Subject: Re: Gallery Submission
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Stephen Prior" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:33:25 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephen Prior 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 8:26 AM
  Subject: Gallery Submission

  Gallery Template #05

  "1/48 Tamiya Beaufighter TF.X" 

  by "Stephen Prior"
  --------------------

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  When the Royal Air Forces's campaigns in WWII are mentioned it is invariably the Battle of Britain or Bomber Command's attacks against Nazi Germany which are the subject. It is not always remembered by the public that the fighting took place on other fronts by other commands which were also crucial to the war effort. One of these is the the interdiction campaign by RAF Coastal Command against Axis shipping around the European mainland by a combination of air attacks and a mining campaign. From late 1942 onwards the attacks were carried out by to be carried out by a number of strike wings formed from both  Bristol Beaufighter and later De Havilland Mosquito squadrons which utilised aerial torpedos,bombs and rockets to sink Axis shipping. From a two squadron beginning  at North Coates,Lincolnshire in 1942 this grew to nine squadrons in three wings by war's end. The sqaudrons which carried out these attacks were comprised of men from all nations and included RAF,RAAF,RCAF,RNZAF and RNAF,the attacks which took place were some of the most vicious and savagely fought air/sea battles seen in WWII and great courage was displayed on both sides. 

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  The subject of this article is Tamiya's excellent Beaufighter TF.X which was originally released to acclaim back in 1999 following an earlier MkVIc release. moulded in grey plastic it has the usual standard of great Tamiya fit although there were some queries on accuracy due to some unusual "patches" on the upper wing surface which seemed to be reproduced battle damage repairs.Despite this the kit is excellent and from the TF.X release it's possible to build just about any Beaufighter variant apart from the early straight tailed MkIc/f and this can be done by the simple replacement of the tailplanes with aftermarket parts. This build was from the TF.X release and built as a flak suppression aircraft of 144Sqn based at RAF Dallachy in Northern Scotland in February 1945. On 9th February 1945 aircraft from the Dallachy Strike Wing carried out an attack on German shipping in Norway escorted by Mustangs of 65Sqn,as a result of fierce resistance by the defences and Luftwaffe fighters, nine aircraft were lost with six alone from 404 (Buffalo)Sqn and damage inflicted on several others including the aircraft I chose to model 144 Sqn's NE831 flown by Flt Sgt's  S.A Butler and C.B Nicholl which crash-landed at Dallachy due to severe damage.This attack became known to the aircrews as Black Friday due to the losses incurred on that day. 

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  Although the kit is great OOB I added Ultracast seats and Quickboost exhausts. The decals came from the spares box.I used Xtracrylix Extra Dark Sea Grey which appeared too dark so I added white to lighten it up then when dry I added a little more white and went over the centre of the panels to try for a faded,weathered effect as Coastal Command strike aircraft were very hard used and flew in very hard conditions.The same process took place on the underside using Vallejo Pastel Green for Sky.Once dry I sprayed Klear and applied a raw umber wash then some chips using silver paint. Graphite from a pencil was used for the streaks from the guns. Final coat was Xtracrylix Flat varnish which gives a nice satin finish. I'm very pleased with the results and I'd like to do a few more Beaufighters hopefully someone will come out with decals for the squadrons especially 404Sqn.

  References:

  Beaufighter in Action by Squadron/Signal

  Beaufighter Squadrons by Simon Parry

  A Separate Little War: The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe 1944-1945 

  The Strike Wings by Roy Conyers Nesbitt

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  Photos and text © by "Stephen Prior"