The Beaufighter crew/operator canopy was attached to the fuselage panels and during maintenance -or emergencies- the panels could unfastened and the canopy would swing open to the side (the crew would normally enter via a hatch in the fuselage floor).

This detail set provides you with two canopy sets, one for the “observer” configuration and another one for the “rear gunner” of the Beaufighter. I believe the observer configuration (radar operator) was only used in the MkV/NF version of the Beaufighter.

The canopies are casted in clear resin. Please note that this replacement part includes some sharply casted detail in the panels surrounding the canopies as well. In order to use this set you are expected to remove some plastic from the fuselage of the airplane and the extra panels around the canopy will replace the removed parts. By the way, the removal is done along panel lines so it will be easy to do the removal on the model parts.

The canopies are very clean casts, with small pouring tubs that would make removal and cleaning easy. Sadly one of the casts had a bubble on it. It is small, but it is in a very obvious area. It might be possible to drill it and pour Future (or other clear resin on it) and it might become less obvious.

A better route however is to reach out to the manufacturer. Their website includes a “Contact Us” section, with addresses, emails and even phone numbers. In about 4 weeks (consider this manufacturer is in Europe) I had a new canopy, free of any imperfections delivered to me. Excellent customer service. Good job Res-Im!

Considering the outstanding customer service, and based on the quality and crispness of the casts, these parts are excellent

I would like to thank Res-IM and IPMS/USA for the review sample.