Unit:
93 Sqn, RAAFSerial: N-SK (A8-116)
This Australian built Beaufighter belonged to No.93 Squadron RAAF based in
Labuan, Borneo in 1945. The aircraft was named 'Pistol Packin' Gremlin'
The
Bristol Beaufighter was designed and built in England as a development of the
Beaufort bomber, and initially saw service as a night fighter. English built
aircraft were delivered to the RAAF for service in the Pacific with No. 22, 30,
31 and 93 Squadrons operating the type.
In Australia the
Department of Aircraft Production was in the process of producing the Beaufort
bomber and in 1944 began the manufacture of the Beaufighter as a follow on
project. Design changes included revised armament and a dihedral tailplane, and
between September 1944 and 1946, 365 Australian Beaufighter Mk 21’s were
built.
Powerfully armed,
fast at low level and very quiet in flight, the Beaufighter earned a grim
nickname from the Japanese, who called it “Whispering Death”.
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images below to see larger images
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The
Build:
This is the excellent kit by Tamiya. I chose to
build it out of the box with the exception of the seat belt harness for the
pilot's seat, the rocket warheads, and the decals. The rest of the kit is
stock. The kit builds up with little or no filler, mainly filing to get
rid of the seam lines. Once the cockpit was painted and detailed, I was
able to close up the fuselage halves and work on the rest of the kit. I
built the fuselage and wings and tail section together and then the engines and
landing gear separately for painting. The kit falls together with the
parts almost snapping in place. I got to give it to Tamiya for their great
engineering, their kits can be a source of relaxation therapy to build. One
step I did add to the build was the covering of the machine gun ports on the
wings. I didn't want to fill theses with putty or cover them with
tape, so I decided to use a bit of lead foil and cut pieces to resemble sheet
metal. I thought this would resemble the actual wing more.
Paint and finish:
Once the kit was ready for painting. I mixed Gunze RLM 70 with Tamiya dark
green to get a colour match for foliage green. The panel lines were
painted black before applying the green. once the over all colour was
applied, I faded the panels using the same mixture with a few drops of matte
white mixed in. With the panels faded, I mixed a translucent mixture of
the green and lightly over sprayed the faded areas to blend it all in.
With the over all colour applied, I focused on the landing gear and engines.
The insides of the gear wells and engine nacelles were painted interior green.
The landing gear was painted RLM 80 and dry-brushed with the green I had mixed.
with everything painted, I was able to complete the kit. A few minor
details were flattening the wheels by a combination of pressing them against a
hot iron and filing, adding antennae wire from invisible thread and adding the
rockets which were a combination of the kit parts and resin warheads.
The final step was decaling the
kit with EG48155 Beaufighter Mk 21 93 Sqn 'Green Ghosts'. this is an
excellent sheet with some really colourful tail art. Before decaling, I
sprayed numerous light coats of Johnson's Shine Magic, this allows the decals to
go on without any worries of silvering. The decals go on beautifully and
with a bit of Micro Sol, they almost appear painted on. With the decals in
place, a few more light coats of Shine Magic followed by a few light coats of
Vallejo matt varnish. This is pretty strong so I cut it with some Shine
Magic to avoid the paint turning too matte. With the finish nearly
completed, I added some paint chips with silver pencil. The final step was
adding the antennae wire made from invisible thread and insulators from Micro
Scale Krystal Klear.
Anthony
Visit Anthony's web site
The
Model Hangar to see more of
his models as well as others.
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images below to see larger images
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