Official Hellenic modellers page

1/32 Revell Bristol Beaufighter

by Thanos Mentzelopoulos

PART -01-
PREPARATION



Dear friends,

this is the old Revell kit of the Beaufighter in 1/32 scale. I have just started working on it as you can see in the photos. The kit features some really severe fit problems especially round the wings-to-fuselage joints and the wing parts themselves. Anyway, ALL the interior detail will be SCRATCHBUILT - as always - while the model will be rescribed and riveted. A lot of work for sure! The striped areas in the photos below show the panels to be removed, while the outlined ones show the panels to be repositioned.

This is the color Profile I'm going to work on

Well, this is gonna be a long-lasting project, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!

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Dear friends, this is a very small update that has to do with the trimming down of the raised panel lines. Next step will be the rescribing of the recessed ones!






it took me some time to update my topic, but I think it was worth the wait...

Well, all the raised panel lines have vanished and rivets have been added, just as the pictures below can tell!!!








And then certain fuselage panels and control panels were removed...





...and the surgery goes on!!!!!!!!!! Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is a small update showing the progress I've made up to this point...the next one will have to do about scratchbuilding the literally non-existent cockpit. As you can see too many panels have been removed so that you can see all the interior detail which will be added later on. Here are some photos:

Left side of the fuselage.


Right side of the fuselage Front lower part of the fuselage.

And here are some dry-fitting photos...





Here is the upper part of the fuselage...As you can see, a lot of panels have been removed, so that all the detail which will be added will reach the eye of the beholder!!! Everything will be scratchbuilt!!!

The lower part of the fuselage...

Next step will show the progress in the cockpit and the front part of the fuselage...And now the journey begins!!!

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WORK STARTS ON THE FUSELAGE...

This is another minor update of my extreme makeover project...I started from the tail, building the internal detail and making some of the bulkheads. I used hard aluminum foil and lead wire of two different sizes. I also worked on the back leg of the u/c system. Unfortunately, only a small amount of the added detail will be visible at the end...This is what I'm talking about:


at the beginning...

...here are two of the bulkheads in position...

...a dry-fit, just in case...

...even more bulkheads...

...and this is the improved u/c leg in position. It's a pity almost none of this will be seen at the end...



...and the final dry-fit...

Next update will have to do with adding the detail behind the observer's seat and painting that back part of the fuselage interior. I guess I'll have to divide the floor in two in order to facilitate the build!!! Until we meet again...

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Another update, this time concerning the cockpit mostly, the wooden floor and the crew access hatches of the Beaufighter.

As for the cockpit, the kit detail is disappointing, so I decided to build everything from scratch! This is what you get for a control stick and the pilot's seat, both very wrong...

Then I dealt with the wooden floor which is actually made of real balsa wood and the hatches. Very careful planning is required in order to align all of them properly, since any mistake will make you rebuild either the wooden floor or the hatches!

WORK STARTS ON THE COCKPIT...


And now the new cockpit...mostly made of plastic sheet, lead wire and aluminum foil. This is about the 75% of the whole procedure...

...and this is the 100% with everything in place!!!

Next update will have to do with the inner fuselage detail and the wooden floor.

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WORK ON THE COCKPIT CONTINUES...

And now comes a little Easter present in the form of an update concerning the cockpit side consoles and the floor!!!

These are the left side consoles...

...and those are the right ones!

WORK STARTS ON THE WOODEN FLOOR...

And now this is the wooden floor of the Beaufighter!!! It was actually made of real balsa wood strips on a plastic card template. The hatches of the boarding ladders are already cut off. You can also see the toolboxes, the oxygen bottles and the flares launchers behind the observer's hatch. I also added all the necessary detail at the bottom of the floor and the gun bays.

Dry-fitting the model proved that my calculations were right, at least up to this point!!!

WORK STARTS ON THE GUNS...

And this is the first of the four Hispano guns...It took me about 1 hour to build and consists of about 35 pieces.





Next update will come in about a month...until then...thank you for your time and attention!!!

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WORK CONTINUES ON THE WOODEN FLOOR...

And now a little progress on the floor. The only detail added concerns the mechanisms that hold the Hispano guns in place...

WORK STARTS ON THE ENGINES...

Well, here come the engines!!! This is what you get from Revell...hmmmmm...not too bad really, but some extra detail willimprove them!!!



Just compare the two engines!!! The detail added bears a close resemblance to the actual complex exhaust piping system. If I manage to get things right there, the second engine will follow closely!!!





Well, that was it!!! Next update in a few days!!!

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WORK CONTINUES ON THE WOODEN FLOOR, THE FUSELAGE AND THE COCKPIT...

And now let's get back to business!!! This is quite a mega update concerning the interior detail. A lot of things have been done up to this point. Some of them have already been painted, while some others haven't. The reason is that my little baby daughter deleted many of he photographs just before posting...So, here is my progress with the interior:

And this is the cockpit...almost finished:

THE GUNS IN PLACE!!!

The four Hispano guns installed in the fuselage. It took me much time to design and build the whole gun bay and then align the guns, but I think it was worth the effort!!!

WORK ON THE FUSELAGE INTERIOR CONTINUES...

And now the left part of the fuselage. The unpainted parts are the latest additions:

And here comes the right half of the fuselage...

This is the observer's scratchbuilt seat base:

And now, the fuselage halves in place, along with the wooden floor. Only 4 pieces come from the original kit...the two fuselage halves, the cockpit floor and the lower part of the fuselage...all the others were scratchbuilt.

And the usual dry-fit at the end...well, things seem pretty good up to now!!!

Next update coming soon!!!

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WORK ON THE FUSELAGE INTERIOR AND THE COCKPIT NEARS COMPLETION...

This is main lower part of the fuselage with almost everything, including ammunition boxes and belts, in place.

Various aspects of the same area...

The cockpit area almost 100% complete!!!

The left side of the fuselage with all the detail in place...

Two more photos of the left side...

...and two of the right one!!!

Next update will show you the two sides of the fuselage, the cockpit and the wooden floor in place!!! 

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to be continued....