Rare Bronzart RAF Bristol Beaufighter OVERHAULED

At the beginning of WW2 The British isles were quickly re-building their military to prepare for any contingencies on the continent. Part of that process was the creation of 1/72 scale recognition models to train all military and even the spotter corps to recognize any aircraft approaching the UK. All model were painted a satin black so that it was strictly the outlines that were mastered.

In 1940 the United States military both U S Navy and eventually the Army decided to institute a similar training program using the same scale. A government contract was let to manufacture models and the Bronzart company in New York City won the first contract to produce these scale models from cast metal. These were both heavy and fragile! drop one more than six inches there was a good chance it might shatter like glass. The models chosen were seemingly random choices of the USA, Germany, England, Italy and Japan. far more detail can be found reading Bryan Brown excellent article here-

http://www.ebay.com/gds/WW-II-METAL-AIRCRAFT-RECOGNITION-TRAINING-MODELS-by-BRONZART-/10000000009539923/g.html

note that the contract did not last long as the metals required in production became restricted and another contract to produce plastic (early acetate) was let to the Cruver Company of Chicago to continue production. Therefore the population of any Bronzart Recognition Models is very small!

In this instance, this rare Bronzart RAF Bristol Beaufighter was acquired with the whole aft section of the fuselage and tail snapped off with little expectation that it could ever be "re-knitted" back together. The simple description here is that it was a combination of both Epoxy and Cyanoacrylate (super glue) [medium viscosity] that permanently secured the two major parts together. The second photo shows the vertical seam of the model's successful surgery.

The private museum wanting the model wanted to honor those RAF pilots that became night-fighter pilots to protect England from German raiders flying at night. These airplanes were already painted satin black with many pilots having their maintenance crews wax the surfaces to add just a bit more speed. Per the museum's request, this period produced model has been finished as an actual night-fighter patrolling the night skies over southern England in 1941.

Tom @ SANDMAN OVERHAUL