Woodo79 Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 (edited) Managed to pick up a Mozzie for half price at ScotsNats yesterday so I can finally throw my hat in to the ring. Hardly original but been wanting to do one so now was as good a time as any, plus it was a good chance to make my GB debut. Multiple birds and all that. Box, sprues etc... Due to various constraints of real life and what-not it'll be an OOB job. Tempted to go with the NF.Mk II as something different from the standard scheme on the Mk.XVIII option, and I've cried enough doing a couple of NMF birds recently to put me off trying the Aussie Mk.IV option. Let's go... Edited May 24, 2017 by Woodo79 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old thumper Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 With the MkXVIII you get to make the Molins gun armed Tetsy Fly version, only trouble is you have to cut the nose in just the right place for it to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 Welcome to your first GB Woodo! I was also at the show, no purchases for me though. Good luck with the build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 On 4/30/2017 at 11:31 PM, old thumper said: With the MkXVIII you get to make the Molins gun armed Tetsy Fly version, only trouble is you have to cut the nose in just the right place for it to fit. Thanks. Not sure I trust my skills with even that basic level of body-modding however it probably won't be my last attempt at a Mozzie so I'll bear that in mind for future builds! Think I'm going to go with the Night Fighter variant. Challenge for me in that is that I'll probably try to mix up a slightly lighter shade for the body so that I can show up details with a pure black wash during weathering. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Cutting the nose off is easy enough due to the internal guide. The NFII will require new wheels as they had spoked hubs on one side and the kit gives fairly basic plain hubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Don't cut the nose off if you're doing the NF. II: it's only the FB. XVIII that needs that surgery. The Aussie FB. VI is not natural metal but aluminium dope overall, including the metal bits (mostly engine cowling panels) so you could be OK there with a rattle can of "silver" from your favourite automotive paints retailer. Many of the early NF. IIs were finished in RDM2A Special Night, a very matt finish which tended not to stick too well even to properly prepared surfaces and collected grot on an industrial scale, so some scope there for some judicious distressing. National markings were in the normal paints and exhibited a slight sheen in contrast to the Special Night. Later aircraft adopted Smooth Night (Night, Type S) which had some sheen to it and contrasted less with the finish of the national markings. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old thumper Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I'm currently building two of these kits at the moment. The main problem with this kit are the engine nacelles which need cutting down where they meet the back of the wing, and the x shaped cross members between the undercarriage legs which are to broad and need cutting down for the undercarriage to fit properly. There is also a bit of a lip when the fuselage halves are joined together, all in all they are very nice kits though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 Not to mention that the wing fit is a little... tight. Which makes it difficult to get the angles right. I've never liked the wing fit on this kit, which is probably why the bulk of my Mosquitos are the superlative Tamiya kit. Having said that, I'm currently working on a quartet of Airfix Mossies from The Shelf of DOOOM!!! Not looking forward to doing the u/c assembly, but I do have replacement wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old thumper Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 3 hours ago, The Wooksta! said: Not to mention that the wing fit is a little... tight. Which makes it difficult to get the angles right. I've never liked the wing fit on this kit, which is probably why the bulk of my Mosquitos are the superlative Tamiya kit. Having said that, I'm currently working on a quartet of Airfix Mossies from The Shelf of DOOOM!!! Not looking forward to doing the u/c assembly, but I do have replacement wheels. Yes and the problem area seems to be around the radiator area, i chopped down the bit on the fuselage that fits inside radiator and the wings went in well enough, the left wing is more tricky than the right wing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 8, 2017 Author Share Posted May 8, 2017 (edited) OK, first thing's first. Cockpit sorted. The pit in this kit basically has zero internal detail aside from a stick and the instrument panel (showing it's age) but when sealed up you're not going to see much anyway I guess (which is why I also cheated and couldn't be bothered dealing with the myriad ejector pin marks either) so there's that. A quick spot of cockpit green and a wee brown wash to dirty it up a little anyway because it would be rude not to. It was sunny today, so made the most of it with some al fresco photos... Then the instrument panel. Coloured for fun not for accuracy, and given