry hatch appears to be in about the right place, so I have gone with the kit dimensions on this one.Cheers
Derek
