Simon Nonymous

Apols I didn't think that someone would want that level of detail; I can post a pic from the instructions if needed, but it's a very simple, typical assembly. Sorry about the thumb in the pic, but the kit at this point could mount either the radials or the Merlins onto the nacelle assembly. The Merlin assembly is two halves vertically split, with three pieces inside to form the front radiator, the rear radiator flap, and the air intakes/radiator exit .

Just a quick phone snap of progress. The Merlins are now on. The props/spinners can wait till the main painting is done and dusted, but the fit of the power eggs is pretty good. A small smear of filler will be needed just close some hairline gaps between the bulkhead and the engine itself, but all in all, it all fits together nicely. The tail planes are the other Mk. II difference, and again, went together like Lego. Nice one Airfix!

If you have a thing for 1940 in 1:48th then you should consider it; it seems to be the highest rated kit I could find. Best of luck with yours.

I have no knowledge of the MPM kit but the Airfix Mk II gives you parts for the Mk II only, there are no radial engines or alternate tail fins for a Mk I.

I have an odd feeling both of us could recite Withnail and I word for word, even if not drink for drink. The memory is fine! Soup? Why haven't I got any soup?

Whooops got my museums mixed up, there's one under restoration at Cosford... I have had a good look at the Brooklands one last year.

Welcome from someone born in the West Riding but currently in exile in Lancashire. It's a great online forum and resource base - I've never lacked for help if I've asked for it here.

Brilliant post and very useful; I made one kit out of the box, warts and all, just to show you chaps what you got for your money. Now, as I still have two kits to make. I now know what to get in order to build them 'properly' into B. XVIs - cheers Tony, this thread is a very useful resource!

Good afternoon everyone! OK after the new Mosquito build, and a nice 1:48 Airfix Hurricane, I am back to Bomber Command with this lovely kit. I have the advantage of having built the base Mk. I A/C kit last year, which I really enjoyed, and this one I think will be similarly satisfying. The kit is mostly the Mk. I A/C kit (unsurprisingly) but features a new sprue for the Merlins, and has a modified set of tail planes; I think that was the only real difference from the radial powered planes, but I am sure someone will patiently correct me if I am wrong. I am not sure. The only thing I think is missing is any sort of bomb sight in the bomb aimers position; I'll check in the Haynes manual to see what's what, plus I am off to RAF Duxford on Sunday so may be able to see a real Wimpy there. Any pics or hints gratefully accepted here of course! EDIT: What was I thinking of? RAF Cosford has one of the two surviving Wimpies!!! Thank you Mr Beard! This is a kit which has a cracking level of interior detail, and although Airfix helpfully colour code the instructions to tell you which bits you can omit as they won't be easily seen once the fuselage is buttoned up, I went for the full fat build because... well because I could. It's all out of the box, and I haven't gone mad with dry brushing or shading as it'll mostly not be seen once I button the fuselage up. Apologies if the colour balance is a bit off, it was just quick pics with the phone:

I was going to message you to say thanks Troy - I did read up on the props/spinners post when researching my build, thank goodness! I do use hot water with a dash of fairy liquid for the transfers, plus microsol/microset, however might not have tamped down on those nubbins on the upper wing enough. Thank you for all the helpful hints.

They are a bit - it's my error as here is a pic of the real thing and there is no overlap:

It's all Vallejo and AK interactive topsides. Yup the trailing edges I really should have filled/sanded them to a join. Bf 109 E it is, sat in the pile waiting for me - I already have made both of the Defiants, from when I got started back into this madness two years ago! Thank you for the kind words.

Hallo Sir! I'm down in BB4, enjoying blue skies for once! I found the easiest way to put pics up is to create a new Facebook profile with no friends etc, and upload pics there; then use the right click > Copy Image Address to get an address that pastes here nicely. It's never let me down yet

Thank you - I do in fact sometimes lighten images when I need to show things like cockpit detail and have done so in my other post today; I tend to underexpose deliberately - like you said you can always tweak it upwards. 🙂

Hello Bob All acrylics Vallejo Model Air 71.323 BS Dark Earth Vallejo Model Air 71.302 Sky Type S AK Interactive Air AK2011 RAF dark green (I use the vallejo equivalent as well but there was none in stock last time I made an order.) Engine cowlings and exhausts are mixes of Vallejo Metal Color copper and silver Cockpit interior - good old Tamiya XF-71 I make my own shading stuff from oils, replicating the colours seen here but using darker shaded of each colour, ie dark green, dark earth, and sky. It seems to work better than just using a plain black wash to pick out panel lines and other raised details. Hope that helps and thanks for the compliment.