some spots of Clear for glass bits. And finally, our good friends the crew, including what appears to be a guest appearance from Douglas Bader as the pilot! Of course in true Woodo style, despite taking increasingly more care with every build I somehow still managed to break the stick off. Again we'll pragmatically claim that won't be seen anyway when it's all sealed up and move swiftly on. Next we'll seal things up, but before that I'm going to ponder whether to fill the massive void left behind the seats (again another symptom of the age of the tooling I guess)... Edited May 8, 2017 by Woodo79 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Good progress Like the crew Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh65 Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 That's a great start. I do like the Airfix legless crew men. Not had one for a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 11, 2017 Author Share Posted May 11, 2017 Yep, the void was bothering me too much so I decided it needed a shelf bodge job (scratch build is a bit grand for what follows) Lacking anything as refined as plasticard I cobbled together a basic shelf using packing cardboard, some CA and model filler. A few layers of filler and filing then a coat of paint and it was passable for the job at hand. Not a bad fit at all. Radio box painted up and in place and whole thing can now get closed up... Next: wings... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 (edited) Did I really say "next the wings"? Don't be ridiculous. Look at the state of this fit... Deploy the filler! A few layers and sand downs later and it's going to look much more presentable once some paint's applied. It also now has a nose. OK, so maybe *now* the wings... Edited May 19, 2017 by Woodo79 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh65 Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 The joy of older kits... Looks like a nice filling job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 Although it's a personal favourite this is one of the kits that Airfix need to re-tool NOW! It still has the same markings options as when first issuee 45-odd years ago. I can't remember the fit ever having been that bad previously: you might have been better cutting the (dis)-locating pins off and using the tailwheel, cockpit and nose cone to align the fuselage halves. The "box" does the job pretty well too: having near-terminal AMS I spent several evenings building up a double-deck box to replicate the bomb bay roof and wing centre-section, complete with appropriate curvature of the top surface, only to discover that, with the canopy on, it was all but invisible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old thumper Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Looks like you have been unlucky with the fuselage fit as both of my ones went together with hardly any filler. I think the fuselage halfs have bit of a lip on them though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 2 hours ago, old thumper said: Looks like you have been unlucky with the fuselage fit as both of my ones went together with hardly any filler. I think the fuselage halfs have bit of a lip on them though. Suspect some of the gapping might've been caused by my shelf modification being fractionally to wide, but yeah there was a definite lip too, you can see that on the pic of the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 Right. Wings. Lots of bits... Moulding on the tailplane wasn't great. Uneven panel lines and a bit of deformity, nothing major but another symptom of age I guess. Also like a lot of parts, a lot of minor flashing around the edges that needed sanding off. Problem... the engine nacelle. This one has an outie where it should have an innie...! Cue a bit of creative drilling... That's better! Undercarriage wasn't bad. struts for the mud guard were badly warped though and took some gentle persuasion and gluing to get in place. Overall not a bad fit. It almost looks like a plane now... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh65 Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 No almost about it! Nice work and it seems to be going together quickly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodo79 Posted May 24, 2017 Author Share Posted May 24, 2017 (edited) Big push to the finish line! Canopy masked and painted then in position! Painting done while rewatching Season 1 & 2 of Twin Peaks, ready for the new series... Did the main body of the aircraft entirely in NATO Black with Flat Black for the prop blades to provide a bit of tonal difference. Finally some stretched sprue antenna wire, the decals, an oil wash and various varnishes (again to add a bit of subtle tonal difference to a very plain colour scheme) and we're calling it done! More images in the gallery. Thanks for tuning in. That was fun. Edited May 24, 2017 by Woodo79 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Great work! Very well done on your first GB and thanks for taking part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh65 Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Nice work. You got a much better finish than my all black defiant last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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