Plastic model of the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VI aircraft

The photos show a plastic model of the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VI aircraft glued together from a Tamiya kit in a 1:48 scale.

The modeller used only additional decals to make the Polish version of the fighter. In Great Britain, during World War II, the 307th Polish Night Fighter Squadron (the nickname: Lviv Eagle Owls) flew on the Bristol Beaufighter planes.

From the modeller's workshop

The model shown in the photos has decals glued to it. There are, among others, nationality symbols and swastikas indicating the number of enemy planes shot down. Beginning modellers may wonder: how to glue decals so that it is not obvious that they are stickers.

1. First, the places where the decals will be placed need to be painted with gloss varnish, because the surface under the decal should be smooth and slippery.
2. Once the varnish has dried, these areas need to be degreased.
3. When the surface is dry, soak the decal in water, slide it off on the model and put it exactly in the place where it should be.
4. After the sticker dries, you need to use the special liquid to soften the decal(available for purchase in model making shops). Apply the liquid on the decal with a brush. The liquid will make the decal softens and nicely settles down on the surface. If the surface under the sticker is smooth, just wait for the liquid to dry.
5. If the surface is uneven, still before it dries, you should level by lightly tapping on the decal with a brush, i.e. press the ends of the brush hairs against the surface. The brush must be cut short. The liquid makes the decal delicate, so tapping should also be done gently.
6. Once the decal is dry, we use gloss varnish again. It will even out the edges of the sticker with the surface of the model.
7. If necessary, you can polish the varnish on the edge of the decal to even out the surface. For polishing, you can use 3000 grit paper slightly moistened with water.
8. Finally, you should paint the entire model with a final varnish. In this case, the plastic model of the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VI aircraft was painted with a matt varnish. Of course, apart from the cockpit fairings and elements that should remain shiny.

About the Bristol Beaufighter Mk.VI aircraft

The Bristol Beaufighter was a British heavy night fighter that was also used as a ground-attack aircraft or a torpedo bomber.

The Mk.VI version of the plane entered production in the first half of 1942. The differences between the aircraft versions were mainly in the version of engines installed. Despite the different engines, the maximum speed was similar and was about 510 km/h (317 mph). There were greater differences in other performance. There is no data for the Mk.VI version.

Only the dimensions of the aircraft are common:

• Length: 12.60 m (41.3 ft),
• Wingspan: 17.63 m (57.8 ft),
• Height: 4.83 m (15.9 ft).

Sources:

• https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Beaufighter
• https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dywizjon_307
• https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/bristol-156-beaufighter

17 Jan. 2025