1/32 Bristol Beaufighter

Revell purchased the kits part of Matchbox circa 1990, with a 10 year ‘lease’ on using the brand name.

In this instance, the Beaufighter is a Revell kit dating from at least the seventies and has been re-issued many times.

The only true Matchbox 1/32 kits being the Lysander, Me109, Spit 24, Tiger Moth, Puma and Dauntless.

Thanks for the info, I knew that Matchbox produced several 1/32 kits in the ’70’s and assumed that the Beuafighter was one of these.

Need a pint of Old Speckled Hen to get the old brain cells working properly :rolleyes:

Are you working on the Beau at duxford then? Or another one that i’ve never heard of

I have both the Tamiya 1:48 MkVI and the Revell 1:32 Mk1F, both unbuilt (not enough hours in the day!).

The Tamiya is of a better quality, but I like the Revell just because it’s so damn BIG! I had originally intended to build mine and paint it ina bare aluminium scheme, then overpaint various sections in primer and / or nightfighter black as and when we got those sections completed on the 1:1 Bristol-made kit. 😉

Very nice, although im going to go for the Tamiya one, one of the most important things to me in a kit is ease of build! Might cheat and go for the nightfighter, simply beacause it’s all black :-p

Very nice, Rob!

I do like Revell’s Spitfire VB, as it is done in the markigns of EP120, apart from the squadron codes – which are a light green colour! :confused:

Revell AND Monogram (of course they are one now) just don’t make ’em like they used to, too much flash and gaps and badly fitting parts, and they’re getting their butts kicked by the Japs and some British/European kits….they need to re-do some of their molds and get things to fit better….only kit I found to be decent recently was the 1/48 scale Mustang painted up as either ‘Big Beautiful Doll’ or ‘Miss Marilyn’, the fit on that kit was pretty good…for only $8!

M

The mentioned 1/32 scale Beaufighter. Pretty big as you can see and a complete b*****d to built. The fuz just did not go together as it should! Still available, rereleased and manufactured by Revell.

I might give the Beaufighter in 1/48 scale a go here some day…but unfortunately my modelling is at a temporary end due to an unfortunate accident the other night…I was driving home with the air tank that I use to power my airbrush and took a corner too fast (no top on the Jeep in summer, no doors either) and the tank launched itself out the side of the Jeep, and of course busted off the nozzle that the airbrush line screws into…so until I fix that or get a proper compressor or whatever, no more models for me…besides, gotta save my money for my upcoming Corsair Gathering trip, and have you looked at the price of 1/48 scale high quality (Tamiya/Hasegawa) models lately? You’re LUCKY if you can find one for around $25, more often they get up near $40…but when I continue, a Focke Wulf 190, a Zero and a Macchi 202/205 are in the wings along with that Beaufighter…

Mark

I have one I half made a few years back. Big bugger. Have the 110 too.

IIRC it was first issued by Revell sometime in the early 1970’s, nothing to do with Matchbox….. :confused:

I still have my unmade first issue Revell 1/32 Beau 1F sitting in the loft waiting to be made.
I was still at junior school (I’d guess it was around 1973-ish) and my then best friend and I got 2 kits as presents, at the same time on a trip to RAFM Hendon at Christmas time. I got the Beau and he got the ‘matching’ Revell 1/32 Me110G Nightfighter. He had his made within a few months and mine is still in the box some 30+ years later waiting for me to pull my finger out :rolleyes:

Local model shop have 2 at the minute £19.95 each was tempted this morning.

I built this kit as kid, as a Nightfighter and from memory it was huge!

Anyway, I think that the tooling was originally produced/owned by Matchbox, for which Revell owned or had a licensing agreement, until recently.

I also believe that Revell now own the tooling but can no longer use the Matchbox name!

Revell purchased the kits part of Matchbox circa 1990, with a 10 year ‘lease’ on using the brand name.

Normally Matchbox kits were re-issued under Matchbox, albeit made in Germany (without the old PK___ kit coding system), until circa 2000 where they now appear under Revell only.

For example, the Victor K.2.

In this instance, the Beaufighter is a Revell kit dating from at least the seventies and has been re-issued many times.

The only true Matchbox 1/32 kits being the Lysander, Me109, Spit 24, Tiger Moth, Puma and Dauntless.

There was a limited issue of this mould by a Mexican company (whose name escapes me) but as a TF.X complete with thimble nose & dorsal spine.

Also the late ID Models produced a very basic vacform Beaufort, which is vastly improved by using the Revell Beaufighters wings, tail assembly etc…

Expect to pay around £15-£20 on eBay for the Beau’ or from specialist kit dealers such as Kingkit

Cheers…..

I also believe that Revell now own the tooling but can no longer use the Matchbox name!

I think that’s the case – which means they also have the tooling for the big Spit 22/24…. 😀

You might wanna try the Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter if you want a nice kit – it’s very easy to build and looks great afterwards, i want to do mine in a lovely Desert camo scheme but i’m too scared i’ll screw it up!

I’ve just remembered that a former mate of mine once built a 1/32 scale Bristol Beaufighter Mk1 some time ago – I distinctly remember the beast as it was absolutely bloody massive in comparison to my 1/32 Spitfire MkII that I had at the time!

Does anyone know what kit that might have been? I’m thinking Revell, but I’m probably wrong.

I built this kit as kid, as a Nightfighter and from memory it was huge!

Anyway, I think that the tooling was originally produced/owned by Matchbox, for which Revell owned or had a licensing agreement, until recently.

I also believe that Revell now own the tooling but can no longer use the Matchbox name!

still available, quite often come up on EBAY!

That looks like it, Dave 🙂

Yes, Revell made a 1/32 Beaufighter. It was made by Revell Germany, and is probably still available somewhere.

There’s a couple on German ebay
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=99937&item=7323142379&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=99937&item=7322506962&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW