January 27, 2020 – toylandhobbymodelingmagazine.com

: An aeroplane to dominate the sea lanes The double page spread in the current Airfix catalogue which announced the existence of our new 1/72nd scale Bristol Beaufort Mk.I tooling As an island nation, one of the most crucial battles Britain had to be win during the dark days of the Second World War was to maintain the integrity of her merchant shipping lanes whilst at the same time, denying her enemies the ability to obtain supplies by sea. In the months which preceded the beginning of WWII, the most effective anti-shipping torpedo equipped aircraft available to the British was the Fairey Swordfish biplane and whilst this proved to be an exceptional aircraft during the war, the RAF were in desperate need of a powerful, modern torpedo bomber, capable of mounting long range strike missions. The second in a successful trio of twin engined aircraft designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company during the 1930s, the Beaufort is significant by the fact that it was the only monoplane produced for the Royal Air Force designed from the outset as a torpedo bomber and reconnaissance platform. An aircraft which can trace its development lineage to the Blenheim light bomber, which was one of the most important aircraft in British aviation history, the Beaufort was unusual in that it was ordered by the Air Ministry whilst the project was still ‘on the drawing board’, a move which showed they had great faith in the Bristol Company, whilst at the same time highlighting the RAF’s urgent need for the aircraft. Although originally intended as an evolutionary development of the existing Blenheim bomber design, it quickly became apparent that the new aircraft would look quite different to its predecessor, possessing a much deeper front fuselage section to accommodate its crew of four and the requirement to carry a torpedo in a semi-recessed position under the fuselage. These modifications resulted in a gross weight increase of around 25 percent over the Blenheim and required the adoption of more powerful engines, so this extra weight did not hamper the performance of the new aircraft.

: A selection of Beaufort computer rendered 3D images which are being published for the first time. The Airfix product designer responsible for this project produces these from the digital files produced during the model’s development

: With some particularly challenging specification requirements the new aircraft had to satisfy and a need to develop powerful new engines, these factors combined with Bristol’s existing Blenheim production commitments would result in quite lengthy delays during the Beaufort’s early development. For an initial contract which was placed in August 1936, it would be more than two years before the prototype Beaufort took to the air, despite the RAF’s pressing need for this important new aircraft. Eventually entering Royal Air Force service with No.22 Squadron Coastal Command in January 1940, the Bristol Beaufort proved to be a rugged and highly manoeuvrable attack aircraft, even though the development of the new engines continued to be something of a problem. Initially employed on missions laying mines in enemy waters, Beauforts would later mount attacks against the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, however, in the European theatre of operations, the aircraft would mainly go on to operate as a medium bomber. In the Mediterranean, Beauforts operating from Egypt and Malta would take a terrible toll of Axis shipping and during a concerted maritime onslaught from the middle of 1942, would make a significant contribution in denying Rommel’s Afrika Korps the vital supplies they needed to continue fighting the desert war. Due to the relatively heavy weight of the Beaufort, a steep diving approach whilst launching a torpedo attack was both ineffective and could prove fatal for the aircraft’s crew. The attack run had to be effected at a relatively low, flat attitude and quite some way from the target, if the torpedo release was to be successful and not enter the water at too steep an angle. This obviously made the aircraft vulnerable to accurate defensive fire from the vessels being attacked, however, Beaufort pilots were brave and aggressive in their flying, making full use of the aircraft’s excellent manoeuvrability at low altitude to evade the attentions of enemy gunners.

