Historical Background
Due to the delays in the development and production of the Westland Whirlwind twin-engined fighter, the Bristol Aeroplane Company suggested to the Air Ministry an interim fighter aircraft developed from the company's Beaufort torpedo/strike aircraft. Bristol proposed a fixed four-cannon and also a turret-mounted twin cannon versions - the former was preferred by the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff. As the Beaufort has a rather modest performance, Bristol suggested their own Hercules radial engine to power this new aircraft to get the fighter-like performance. Since the 'new' aircraft was basically a fighter Beaufort, development and production was thought to be faster than with a totally new design. The Air Ministry issued a draft Specification F.11/37 written around Bristol's suggestion. To further speed up the process, Bristol took a partially complete Beaufort airframe off the production line in order to build the first prototype. Although it was thought that re-using Beaufort components would speed up the development process, the fuselage needed more work and had to be completely redesigned. Despite the problems, the prototype first flew on 17 July 1939, just eight months after the design had started. Because the aircraft was basically the fighter version of the Beaufort, it was called the 'Beaufighter'.
As mentioned before, the Bristol Taurus radial engine powering the Beaufort was not powerful enough for a fighter, so it was replaced by the Hercules engine (its Mark II version producing 1,356 hp at 4,000 feet). The extra power of the Hercules however produced excessive vibration, so they were mounted on a longer, more flexible struts. This however upset the CG of the aircraft. To solve this, the nose was shortened, putting most of the fuselage behind the wing and gave the Beaufighter its characteristic stubby appearance. Expected shortage of the Hercules prompted the conversion of three Beaufighters to use Rolls-Royce's Merlin inline engine in February 1940 (as Beaufighter Mk.II). The Merlin however caused the aircraft to be underpowered and gave it a tendency to swing to port, making take-offs and landings difficult and this in turn led to a high attrition rate. One-third of all Merlin-powered Beaufighters were lost in accidents.
As the Beaufighter was derived from the Beaufort, it were basically identical with regards to the wings, aft fuselage, landing gears and the control surfaces. In other areas it was different from its predecessor. The navigator/bomb-aimer and rear gunner positions were eliminated, leaving the pilot in a fighter-style cockpit. The navigator/radio operator position was relocated to the rear under a small perspex bubble where the Beaufort's rear turret had been. The bomb bay was omitted and four 20-mm Hispano cannons were mounted under the fuselage. The cannons were supplemented by six wing-mounted Browning .303 machine guns; four starboard, two port. When the Beaufighter found its primary mission in anti-shipping strikes later in the war, the cannons were used to supress enemy anti-aircraft fire (the machine guns had mainly been removed by this time) while the main attack was made using bombs, rockets or torpedoes. By fighter standards however, the Beaufighter was quite slow and heavy with a top speed of 540 km/h at 5,000 m and an all-up weight of 7,000 kg. It was all the RAF had at the time however, as production of the Westland Whirlwind had been stopped due to the problems with its Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines.
The first production Beaufighter was delivered for trials with the Fighter Interception Unit at RAF Tangmere on 12 August 1940 while the first operational aircraft were delivered to No.29 Squadron and No.604 Squadron on 2 September of the same year. At about the same time, the British also came up with their airborne interception radar sets. The general spaciousness and the low-mounted cannons of the Beaufighter enabled the system to be easily fitted. Even with a higher all-up weight (now risen to 9,100 kg), it was still fast enough to intercept the German night bombers. By early 1941, it was effective enough to counter the German Blitz raids. The Mark IF was succeeded by the Mark VIF, equipped with a Mark VIII AI radar in March 1942. The Beaufighter was also used by four USAAF night fighter squadrons until mainly replaced by Northrop P-61 Black Widow in 1944. In RAF service, the Beaufighter was eventually taken over by the night fighter versions of the De Havilland Mosquito.
The Beaufighter was however best known as an anti-shipping platform. In May 1941, the Mk. IC heavy fighter entered service with a detachment of No.252 Squadron at Malta. It proved so effective against shipping, aircraft and ground targets around the Mediterranean so that Coastal Command became the major user, replacing the less capable Beaufort and Blenheim. By mid-1942, Coastal Command received the uprated Mk.VIC and by the end of that year, the Mk.VICs began to be equipped with torpedo-carrying gear. The TF. Mk X, known as 'Torbeau' was created when the Mk. VIC was re-engined with a pair of Bristol Hercules Mk.XVII, developing 1,735 hp at 500 feet. The Mark X became the main production version of the Beaufighter. In 1943, the 'herringbone' ASV radar was replaced by a centimetric AI Mk VIII radar housed in a timble-node radome, allowing day and night, all-weather attacks using torpedoes and 60-lb rockets. Apart from Northern European and Mediterranean waters, the Beaufighter was also used in South-East Asia and the Pacific, where it was allegedly nicknamed 'Whispering Death' by the Japanese, supposedly because the aircraft were often not heard (nor seen) until it was too late. This was mainly because the Hercules engine used the quieter sleeve, rather than poppet, valves common to other aero-engines.
