Martin's Mossie *** finished ***

[Jagewa]

Coming along nicely Martin, that undercart looks smart.

I run hot and cold with the Mossie as a subject, I think I need a dose of 633 Squadron...

Cheers
Jim

[Dirkpitt289]

Looking good martin. It's really coming along

[Tommy]

Martin you are doing a super job on your Mosquito.

Tommy

[Martin R]

Gents,

Many thanks for your kind words. The Mossie as a subject has been done to death, I agree. However, the A-S GB was my opportunity to build another one (I only have one in my collection - a Mk XIX nightfighter).

Although the Airfix moulding is a simple kit, I find there are some real "gotchas" if you're not careful.

The undercarriage took the wash of Tamiya Smoke quite nicely, and the wheels certainly add something to the basic kit.

regards,

[Justin1980]

Looking good Martin,

You may have inspired me to build my stashed one!

Justin

[Jagewa]

...The Mossie as a subject has been done to death, I agree. However, the A-S GB was my opportunity to build another one (I only have one in my collection - a Mk XIX nightfighter).

Yes its like the Spitfire or Me109 or Fw190, a dose of 633 squadron always get the enthusiasm up though, of course the FB does look strange after seeing the movie modified ones, those guns on the painted over nose perspex.

I could do with doing some more, a bomber or pathfinder one, certainly lots of good schemes for the Mossie. Dam I can see myself spending money

A dose of "Battle of Britain" gets the enthusiasm up for the Spitfire, its normally a bit more work to get enthusiastic on the Me and FW. After watching the movies I get keen to build a Buchon, a Bf108 or after "Where eagles dare" a Harvard

Did you apply the Tamiya smoke wash straight, i.e no thinning?

Cheers
Jim

[Martin R]

Jim,

I always enjoy answering your posts. Some responses in line below:

...The Mossie as a subject has been done to death, I agree. However, the A-S GB was my opportunity to build another one (I only have one in my collection - a Mk XIX nightfighter).

Yes its like the Spitfire or Me109 or Fw190, a dose of 633 squadron always get the enthusiasm up though, of course the FB does look strange after seeing the movie modified ones, those guns on the painted over nose perspex.

Yep, the movie ones do look a bit odd - but the theme tune is the thing that gets me thinking about building another Mossie. I would like to see the movie remade with special effects using modern CGI (and no sissy love interest to get in the way!). And, by the way, have you noted that Gillibrand is Crocodile Dundee's sidekick?

I could do with doing some more, a bomber or pathfinder one, certainly lots of good schemes for the Mossie. Dam I can see myself spending money

I'm with you there! A Matchbox Mosquito SK GB could be an option for the future! I fancy either a BMkIX with bulged bomb bay or a PRXVI with a red and white tail.

A dose of "Battle of Britain" gets the enthusiasm up for the Spitfire, its normally a bit more work to get enthusiastic on the Me and FW. After watching the movies I get keen to build a Buchon, a Bf108 or after "Where eagles dare" a Harvard

Dirk has another link somewhere, Off-topic, with a link to a trailer for the movie, "Red-Tails". Check it out on you-tube. May give you a taste for 109s . . . or 262s, P-51s, B-17s and P40s.

Did you apply the Tamiya smoke wash straight, i.e no thinning?

I started off thinning it out (having added some black to maintain colour density), but it didn't cover the enamel silver paint I had - it just pooled up. I then gave the enamel a coat of Klear and, after it had dried, "unthinned" smoke from the bottle seemed to go on fine. However, I may well have thinned the bottle back when I first used it, as it doesn't go on well with a brush out of the bottle. So, in answer to your question, I think so . . .

regards,

[Desert_fox]

Great stuff! The Mossie is one of my favourite planes, so its nice to see one being built. I do realise of course that every man and his dog and his dog's fleas have built one, but I haven't been around all that long so it's still novel for me. And I love it! I am particularly impressed by your scratch built cockpit. I always love seeing modellers scratch build stuff, and you've done it brilliantly. More please!!!

[Martin R]

Not much progress since my last post, but I have applied some filler and given the underside a couple of 'reveal' coats of hand-brushed Xtracrylix Sky.

Further effort is being made on ensuring the recesses representing the edges of the aft wingtip nav lights (absent on the FBVI) are filled, as well as the wingtip joint between upper and lower wing sections, and drop tanks. I have also spent some time trying to eradicate the seam on the lower side of each engine nacelle. Given the proximity of the undercarriage structure, this is always a bit of a problem for me. Finally, I have added the nose cone and 4 .303" machine guns, having filled the hole for the radar aerial (slightly short shot) with a piece of styrene rod, and reduced the diameter of the gun camera port by inserting pieces of stretched tube.

There's been a fair bit of filling and sanding around the cannon bay, and I am very carefully attempting to fair in the nose cone without knocking any of the machine guns off. I did want to leave fitting the nose cone off to nearer the end of the build, but the fit after my sanding wasn't good enough.



The topside has had a 'reveal' coat of Xtracrylix EDSG in some key areas. I have added a strip of sticky paper to represent the rear spar reinforcement across the top of the fuselage, and some foil from a wine bottle to form the hatch cover (dinghy bay?) immediately behind the cockpit.

I have also built up the back of the cockpit surround, as I have sanded a couple of mils off the back of the kit canopy to get it closer to the correct length (I think it's about 4 mils too long as it comes in the kit). As well, mould seams on the prop blades have been removed, and the rear of the centre piece that the blades are attached to has been thinned. In due course, I want to add a piece of sheet styrene to represent the spinner backing plate behind the blades.

Finally, I have scribed (poorly) the machine gun bay cover panel in front of the cockpit. I have left the nose cone aft edge unfilled on top to represent the front panel line. We'll see of the fit is good enough for this soon enough.



Hopefully, the next step is to move onto painting proper. I'm going to have to vary the shades of the EDSG as the airframe I'm doing - NE D, RS625, of 143 Sqn, 1945 - is very patchy and weathered. I also don't know how I'm going to get a convincing yellow on the spinners using a brush, or how I'm going to mask light grey bands and tips to the spinners; however, plenty to do before that gets on the critical path!

regards,

[MerlinJones]

You could try the Dip Method...wherein you dip the spinner into the first colour and let it dry, pointy bit down. You then dip it, not as deep, into the second colour.
This only has problems if your paint is too thick, because then you end up with a blob of paint on the nose of the spinner, that you'll have to deal with.

Looking good so far and I really like your guns.

Regards,
Bruce

[Martin R]

You could try the Dip Method...wherein you dip the spinner into the first colour and let it dry, pointy bit down. You then dip it, not as deep, into the second colour.

This only has problems if your paint is too thick, because then you end up with a blob of paint on the nose of the spinner, that you'll have to deal with

If I can't work out a reasonable looking mask, that may be Plan B.

Looking good so far and I really like your guns.

Many thanks. I'm having fun with it. Re the guns, if you mean the 20mm, yep, I'm happy with them; if the 303s, we'll see how many remain attached by the end of the build!

regards,

[Dirkpitt289]

Nice work going on here Martin. keep it up

[Jagewa]

Very smart Martin. That EDSG looks good and patchy on the engine nacelles.

Cheers
Jim

[Martin R]

Painting continues; some greeblies to clean up but the main camo is now essentially done . . .




regards,

[Jagewa]

Super smooth brush work Martin.

Cheers
Jim