History

The Bristol Beaufighter was a British long range heavy fighter, developed from the earlier Beaufort design. Featuring two Bristol Hercules engines, the aircraft gained a fearsome reputation for being both fast and able to deliver a powerful blow from its four 20mm cannons and a choice of either Torpedo or Rocket projectiles. Although developed to be a fighter, and used successfully as a night fighter, it was the Mk.X Coastal Command version that was most successful; its range and power enabling it to take a heavy toll of Axis shipping. The Royal Australian Air Force also used the type, finding it to be very suitable for the Pacific war, where the Japanese called it ‘Whispering Death’ due to its quiet engines. After the war Beaufighters continued to serve until the early 1950s.

Background

The Matra R-530 is a medium range air-to-air missile. This two stage rocket propelled missile entered production in 1962. Frequently, interceptor aircraft utilize this missile for longer range along with the Matra R-550 Magic 2 short range air-to-air missile. The missile is available with Infrared Homing or with Semi-Active Radar Homing. In some cases, a missile of both types is carried. This weapon is used by at least sixteen countries, most utilizing French sourced aircraft.

Merit quietly issued a 1/35 X-craft submarine and once I got my hands on it, I was impressed with both the molding and size of the kit. Still, there was some room for add-ons and improvements and Eduard has issued a photoetch sheet to help address some of the issues.

Eduard’s sheet is composed of a single sheet with 30 superb parts. The sheet addresses the hatches on the top of the ship by replacing 6 individual parts and adding detail and texture. A little removal of the hinges and these go on smoothly. There are slight folds on four of the parts but this is easy to accomplish with a new #11 blade.

Next, the kit propeller is undersized and Eduard uses the kit hub but has you wrap three individual blades around a dowel and add them to the hub. This takes a little patience but the result is a larger and more accurate prop.