Cees Broere Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Hi all, I confess, somehow I am not happy sticking shake and bake kits together. I tried the Trumpeter Swordfish (great fit, good detailing) or the Special Hobby Buffallo (lousy kit, bad fit). I was stuck. Recently I came accross the old seventies vintage Revell Beaufighter, It hit me and hit me hard. This was what I was looking for. But, wrong canopy (old style) and wrong tailplane (flat). This was the solution, converting the thing, hacking away at it etc. etc. And that is what I have been doing for the past week or so. Waiting for Derek to finish his conversion set was not an option (sorry Derek) So I will have to do it myself. I haven't made my mind up yet to make a Mk VI or a Torbeau using the Swordfish' torpedo. Somewhere along the line the solution will show itself, I think. Don't you just love these old but still sound kits. Here are the first pics showing the converted tailplanes, the span had to increased as well and of course I wanted seperate control surfaces. The wingtip lights were made by using thick perspex ( a leftover from the Halifax cockpit), drilling some holes, glue with superglue and then sand away. But it is fun fun. Hope you like it. Cees sandokan 1
sandokan Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 :goodjob: wip to be followed, sure! very interesting. Well starting
Daywalker Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 I too have begun to take a shine to these older kits! Love the lines of the Beau, and am looking forward to seeing more of your work!
A.Wolf Grant Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Excellent - I love Beaufighters so will happily follow along. Grant.
Derek B Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 Great work Cees. I am delighted that you are making and modifying this kit - I have seriously been considering making something very similar for the AOOB GB.
LSP_Ron Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Excellent, I agree these old Revy kits are still fun to upate and modify. I have enjoyed my Mossie kit so far. Keep posting Cees, On a tangent, did you ever start that FM Halifax kit I sent you?
Out2gtcha Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Will follow along here as well, since I have the Lodela Torpbeau with the vac alternate stabs, and vac Torpedo. Will need some hints for the spartan interior as well....
Cees Broere Posted July 5, 2012 Author Posted July 5, 2012 Hi Ron, Yes, that one is still underway, some pics I posted in the converting a Lancaster into a Manchester thread. Fuselage ready to be closed, wings and tail finished. Brian, Any pics of the Lodela parts? Some years ago I saw the boxing of this version but didn't buy it a the time. Always wondered what the additional parts looked lik. Cees
Out2gtcha Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 (edited) Brian, Any pics of the Lodela parts? Some years ago I saw the boxing of this version but didn't buy it a the time. Always wondered what the additional parts looked lik. Cees Sure.............. I get off work in few hours, and will be going home to get some zzzzzzs, so in the next day or two Ill dig the kit out and take some pics of the vac parts. Cheers Edited July 5, 2012 by Out2gtcha
Cees Broere Posted July 5, 2012 Author Posted July 5, 2012 (edited) Some more progress, Two pics showing the seperated and lenghtened horizontal tail surfaces. Some more filling needs to be done then details such as stitching, actuator arms etc added. This evening I finished the small louvres inside the carburettor intakes, a vertical rod goes straight through both of them, making this a very difficult job. I had to drill a hole through the top. At least it worked. The opening for the landing lights are also opened up. Similar to the Hurricane set up but double. I will have to see Jeroen's Hurricane thread how he did it. Finally the cannon troughs as modelled by Revell don't look like the real thing. Opening up the holes and then careful filing created the elliptical openings. Pffhew, I need to lie down now. Cees Edited July 5, 2012 by Cees Broere
jeroenpeters Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Love progress Cees. Clean work on the tail planes. Funny that I'm doing the exact same thing this evening on my Hs129. Sweet..
A.Wolf Grant Posted July 5, 2012 Posted July 5, 2012 Terrific progress Cees, very sharp. Looking forward to more. Grant
Cees Broere Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) Nothing spectacular, but pogress nevertheless, Did some experimenting on the collector ring using Miliput, this will make the inside less toylike and gives the impression of a collective exhaust. Also the beginnings of the cockpit interior, the basis kit part is usable and I had the blind flying panel left over from the ID Halifax, it is the rounded version while the Beau used the square one, but once installed who will notice. Work is now concentrating on the oil cooler intakes and louvres. Cheers Cees Edited July 10, 2012 by Cees Broere sandokan 1
Cees Broere Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 Some pics of the Hercules engines, and tail surfaces after a lot of sanding. And the finished oil coolers with some paint and weathering on. Cees sandokan 1
Cees Broere Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 Tail surfaces, photobucket is not behaving.... sandokan 1
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