My first two in the stash! I just love LHS sales! I couldn’t resist a buy one get half off sale.[:p]
Anyway, I bought the arfix 1:72 Beaufighter TFX and the arfix 1:72 Blenheim IV, they look like good little kits, even though there is a serious lack of interior detail and the exterior seems way over done especially on the Blenheim IV.
Has any one built these? could you give me any tips? I tried to find some kit reviews for these but nothing. Also how about sources, I looked for Blenheim/Bolingbroke (I actually want to build it as a Canadian Bolingbroke) sources and the web is lacking in good detailed photos on these. [sigh] Luckily there is a Blenheim in a Museum close to me here. I haven’t tried to look for sources on the Beaufighter yet. I normally do 1:48 but I’ve been wanting to do these two and it was the right price!
Any help would be appreciated. Now if I could just get time to finish my curent builds it would be a perfect world (unitl I get the urge to build something else)[:D]
I can’t speak for the Beaufighter, but that Blenheim kit dates back to the 60s and has resurfaced many times in Airfix’s catalog over the years.
I’ve seen it built up well, but she suffers from all the usual Airfix shortcomings of the time: overdone surface detail, overly thick and distorted clear parts and generally problematic mating up of major kit components.
I understand that Falcon of New Zealand makes a set of vacuum formed replacements for that kits clear parts, so you may want to invest in that.
As for the Bolingbroke reference, you may want to go to www.rcaf.com to start. I’m not sure if you’ll find much on the Bolingbroke there, but its a good place to start with Canadian subject matter.
If you want 1/48 and have the money, I’ve heard that Classic Airframes’ Blenheim series is really nice stuff.
I have those two kits also waiting for a start…
The Beauf looks good (altought raised external details), but none interior detail…
Just 2 pilots and a little strip moulded inside the fuselage to put them on… (I’m going to scratchbuild a cockpit.
I’m a bit disapointed about the Blenheim: also raised detail, a little more detail in the cockit then the Beuaf, but the transparant parts have a very odd shape, and don’t fit quite good (with dryfitting).
The things that I like about Airfix is that they make lots off 1/72 models, expecially RAF planes (my favorite ones), lots off choise and you can detail them as much as you like…
And not to forget: good price and the free order-service.
Greets,
PS: ask me more advice if you need some
Airfix kits are usually crap on first impression, but most of mine have turned out fine in the end, not good, but OK (so… …um… I guess that’s not much help…)
Thanks for the help guys. I’ve never built any arfix kits, I think they will look nice in the end but it’ll take some work to get there, but hey that why I enjoy this hobby so much.
Flyingraptor, I too, plan on scratching the cockpits of both of them. The odd shape of the nose greenhouse is because it was supposed to be scalloped to allow for bettter downward port veiw for the pilot, I was kinda freaked out by it too but after a little research it was supposed to be that way but I think the kit’s still isn’t quite the right shape. I did find a vacformed canopy for 1:72 on Squadron but if it’ll fit the arfix one I don’t know.[8D]
The two Airfix kits mentioned are quite old ,the Beaufighter being the older. I built them both when in highschool!
Both have some inacuracies but build up into reasonable re[resentations of the originals.
If you want to build a Bolingbroke then you are in luck. I seem to remember that the kit of the Blenhiem is infact a Bolingbroke. A quick email to Airfix should be able to confirm this.
Dai
The beaufighter is great to build. I found that the wings need to be sanded down where they join onto the fuselage, i scratch built the cockpit. The d-day decals give a good effect, but i found that they were a little see through, if i was to build it again i’d probably paint white where the d-day markings were to go.
Engine detail is a little bit airfix, but can be painted to give general impression.
I’ have a pic of mine on my site, but it is only in the background of a group shot near the bottom of the site. If you want to view, it’s on my favourite links in my profile i think…
best of luck with the kit, it can look ok when finished.
I built the Blenheim many years ago. The biggest problem I seem to recall was the cockpit/nose glazing. Very thick and the fit was pretty crap. If you can get a reasonable replacement for it though, the kit builds into a fair-ish model