Carlos' Mosquito raider

[bromo]

Good news,look forward to the progress pics

[carlos]

Finally some progress last night, after a very busy weekend.

First of all, the fuselage - The kit is literally empty behind the seats, clear through into the rear of the fuselage, and with that large canopy, it needs filling in.
A few scraps of plastic later, it now has the rear shelf and bulkhead - though looking at the photo, the shelf looks a tad low, another piece of plastic on top should do it - also, I think the final coat of interior green needs to be a bit lighter - some light grey in the mix should look better.
I've also chopped off the flange for the nose-cone, because it would interfere with what I'm doing behind there.

I may also add some instrumentation down that starboard side of the cockpit.

The navigator's seat, is just a duplicate of the pilot's, which if you know Mossies, you'll know is just plain wrong.
So I've cut the back down, and shaped the seat pad, to be more like the real thing.
Also sanded the backs of the seats a lot thinner than they were - just need some card to make armour for the backs.

You can also see the back of the nose-cone in this pic - I've filled it with some Squadron white putty, and drilled through the gun-cam's porthole. I'm gonna add a small piece of transparency on the back, to make the gun-cam's lens.
Hence the need to remove the flange from the front of the fuselage.

Front of the nose - Radar locating hole filled and sanded over - and you can just about see where I've drilled through the putty behind the gun-cam porthole


Wing-radiator flaps are far too thick, they need sanding


And the underwing lights - I've painted the back of the transparency silver, but because theyr'e so big, I painted a black black spot in the centre first, to give the impression of a reflective bulb-lens


And that's it so far - that rad-flap still looks a bit thick in the photo (I thought it looked OK by eye) needs thinning a bit more before the wings are glued together.

[Chris]

A lot of extra work on that bird carlos.

[Dirkpitt289]

Looking good Carlos. The extra effort is paying off

[carlos]

Not much done lately - but I've got the cockpit finished - or at least, as finished as I'm gonna....

Some instrumentation added down the navigator's right, it's just shaped blue-tack.
Armour plate added behind the seats (card), and armrests on the pilot's.
Armrest supports are from an unused umbrella handle off a 1/48 Academy Bf-109 - armrests themselves are strips cut from a sprue number tab.
Seat harnesses look a bit scruffy, but in 1/72, with my eyes, that'll have to do.


Cockpit from behind - instrument panel has been dry-brushed silver, over anthracite.
That rear shelf could do with being just a tad higher - but a dry-fit shows that it doesn't look too bad as it is.


I've also closed up the fuselage now - looks like the seams will need quite a bit of attention.

[jssel]

That is nice interior work you have done.

[Dirkpitt289]

Yo yo Carlos, hows it going? You did a great job on the cockpit. Any further progress since then?

[carlos]

Cracked on a bit last night - it's all in one piece now - Well, apart from things like the canopy, antenna......
All went together with no issues - some sanding of fuselage seams needed - and I pre-painted the undercart (apart from tyres) - very straightforward.
First coat of paint on the fuselage and tail this morning - will get the first coat on the wings and tyres tonight.
(Ye olde hairye stick)

Not many pics - but there wasn't really much worth photographing TBH
Will do more pics as it gets nearer completion.

First, a look at the gun-cam I mentioned earlier - I filled the nose-cone with squadron white-putty, drilled through the cam opening and placed a piece of transparency in the bottom to make a lens (painted behind the lens silver)

Hard to see in the pic, but the radiators and undercart are painted in a dull silvery colour I made up from Gunmetal (H53) and silver (H11)
Still got half a pot left from when I did a NMF about a month ago - It's a nice mix - a good approximation for steel etc...

And a look into the cockpit from above.
I hadn't noticed until I saw the pic, but some of those prop-blades need sanding.


Should all be pretty-much standard from here on in....
Anyone know for sure whether the black NFs had yellow prop-tips....?
A trip to Google images may be in order

[Softscience]

Carlos,

Good to see you're still working on this model. Its looking quite nice


A mosquito book I have confirms yellow prop tips on black NFs

[carlos]

A mosquito book I have confirms yellow prop tips on black NFs

Cheers Ralph - saved me from looking it up

Have got within striking distance of finishing today - went to take some pics and the camera batteries have died
Overall black paint-job is finished (2 coats) - plus a coupla thin coats pf Klear - ready for decals - will do that tonight, and probably a flat-coat too.
Will get some batteries, and fresh photos tomorrow - by then I think there'll just be the canopy, antenna, and wheel-bay doors to attach - plus some tidying up (hopefully not too much)


Oh - and the lesson I've learned from this build is...
Do not attach undercart before painting the tyres.

[Softscience]

Oh - and the lesson I've learned from this build is...
Do not attach undercart before painting the tyres.

We've all gone down that road once or twice

[carlos]

I'm NOT a happy bunny right now
Might have to declare a DNF

Anyone know if there are any issues with Humbrol matt enamel, reacting with Klear (old formula) ..?

Yesterday, got the decals on - on top of 2 coats of Klear - then another coat of Klear over the top of that to seal them.
Looked fine, nice glossy finish - decals settled nicely with no silvering to speak of..

Did a flat coat on the fuselage and upper surfaces this morning before watching the F1 Grand Prix - again, looked fine - and left it to dry.
This would be a good 18hrs after the last coat of Klear went on.

The after the F1, went up to flat coat the lower wings and engine nacelles - to find a horrible 'hazy', almost 'milky' finish - nasty brush-strokes showing - and what looks like a smear of something white across the port-side fuselage decal.



There are another 3 similar smears in various places, but this one is by far the worst.


Any ideas what might have caused it?
Nobody has been anywhere near it - no animals either.
Same method I've used on at least my last dozen builds - never had a problem.

Will try to fix it, but no idea yet of how to go about that

[Softscience]

That is odd. Incidentally, that is how my last Airfix mosquito ended life as well. Mysterious hazyness.


The problem could be a bad batch of flat coat.

If the flat is an enamel you can safely rub it off with a lint free cloth dampened with thinner. If you don't overdo it, it shouldn't affect the future beneath it.

[carlos]

Thanks Ralph - I'll give that a go - Whole of the fuselage and upper surfaces to do though, hope I can do it without messing up the paint-job.
Got a fresh pot of clear satin enamel - If I can get back to the Klear (Future), might give that a shot.

[carlos]

Well I tried - but sadly made it worse (probably my own fists of ham were to blame)

Sorry, but gonna have to bow out, it's just too much of a mess to put right and finish off before the deadline. :(