elger

A thing to keep in mind with the Italeri kit is that the tail is slightly too narrow. The kit's rear turret is slightly too small. Maybe this is what is causing some of the confusion. With the real aircraft, the tail turret actually has the same width (circumference) as the one in the front. The first couple of Dutch Dornier 24Ks were fitted with 3 identical turrets (the front turret type). Later aircraft were fitted with the larger, rounder dome type with the cannon in the middle, but all retained the identical front and rear turrets. German Dornier 24Ts were fitted with a different rear turret, but its width should be the same as the front turret. But if you try to fit the kit front turret in the tail, you'll notice that the kit's tail is slightly too narrow.

They don't exist as far as I know. But what you could do is buy an extra set of the 5-stack type and add a single pipe to each stack. This is what Jumpei Temma did for his 1/48 Mosquito http://www.geocities.jp/yoyuso/mosquito/mosquito-2.html

Pictures of the next big step: the engine. The whole project - that is, the main motivation for joining the HK front fuselage to Tamiya wings - started with my idea of using the Eduard Brassin Mosquito engine for the Tamiya kit. I spent my Christmas break assembling and painting it. I have to say, the engine set looks rather intimidating from the outset. But with careful planning (which I feel took most time) and careful assembly the Eduard set can be made into something great. The resin is of really good quality and it all fits remarkably well. The only major fit problem I encountered was that of the replacement resin firewall. But all the other parts, notably all the complicated plumbing, fits remarkably well. It's all Eduard - except the exhausts. Since I'm building an early Mk.IV I figured it probably had the saxophone type exhausts, which are not supplied by Eduard so I used the kit items. Main colours are Tamiya and Vallejo, and the metallics are from AK Interactive. The instructions are quite clear but what really helps is Eduard's promo video on YouTube - in fact this video shows some additional wires that aren't in the instructions. I divided the build into three phases. In the first phase I assembled as much as possible. In this photo the engine block has been assembled and I painted the area between the cylinders with black primer. In the second phase I painted as much of the individual parts as possible. I glued the parts to various sticks and labeled them to keep track of the many parts. After painting the individual items I moved on to the final phase in which I assembled everything, and gave the whole thing a coat of clear satin. And then I put it in the bookshelf to admire my efforts, and subsequently I let it fall on the floor, completely shattering it into about 30 pieces. Not a good moment. Fortunately, even though the damage was really quite spectacular and it had exploded onto the hardwood floor I managed to retrieve all the pieces (even tiny bits of PE that had been launched across the room). This happened right before going to bed last week by the way, and the sudden rush of adrenalin and cortisol made for a very bad night's sleep. But we move on and this weekend I was able to repair all the damage. In fact, certain bits actually fit a bit better this time around. Took some photos this afternoon: underside: underside, rear: I fear that the oil tank might be the wrong colour (might have been dark red). The only true concern left over from the catastrophic drop was that the resin "legs" that the gear legs will be attached onto also snapped of so I'm really afraid of this being a weak point of the model - and I hope that the repaired joint will be able to support the weight of the completed kit. Anyway, as always thanks for looking!

maybe this helps. From http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2001/12/stuff_eng_detail_spitfire_ix_01.htm

For me the question is relative - if you buy Starfix you know you're going to get something awful, but they don't promise anything else. That's why the Roden 111 is probably known as one of the worst kits, because it's not advertised as such. But what about this: Although I'm weirdly fond of them, how about pre-Hornby, early 2000s Airfix gems like their Spitfire Vc and Mosquito XVI? Trenches for panel lines, and for the Mosquito truly awful fitting wings.

I have Frank's datafile (1998 version) and I keep coming back to it - it has answers to most questions I have. I can fully recommend it. The "20" edition seems to be a newer, extended edition of the 1998 original.

I would go for RLM66 in the cockpit, 02 for the bomb bay and the rear compartments. That's what I did with my 1/32 HE-111 H-5

Verlinden's 1/48 Sea Mosquito conversion set has 4-bladed propellers, maybe you can find that.

Added question. I've been looking into what kind of exhausts might have been fitted. Tamiya suggests the ducted saxophone type in connection to the flame dampening shrouds in the instructions of their 1/32 FB.VI kit. The 5-stack fishtail is suggested for the version without the flame dampeners. I've been doing some googling and I've found out that in the spring of 1943 there was some experimentation with different exhaust types - the fish tail providing more of a boost than the ducted saxophone type and the latter was eventually phased out. Given that DZ386 was flying at night I'm fairly certain about the flame dampening shrouds being fitted, but what would have been underneath? Would 139 squadron still be flying with the ducted saxophone type, or might they have been fitted with the 5-stack fishtails by this stage?

