Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter

phill burrows · 04-02-2008

Hi all

i am looking for advice on the colour scheme for the Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter.

I am going for something out of the box, but I am finding it hard to research colour schemes for the cockpit. I think i will go for a Dark Sea Grey / Sky exterior, but can anyone advise on the interior?

I have never tried mixing the Tamiya paints as per instructions (ie XF5:1 + XF21:3 + XF65:1).

So if anyone had built this kit, I would welcome your advice (colour and build)

many thanks

pb

**GEEDUBBYA** · 05-02-2008

Howdy Phil,

Well, I have the kit, but havent assembled it yet. However, since you were asking about the cockpit i went to google images and found several links to photos of the cockpit that you can use as a guide. Just click on this link ---> BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER COCKPIT - Google Image Search

Here you will find photos like the following:

For kit reviews with photos you might try these links:

KIT <---

and the following link specifically.

Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter X <-------

Other reviews of many aircraft can be found on their review homepage found here:

Kit Review Index <---------

I hope these have been of some help to you.

Have a good day,

Greg aka GW

PS: click on the bar at the top of the upper photo to enlarge it to full size.

**rjwood_uk** · 05-02-2008

if you can get revell no.73 its a pretty close match.

you will find this colour is reffered to as "interior green" and usually all the interior (inlcluding wheel bays) are done this colour. although different nations had slighlty different shades and night fighters and a greyish-black (obvioulsy) and the colour changed over time.

generally wwII aircraft used interior green!

phill burrows · 05-02-2008

thanks guys

that is really helpful. I will keep you posted with my progress!

phill burrows · 05-02-2008

thanks guys

that is really helpful. I will keep you posted with my progress!

However, after a couple of days/evenings searching, I am not sure which colours to best use for the external paint job.

I want to go for the allied invasion variant and have:

underside: xf21 sky
top: xf20 medium grey + xf24 dark grey

does this sound about right to you guys? there is so much conflicting info out there I am left confused. But i want to make a good job of this, so am checking before I start!

**rjwood_uk** · 05-02-2008

hi mate.

yes that sounds good. dont use too much of the XF-24 though. for a scale look you dont want it too dark.

are you going to do the d-day stripes one?

phill burrows · 05-02-2008

Hi

yes, i am going for the allied black and white stripes. Like this:

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...1985_245563975

But what I am a little confused about is whether the top colour is a single colour of grey, or should it be 2 colours. I would rather go for a colour scheme with a camo pattern. So would I need to choose another style/squadron?

Were the coastal squadrons a single colour of sea grey or not?

thanks

maxidad66 · 06-02-2008

I would recommend the excellent colour references on the IPMS Stockholm website: Urban's Color Reference Charts - Part I

You should also check out the two articles they have on Beaufighter markings:

Camouflage & markings - Bristol Beaufighter (Part 1)
and
Camouflage & markings - Bristol Beaufighter (Part 2)

As for the cockpit, I alwyas use cockpit green (Humbrol 78) for RAF planes.

With those articels, you can't go wrong!

**rjwood_uk** · 06-02-2008

when tamiya put two colours like that they mean mix them.

it should have numbers next to it like 1part XF.... to 3 parts Xf...

if you get what i mean..

Pan_Am_Clipper_Girl · 08-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjwood_uk

hi mate.

yes that sounds good. dont use too much of the XF-24 though. for a scale look you dont want it too dark.

are you going to do the d-day stripes one?

Totally agree, scale colour is important.

That is always something I tried to tell people when I worked in a model shop.