In the critical years preceding WWII, the RAF was aware of its lack of any long- range fighter for bomber escort, any cannon armed fighter effective against bombers, and a suitable night fighter. Though no official requirement was published, the management at Bristol was aware of these needs. They proposed a new twin-Hercules powered two-seater carrying enough armament to blast anything out of the sky. By using the wings, tail, landing gear, and jigs of the existing Beaufort, it could be put into production quickly. The Air Ministry was enthusiastic and the first of what was to be a historic war-winning aircraft took to the air only six months later. The first production models rolled off the assembly line in May 1940. A snub-nosed battleship, it was immensely strong, surprisingly manoeuvrable, and a great basis for development. However, the first production versions were underpowered by the early Hercules and barely exceeded 300 mph. It also had a nasty tendency to swing on take off and landings. With the urgency of the Battle of Britain, production was slowed with priority given single engine fighters. But when the need for night fighters became urgent to beat the Blitz, radar equipped Beaufighters were given priority and were instrumental in causing the Luftwaffe to give up the Battle of Britain. Later marks with more power and remedy for the swing issue proved highly effective multi-role attack aircraft and 5,564 were built in England. In Australia, the Beaufighter proved invaluable. Its long range was suitable for the vast over ocean operations of the Pacific and its firepower proved devastating in the air support and anti-shipping roles. The aircraft was of such value that license was procured to produce Beaufighters in Australia. These were basically the Beaufighter Mk.X with a few modifications and dubbed Beaufighter Mk.XXI of which 364 were produced. Australian modifications include installation of the Sperry auto pilot system to aid long overwater flights and replacing the wing mounted .303 machineguns with heavier hitting .50s. These along with their American B-25 gunship counterparts devastated Japanese shipping.

Released in 1997, the kit is what one expects from Tamiya. Well-engineered with good fit, accurate dimensions, beautiful engraving and good detail. Interior may be a bit sparse for more modern tastes, but closed up under a bit thick canopy it works for me. There are two pilot figures included. A little thick, but the clear parts are clear and clean with well-defined framing. The wing tip navigation lights on Beaus are much larger than those on a typical fighter type so having these as clear parts is a good thing. The Hercules engines are just an engine face. But it’s OK, since all the plumbing is on the back side of these engines so there isn’t much to them, and set back in the cowlings you can’t see much of them anyway. Wings are a 5-part affair with outer wings attaching to a bottom center section that is also the bottom of the fuselage. Makes a neat and strong structure. Decals and parts options are for three aircraft. A rocket armed strike fighter of 272 squadron, Malta 1942 in the desert camo scheme. A 92^nd Squadron night fighter in standard day camouflage, Scotland 1943. And an all-black night fighter of 600 Squadron. Though I didn’t use them, the decals appear typical Tamiya quality. Tamiya obviously planned additional releases so there are unused parts for other Beaufighter marks included in the kit. So, if you acquire the appropriate decals any of the later production Hercules Beaus with the positive tail plane dihedral can be made. I guess with a little tail plane surgery some earlier marks as well. Spare parts include the thimble nose for those types and the Sperry Autopilot housing for the Australian Mk.XXI. I have heard something about the elevator trim tab actuators being on the wrong side of the tail planes. But I am ignoring that rumor, holding my ears, don’t want to hear it.

The interior builds on a one-piece full-length floor chassis with the pilot’s office on one end and the observer/gunner’s office at the other end. There are multi-part instrument decals that are applied to the black painted instrument panel. The Tamiya paint mixing formula shows the interior as RAF gray green. There are decal seatbelts. Completing Steps 1 and 2 gives you a complete cockpit assembly. Step 3 is trapping this assembly between fuselage halves and gluing the halves together. But wait, also in this step is attaching the rear crew entry hatch. Now, I’m not very smart, I need clear instructions what to do. So, the instructions has you going through all kinds of gyrations. Cutting off a section of this hatch, and trapping between fuselage halves without gluing. But it makes no mention of why? Turns out this is an option to display the hatch open or closed. But it doesn’t tell you this. So not being able to figure it out, I just glued the whole thing shut. Same thing with wing assembly. It has you not cement the forward entry hatch to the wing center section, but to temporarily hold it in place with tape. Then the instructions forgets all about that hatch and never mentions it again. So I just glued my shut. Don’t forget to open the holes for the rocket mounts if you are using them. Landing gear is assembled and attached to the wheel wells, this assembly becomes an insert into a nacelle opening. I like this because you can attach to the nacelle after painting saving a masking chore. Next is attaching the wing assembly to the fuselage. The engines and cowling are then assembled and attached to the wing nacelles along with the air intake caps on the wing leading edge. Then the tail planes are attached. So, fit is good, no real assembly issues. The fuselage seam required minimum scraping and sanding. Only needed a small dab of filler on one wing root seam and around the air intake caps. Next, I masked the canopy and gunner’s bubble. The Eduard set performed wonderfully as usual. These were then attached with Zap Canopy Glue. And ready for painting.

My dad served in New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands campaigns. The soldiers there were aware of the air operations against Japanese shipping. They were the beneficiaries of their success in limiting Japanese supplies and reinforcements to the battlefield. So, I wanted to do the Australian Mk.XXI and obtained the Whispering Death sheet that has markings for 6 aircraft including two Mk.XXIs. I chose EH C of RAAF 31 Sqn. This one caught my eye as the exhaust collectors that serve as the front of Hercules cowlings were painted with white heat reflective paint. This adds a little interest to the monotonous one-color scheme. That color is RAAF Foliage Green. Researching the various builds on MM and elsewhere, it seems to be a judgement call on just what that is. Looking at my paints on hand, I chose a German color, RLM 72 Green mixed with a dab of US Forest Green. Looks as good as anyone else’s to my eye. I first painted the white cowls, masked, and sprayed the green. I didn’t do a lot of weathering. Some paint chipping, much of it outlining access panels was done with a silver Prisma pencil. I did some light exhaust and oil staining with Mission Models Transparent Smoke and a light gray pastel. But when the clearcoats went on it mostly disappeared, oh well. A gloss clearcoat paved the way to decaling. The Aeromaster set behaved beautifully as usual. Except for the squadron logo on the nose due to trying to get it settled down evenly over that rounded dome shape. In the event I used a razor blade to cut four small slits into the decal and that did the trick. A coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish finished the job.

All the masking was removed. Then the landing gear assemblies attached. Tight fit here, use your fingers to press down and insure these inserts seat all the way. Rockets were assembled, painted and attached. The clear dome over the DF antennae and the clear landing light lense glued in place. Instructions have you paint the front sections of the formation light lenses clear red and clear green. Not having those on hand, I painted the inside edges red and green which shows through by prism effect. The props were painted matt black. The tips painted white first, then coated with the yellow. The radio mast and pitot next and I finished off with an EZ Line antenna wire.

Conclusion – The kit is nearing 30 years old, so there are probably newer offerings on the market with more modern bells and whistles (and attendant price increase). But I am more than happy with the resulting replica and can recommend the kit highly. Some minor omissions in the instructions are a bit annoying, but now that you are aware of them, no worries. Even less experienced modelers should have little trouble with assembly. Highly recommended.

The Encyclopedia of Aircraft of World War II. Paul Eden, Amber Books 2017. Modeling Madness Kit Reviews.

Dave Cummings

13 October 2026

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