: With some particularly challenging specification requirements the new aircraft had to satisfy and a need to develop powerful new engines, these factors combined with Bristol’s existing Blenheim production commitments would result in quite lengthy delays during the Beaufort’s early development. For an initial contract which was placed in August 1936, it would be more than two years before the prototype Beaufort took to the air, despite the RAF’s pressing need for this important new aircraft. Eventually entering Royal Air Force service with No.22 Squadron Coastal Command in January 1940, the Bristol Beaufort proved to be a rugged and highly manoeuvrable attack aircraft, even though the development of the new engines continued to be something of a problem. Initially employed on missions laying mines in enemy waters, Beauforts would later mount attacks against the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, however, in the European theatre of operations, the aircraft would mainly go on to operate as a medium bomber. In the Mediterranean, Beauforts operating from Egypt and Malta would take a terrible toll of Axis shipping and during a concerted maritime onslaught from the middle of 1942, would make a significant contribution in denying Rommel’s Afrika Korps the vital supplies they needed to continue fighting the desert war. Due to the relatively heavy weight of the Beaufort, a steep diving approach whilst launching a torpedo attack was both ineffective and could prove fatal for the aircraft’s crew. The attack run had to be effected at a relatively low, flat attitude and quite some way from the target, if the torpedo release was to be successful and not enter the water at too steep an angle. This obviously made the aircraft vulnerable to accurate defensive fire from the vessels being attacked, however, Beaufort pilots were brave and aggressive in their flying, making full use of the aircraft’s excellent manoeuvrability at low altitude to evade the attentions of enemy gunners.

: More Beaufort computer rendered goodness being shown on the Workbench blog for the first time

: More Beaufort computer rendered goodness being shown on the Workbench blog for the first time

: More Beaufort computer rendered goodness being shown on the Workbench blog for the first time

: Since the announcement of our new Bristol Beaufort Mk.I tooling project earlier this month, it has been interesting to gauge the opinions of modellers on the various social media sites and modelling forums, and following last weekend’s event, in person at the Bolton IPMS Model Show. It seems as if the Beaufort proved to be something of a surprise addition to the range for many people, but one which most are really pleased to see. Of the people we spoke to at Bolton, some admitted to have almost given up hope of ever seeing an Airfix Beaufort kit, whilst others described it as probably not an aircraft type they would have proposed via our show suggestions box – having said that, they were extremely glad we decided to produce it. Thankfully, now the news is out there, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and it seems as if this incredibly interesting WWII subject is going to be a popular build project later in the year. The image files used in support of this feature are an exclusive first look at a selection of computer rendered 3D images produced from the Beaufort project CAD files and once again, are being made available to Workbench readers before anyone else sees them. In the next edition of our blog, we will be speaking to the product designer leading this project and looking at some of the earlier development stages of this exciting new model kit.

: Classic Airfix box artwork, the Churchill Tank Bridge No.2 has to be one of the most interesting military vehicles ever conceived and will soon be joining the Vintage Classics range A trio of impending releases in the popular Vintage Classics range not only marks the arrival of some much anticipated 1/76th scale AFV kits, but also serve to chart the first 30 years of British and Commonwealth tank development. The evocative artwork featured above shows a vehicle which may look a little ungainly, but was one which illustrated both the ingenuity of Allied engineers during the Second World War and how the tank became an essential battlefield weapon in just a few short years of warfare. Based on the turretless hull of a British Churchill Tank, the Tank Bridge No.2 was a heavy duty mobile bridge which was intended to speed the advance of Allied mechanized units, allowing them to negotiate ditches, canals and spans where bridges had been destroyed. Introduced in 1942, the bridge tank was used in Italy and later in Northern Europe and adopted a single unit as opposed to other examples which used a more complicated dual hinged arrangement, which took longer to deploy and was less reliable. Capable of carrying the weight of even the heaviest Allied tanks, the bridge was deployed by a clever feat of engineering and utilised a pivoted arm attached to the front of the vehicle, which took less than 2 minutes to fully deploy. An incredibly interesting military vehicle, even if tanks are not usually your modelling theme of choice, this magnificent model could prove difficult to refuse for many and may stimulate something of a renaissance in 1/76th scale armour modelling.

: A specialised vehicle based on the British Matilda Tank, the ‘Hedgehog’ or ‘Projector’ was equipped with a 7 chambered spigot ‘Hedgehog’ naval mortar, which was housed in an armoured box on the rear of the tank’s hull. Elevated by hydraulics, the mortar unit did not have the ability to traverse, so was aimed by moving the entire tank to face the direction of the intended target. With each mortar projectile containing around 35lb of high explosive, the weapon may not have been particularly accurate, but if operated by a competent crew, could be devastatingly effective.