I have started building the excellent Tamiya 1/48 scale Mk VI Beaufighter as part of a tribute to SAAF 19 Squadron pilot Steve Stevens who flew Beaufighters during WW II. His exploits during the war has been featured in a number of books. His squadron excelled at ship busting, train busting and attacking enemy strongholds in Yugoslavia.

The Tamiya kit lacks detail in the cockpit and rear compartment. I have therefore decided to scratch build most of the internal details to make the model as authentic in appearance as possible. Albeit most of these details will be hidden within the fuselage but some can be seen through the cockpit and nav/gunner cupola.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Good grief, Morne!

That is some scratchbuilt cockpit and observers position! Best I've seen. I bought the KMC set, myself, against the day. Whose Lewis MG? It don't look like what I recall the kit one does.

I always meant to ask- how widespread was the use of orange centers in SAAF overseas national insignia in WW II? I've seen the Spits, and probably Kittyhawks. Inquiring minds, all that.

I read a book years ago about this Brit aircrew that got shot down over Yugoslavia. What a wild little civil war that was! Tito, Mihaiiavich, the Italians and the Germans, changing alliances from moment to moment. Like the Cold War, only earlier in a whole lot of ways. Not much written about it.

Downed aircrew had a time of it, depending whose sphere of influence they landed in. Lots of back and forth as to getting them out, and the Germans looking for them, meanwhile. Fascinating stuff.

You're off to a great start, going by the interior. The engines need a little tweaking, and I'm interested in whatever you chose for armament underwing. Full suite of guns in the wings?

Hi Greg. I dismantled an old broken wrist watch. Was quite surprised to see all the tiny goodies that was inside.

What can I say, this is going to look really good. Nice job my ou maater.

Thanks Louis for the words of encouragement!

Thanks Rick! I think most kit manufacturers leave out most details to allow the aftermarket guys to stay in business. Scratchbuilding can be very rewarding if you have good reference material to work from. Granted most of the interior is hard to see through the front or rear transparencies but I know it's in there. Think Tamiya just left it out to cut costs.

Today I started scratchbuilding the seat harness for the pilot and Nav/gunner using lead foil. The most challenging part of the build thus far has been the creation of lightbulbs for the leading edge landing lights. I started by drilling the incorrect shaped plastic lights from a round shape to a shallow cone shaped depression. I then drilled holes in the middle of each lamp with a 0.5mm drillbit and inserted stretched clear sprue into the holes and secured it with Tamiya extra thin liquid cement. I then took very thin Evergreen styrene strips and cut it to 1mm x 1mm square on which I attached very thin copper wire. This was attached to the point of the clear sprue lightbulb with cyano. Copper wire was bent to form a protective cone over the lightbulb. A thin copper wire that serves as an electrical wire for the lightbulb was glued onto the tip and attached to the inside of the leading edge structure. Machine guns in the wings were simulated with brass tubing.

12 attached images. Click to enlarge.

In my latest scratch building session I added the "pig tails" to the rockets. These electrical connections were made from fine copper wire and glued to the back of the rockets. The connections that attached to the bottom of the wing were made out of blobs of superglue. The Hispano cannons were simulated with brass tubing. The inside structure of the landing gear doors were replicated with Evergreen styrene. The strike camera was fashioned out of clear sprue with a hole drilled to simulate the lens.

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.