The Kit
Tamiya has released three kits of the Beaufighter in 1/48 scale with this kit (61053) being the first in 1997. The parts are spread among six medium grey and one clear plastic sprues plus Tamiya's ubiquitous poly caps and the usual decal and instruction sheets. Unlike the same company's Mosquito kits (especially the FB.VI), there wasn't any detailing for the cannon bays. The cockpit detail is underwhelming and I believe many modelers would substitute them with an aftermarket replacement. The wing was moulded in five parts so that correct wing dihedral can be achieved. The model can be made into a Mark VIF night fighter with radar parts or attack aircraft (Mark VIC) with rockets. Some parts were marked 'not for use' (which are for the TF.X, eventually released in 1999), A Mark VIC with a thimble nose radome can be built using the relevant part but modellers doing so have to find their own markings. The kit was rather redundantly re-issued in 1999 as Mark VI Night Fighter with the same parts breakdown as kit 61053, although moulded in black plastic. The decal sheet provide markings for three aircraft:
1. Mk. VIC 'V' / T9068, No. 272 Squadron, Malta 1942
2. Mk. VIF 'ZJ-R' / V8748, No. 96 Squadron, Scotland 1943
3. Mk. VIF 'BQ-I' / X8023, No.600 Squadron
Construction
As usual with aircraft kits, construction started at the cockpit, or in this case, the crew compartment. The details inside the cockpit was rather disappointing for a 1/48 Tamiya kit with the bare minimum of details. Anyway, the whole of the compartment and the sidewall details were painted Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green. This colour was actually meant for Japanese aircraft but I find it matches the British Interior Green. Smaller details, where appropriate, were painted XF-1 Flat Black. Once the paint has dried, decals were applied for the instrument panel and the seat belts. While the instrument panel decals received an application decal softener, the seat belts were not, to avoid the painted-on look. Of course, it would be better if I used PE seat belts instead. Although figures for the crew were included, as always I discarded them.
The wing assembly were next and it was started by mating the upper and lower halves. Since I chose to build the night fighter version, holes were opened in the leading edge for the radar aerials. The crew access hatch was meant to be moveable but I glued it in the closed position. The instructions has you complete the landing gears and then inserting them into the wing nacelles but skipped this part. Instead I went straight to assembling the engines. They are fairly detailed but Tamiya have the two cylinder banks moulded as one, together with the firewall. The engines were painted silver with heavy washes of Tamiya X-19 Smoke, rather than painting them steel (and dry-brushed silver). The wing assembly was then mated to the fuselage followed by the assembly of the tail surfaces. To facilitate painting, the exhausts were left off at this time.
Painting and Decalling
After masking all openings and clear parts, I started the painting process at the engine cowl. Gunze 10 Copper was used. After the paint has dried, the cowl lip was masked, together with the engine openings and the landing gear wells. After deciding to use the markings for No.600 Squadron, the whole of the model was painted Tamiya TS-6 Matt Black. To tone down the black, a random layer of XF-63 German Grey was applied, this also has a bit of weathering effect on the model (I hope!). The decals were then applied. There aren't much this particular aircraft as the black paint (officially called 'Night' and was later found to be counterproductive) obliterates all the stencilling so none were applied, just the national insignia, squadron codes and the registration number. I however neglected to lay a layer of gloss so the registration number and the two-letter squadron codes suffer from silvering, despite repeated washes of Mr Mark Softer.
Finishing
As usual, I started with the undercarriage. Since the part to which the main landing gear struts can be inserted later, it was much easier to assemble this particular component. I have to wait until the cement hardened properly before inserting the assembly into the wheel well to avoid distortions. Now that the model can stand on its feet, I proceeded with the propellers and the unique exhausts (maybe not that unique, as the Hampden was also fitted with same type of 'warty' exhausts). The exhausts were painted the same colour as the cowling lip but I added Tamiya Weathering Master Rust to it. The propeller hub was painted X-18 Semi-Gloss Black while the prop blades were painted XF-69 NATO Black. The last parts cemented to the model were the rather vulnerable radar aerials on the nose and the wings. They were painted on the sprue, gingerly cut off and carefully inserted into place. As the Night scheme is real flat, the sealing spray was done using Gunze Super Clear Flat.
Conclusion
Well, since it's a Tamiya model. what else but crisp details and prominently, ease of construction? OK, while it was a typical Tamiya scale model kit, there are a number of goofs anyway. Chief of them is the relative lack of details for the inside. Sure, an injection moulded cockpit won't really have the same level of detail as a resin one, but at least, have details that matched the current state of the art for injection moulding. Another shortcoming was the rather uninspired choice of markings, be it a maritime strike Beau from Malta or the night defender of the UK. Tamiya tried to cover this by releasing the night fighter version of the kit, but the markings remain rather bland (while night fighter by design were rather plain-looking, what at least Tamiya can do is to pick up the drawing/colours of ace-status Beau pilots.
Addendum : I only realise this glaring error (I think) about a fortnight after writing this blog entry: Tamiya has the builder use the sand filter-equipped carburettor air intake (the long one) for all marking options. I strongly believe that this was only correct for the Malta bird and not for the other two, which used the shorter intake (they are on the sprue). Technically it was still right for the No.600 aircraft, as they were transferred to the Mediterranean theatre following Operation Torch. However, I also believe that by that time, the squadron ID has been changed from Sky to Dull Red, making it inaccurate either way.
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