Thanks! Well, yes, I'm making this sacrifice for the greater good so to bring about the arrival of Tamiya's 1/32 bomber version

thanks buddy! I've been enjoying your updates on the Manchester!

well, it fits. The Tamiya wing fits the HK/Tamiya fuselage hybrid not like Tamiya, but more like a kit with mediocre fit. That's to say, really not bad. On the top there were some gaps, but I could fill them with some Mr Surfacer 500. Putting it together like this, with some parts just put in place for the photos is encouraging. The bomb bay was slightly more challenging. The Tamiya fuselage sides fit reasonably well, but I realized after installing them that the bomb racks (two from the one Tamiya kit, and one set cannabalized from another Tamiya kit -for a VI you only need one set and a kit comes with two) couldn't be installed. Fortunately the glue hadn't completely set so I broke the right one off temporarily, installed the three bomb racks, and put it back. There were some gaps where the Tamiya parts met the HK front fuselage and I resorted to using strip styrene as filler. I lost some of the surface detail in the process, but the sides do blend in with the nose now. Thanks for looking! Comments & feedback are always welcome of course. Next up the engine I guess.

As far as I know both. The upper section (ceiling and the sides down to the level of the lower wing) is interior green. The lower section, the side walls of the actual nacelles, (below the level of the lower wing) is painted aluminium/silver. Bulkhead and firewall in the nacelle are painted silver too. Gear doors are painted silver on the inside.

It's been a while since my last update. The next step, which focused mainly on assembling and painting things for the wing took more time than expected. I realised that normally I tend to think of an aircraft's wings as a bit of an after thought. If an airplane is a human body, the wings are like the arms and all the "interesting stuff" is in the main body. With how Tamiya conceived of their kit the wings are an integral part of the fuselage (like the real thing) but that does mean that a bit more effort than usual is required. The only thing involved with the kit bash into a mk IV in this stage was adding the HK models fuel tanks to the Tamiya mid wing section. This was considerably easier than I thought. I also added some details from the Profimodeller set. To be honest, I'm not happy with that (it really makes me appreciate Eduard). As with the interior set, parts indicated in the instructions are simply not there. I only recommend it if you build a Mosquito with the enlarged bomb bay doors - not for the regular version since especially the bomb racks are a disappointment. I haven't added them yet but I'll be using the leftover parts of the Tamiya VI kit. Radios from Tamiya with kit decals. Some parts of this section needed modifications before they would fit the HK models fuselage since the plastic of that kit is much thicker. For example, the part with the control rods was trimmed on either side. I will be exposing the right engine, so I spent some time weathering the firewall. The inside of the HK Models canopy frame with Tamiya and Profimodeller details: I went ahead and started painting the interior of the nacelles with AK Interactive's White Aluminium. Propellers and spinners. Very satisfying to paint some Ocean Grey! Landing gear main components: Landing gear doors: And finally, the tail planes: Next step: attaching the wing to the hybrid fuselage. Will it fit? Thanks for looking!

The III kit comes with the late, round wing tips appropriate for late IIIs and other later marks as well as the earlier square tips, associated more commonly with Merlin engined variants and early IIIs. The III kit indeed only comes with the Hercules radial engines; the V had Merlins. The defining feature of the V is the undercarriage - in other respects it’s like a II (with all nose/propeller/tail variances too occuring with the sub type. I think that the III kit also includes the clear tollerton nose which wasn’t fitted ho Hetcules powered variants but the part isn’t included in the earlier I/II boxing strangely enough.

the existence of this kit means that a 1/32 Lancaster doesn't seem unreasonable in comparison. which is problematic.

You might want to check the front windscreen which is certainly appropriate for a I or II but maybe not for a V

here's a preview on Hyperscale http://www.network54.com/Forum/578046/message/1508883825/New+Tool+1-48+P-51D+first+look

if you didn't have either, which one would you prefer to discover as a present under a christmas tree?

Very nice! the fact that poor fitting nacelles are mentioned makes me think it's the 1/48 Eduard

very nice indeed!

almost afraid to ask, but any idea about Italeri's fuselage? (let's ignore the wings)

Got a chance today to take some pictures of my modified fuselage and an original with the windows fitted to get a sense of the difference. Here are the two fuselages side by side; HK models unmodified left and behind and with the left and right windows switched around right and in front: The fuselages facing each other as similarly angled as possible (HK unmodified left; modified with left and right windows switched on the right): About the HK models spinners - they're certainly less detailed than Tamiya, but I would say not nearly as wrong as Revell's 1/48 attempt. Tamiya left, HK models right: Thanks for looking and all the input!

Absolutely and if you set out to convert the Tamiya VI to a IV that's a much more reasonable course of action. Especially if you have one of those vac canopies for the Revell kit. I started out with the HK kit trying to figure out how I could improve it and use a Eduard Brassin engine. That's when using the entire mid & rear section and wing and pretty much everything else of the Tamiya kit came in. As I've said from the beginning, this is a stupid extravagant undertaking. (but I get to be sensible in my job - so I figured I can be stupid in my spare time!) I'll be posting some photos of it soon but switching around the side windows of the HK kit seems to have worked pretty well - now the angle is almost (though still not quite) right. Since the rest of the HK kit really is quite acceptable it's a much better option than Revell (though much more expensive). So far I haven't come across any clear indicators that Tamiya is planning a B.IV by looking at the parts, except with the PE parts where there are three sets of parts for the bomb racks while you only need one for the FB.VI version. There's also a plastic part on sprue N that could be an oxygen regulator but I'm not sure.

one, big, deep breath