Landing gear tutorial appreciated, Chuck - my next wheels will be all the better for this - thank you!

Before getting to the nose, I started working on cleaning up some the seamwork on the wing roots, the center seam on the fuselage and around the nose itself.

Using Tamiya grey putty, the 3 step sanding process starting with wet/dry 320 grit.to cut down and smooth out the dried putty. Next 400 to get the rough texture down to the plastic. And then 600 to smooth and polish the area of the putty work.

Now then to go over any areas that a little more filler to even out the seamwork. Eliminate any steps before applying some primer.

It was about this time my Fuji camera battery died. And for some reason it would no longer hold a charge, so off to Ebay and bought 2 batteries {NP50) to replace the old ones. In the meantime. I installed the thimble nose, none of the decal schemes in the kit is a thimble variant, yet Tamiya has the nose in the kit to make this unusual version of the Beaufighter.

Next is to install the pilots seat and then the rear blister.

Despite the ongoing and felt it took this long to build it. But I spread it out a bit, but the actual build from cockpit to this point was over the weekend. This plane just builds rather quickly once you get past the interior. One of the quickest builds for a multi-engine aircraft I can remember. I spent more time waiting for stuff than the actual build.

More to follow.

Thanks Paul, Mr Surfacer may come in handy after the heavy sanding and use to fill in some slight imperfections over the major work.

Some serious clean up work for you there, Chuck, and I’m looking forward to every photo. I loved your ‘Dinah’ (boy, you nailed the colour scheme on that one) and I’m really enjoying seeing your work on this brute. Never been a Beaufighter fan (especially with THAT nose) but this is an exceptional WiP.

Thx DL, it is more me not being careful, not the kit. Yes you can in many ways make mistakes on a very good kit. The Tam Beau is a joy. The work is of my own making not the kit. So you can screw up if not being more diligent. Thanks on the Dinah that kit also went well. I am amazed how quickly the Beau goes together.

Masking clear parts is not my favorite thing to do... You have crossed that hurdle.

Looking forward to seeing some paint sprayed on it. 🙂

Your both correct, masking for me is the one step I do not care to do. Tedious, annoying at times. Frustrating and for me it takes some time for the process to complete. And yikes, we just had a quake. 4.4 Rock n Roll in socal...havent felt one of those for awhile. This is a minor, anything at 5-6 is moderate and damaging. Beyond that it is major. Life in LA

Louis: growing up in So. Cal in the 60's, it was like one big major quake in the LA basin 5.0, or larger was like at least one in a decade. The first one for me that seemed significant was the Sylmar quake in Feb 1971, that was 6.6 on the richter with a 5.8 aftershock with some moderate ones thru the 70's. in the 80's we had the Whittier narrows quake that was a 5.9 shaker which took place in Oct. 1987. But the one everyone in America remembers is the Northridge quake in 1994 which was 7.2 The scary part is since that quake, The LA basin has not had one since. 2000-to date we have not felt any significant quake except for this last one and a 5.1 in La Habra in 2014. Everyday there are micro quakes 1.0 or less in magnitude that no one feels only the sensors. So we are long past due for a major.