1/72 Hasegawa Beaufighter Mk XXI 

R.A.A.F

by Brian Pruitt

--------------------

 

The Australian Air Force used the Beaufighter or “Whispering Death” to great effect against Japanese ships in WWII.   This Hasegawa kit is excellent.   I built it out of the box except for homemade “hedgehog” exhausts because the kit’s version is overly simplified with none of the openings present!   I made them by cutting telephone wire insulation at an angle and then carefully gluing the micro-triangle to the kit part (many times these bits stuck to my finger!).

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

I mixed my own shade of foliage green until I got something that looked about right.  Model was pre-painted with Testors Aluminum and weathering was achieved by carefully scraping away paint in selected areas and various watercolor washes.  Cockpit is very visible in this scale; I used the kits instrument panel decal and aluminum foil seat belts.

I resolved the delima of satisfying my wife’s crusade against the “dustmagnets” by displaying them in a homemade oakwood shadow box that hangs nicely on the wall in my office!

Brian

Photos and text © by Brian Pruitt