1/48 Tamiya Beaufighter

Mk 21 RAAF "Green Ghost" 93rd Squadron

by Anthony Manzoli

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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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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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Photos and text © by Anthony Manzoli