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Bristol Beaufort Mk.I
Torpedo Bomber

 

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

S u m m a r y
Catalogue Number: Special Hobby kit no. SH 72026 - Bristol Beaufort Mk.I Torpedo Bomber
Scale: 1/72
Contents and Media: 76 grey injection moulded parts on four sprues, 13 clear parts on one sprue, 25 finely moulded resin parts, 1 small PE fret containing seven parts, decals for two aircraft and instructions with history, build diagrams, parts plans and painting and marking instructions.
Price: USD$21.96  from Squadron.com
Review Type: FirstLook
Advantages: Long awaited subject, highly detailed and beautifully done; excellent resin detail; ; very clear injection moulded canopy and turret.
Disadvantages: Red in the British markings looks a little on the bright side; some experience required
Recommendation: Highly Recommended


Reviewed by Glen Porter


 Special Hobby's 1/72 scale Beaufort Mk.I is available online from Squadron.com
 

FirstLook

 

This is one of the models I’ve been waiting a long time for. Apart from the old Frog offering, there have been a couple of Beaufort variants available from High Planes in Australia which, although very detailed and very accurate, were a bit hard for us “Nungers” to tackle. Now along comes Special Hobby from MPM, bless their cotton socks, to bring us this beauty.

So, what do you get for your hard earned lolly? Lots and lots of nice grey engraved plastic, 76 parts in fact, although not all are used in this kit. The overall quality of the styrene is perhaps not quite as good as Tamiya or Hasagawa, but is certainly better than many other well established companies that I could mention.

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The transparent sprue is crystal clear and distortion free, with thin parts included both for the Mk.I and for later Marks (for example, the. turrets for the Mk.II).

 



The resin bits (drool) by CMK are as well detailed as you would expect from that company.

 



The PE fret is quite small and only has seven parts, fortunately. No, really, I love PE. (NOT).

Decals are supplied for two aircraft, both being British as I don’t think anyone else used the Mk.I. The decals are printed by a company named Aviprint who I haven’t heard of before. They look fairly good although the red may be a bit bright but I think still usable.

 



Instructions are standard Special Hobby fare with clear build diagrams and colour and marking charts.

There are a few oddities. Special Hobby supplies six engine-cowling halves. Initially I thought they were giving us the Mk.II bits but I think the Mk.II cowlings were a different shape. However you do get the two engine- nacelles for the Mk.II with the exhausts along the sides.

Well, you can expect a build report on this one very soon.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to MPM/Special Hobby for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2004 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2004 by Brett Green
Page Created 02 December, 2004
Last updated 02 December, 2004

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