Hello everyone This is the current offering from Airfix, and my reading around indicated this was the best of the crop if I wanted a Mk I in this scale. And... it is a very good kit. On the plus side, it has high levels of cockpit detail (you basically build the cockpit and the rails/mounts it fixes to.) You get the gun bay detail with eight Brownings and their feed chutes plus the removed gun bay panels. You get a nice pilot. Altogether the level of detailing is spot on, and looks (in my opinion) spot on. I'll now list my grumbles: The wing to fuselage fit is iffy and needs a lot of surgery to get right. I made a balls of it and had to fill and sand a lot then rescribe detail. Two other builders I know have had the same issue. Basically the wing seesaws - either the front is too prous or the rear is too proud. Solution: dry fit and trim as muchas you need before hitting the glue. Gun bays. Airfix asks you to cut out the wing panels yourself... I didn't want the bays open in any case but would hesitate to start carving into the upper wing panel as I would be bound to mess it up. Would an optional top wing panel moulded with gun bay covers removed be nicer? Yes cost and space in the box matter of course. Props and spinners. The kits includes two variants of each, and it's clear from the painting schemes which one goes on which plane, but in the instructions they only use the earlier DH type (I think) and there's no notes or option instructions to use the Rotol (I think!) for the alternate scheme. A little bit of direction here would be nice, as unless you're a real buff, there is no guidance to use the Rotol set for the second variant offered in the box. So - apart from issue number one, nothing major, and a very satisfying kit. Next in the 1:48 collection will be someone from the opposition that summer. Enjoy the pics, any criticisms or questions, fire away.

Welcome to 1940. You'll see a Mk. I Hurricane in some of these - there will be a separate post for that good lady of the skies shortly. Both great kits, all the dodgy bits are my own doing, but both recommended. The Tamiya Spitfire was my second tangle with photo etched parts (which come with the kit) and yes, they do add depth to it, even if you can't always spot it at most angles. Any criticism welcome, any questions re how I did them, fire away.

Nice work old boy - finished mine, the Tamiya version is just fine by the way.

Thank you to the eagle eyes that spotetd I'd mixed up my port and starboard nav lights.... put them right today.

Damnation - you're totally right, and yes I should know better. Thanks to everyone for the nice feedback 🙂

That's very helpful, thank you

Hello folks. Only my second model post, so being brave and going for it. The kit is new, and mostly goes together well, with little need for sanding or filler. There are some nice touches in the kit, such as direction arrows put on parts that could be accidentally put in upside down or back to front, and a pair of wheelbay masks. The instructions are of good standard, as are the transfers. My only real fiddle was putting the assembled undercarriage in its bay once I had finished spraying, it took a bit of help from a cocktail stick to get the forward legs to pop into the locating holes. The model is built completely out of the box, and finished in one of the two schemes offered. It represents a September 1944 Mosquito of 571 Squadron. I finished it as per the Airfix instructions, which included spinners that are in PRU blue (I handmixed this paint so sorry if it's not spot on.) The radiator covers were not painted in the overall camo scheme, but in dark grey, and don't have the usual red crossed 'don't walk' legend on them (this is handy as it gives me a couple of spare transfers to stockpile if I mess up on another build.) The port wing also has an inspection/maintenance hatch finished in underside light grey - again, I like this inclusion of non-standard features. The downsides: only one crew figure, and appallingly moulded at that. no provision of a 4,000 HC bomb or mounts for the same. (You do get four x 500lb MC bombs though to be fair). I think I could use mounts from the current B.II or B.III Lancaster plus a cookie from the RAF ground vehicles set if I wanted to model this, but as you can see I went for doors shut on this build. The cockpit canopy is ok, but the front frames seem much thicker than the Tamiya product, and look a bit bulky. It might be my painting making it like that though. The biggy - this model is apparently built from a scan of the TT.35 Mosquito at Cosford, and the bomb bay doors and rear fairing replicate the target tug version. The bulged bomb bay doors that should have been fitted are noticeably different. Whoops a daisy Airfix. Now the funny bit - as I was looking forward to this kit so much, every time Airfix e-mailed me about it, I preordered the kit, then forgot I had preordered. Therefore when the postie brought a gigantic box I was puzzled until I saw there were three kits in it. The missus thought it was funny, and it gives me two more kits to make. I won't be making them straight away; I will make one in the second scheme provided in the box (black undersides, green/grey upper surfaces), but I'm going to wait a bit to see if Airfix or someone else comes up with the proper bomb bay doors and rear fairing. I might make the third one as a TT.35 in fact as there is a second cockpit canopy provided that has the dome over the navigator's position. Summary - a good kit, but if you want it totally authentic as a B.XVI you're going to be doing some rebuilding and possibly sourcing of custom parts. Bad show from Airfix there. I've been as brutal as I can with the photographs, so you can see where I've buggered things up, also I seem to have acquired quite a few white specks of dust in the matt varnish finish which is annoying but they are barely visible to my old eyes. The last image is with the Tamiya model on the right; the Airfix kit sits lower, and you can see it's down the the undercarriage legs seeming longer on the Tamiya... again this could well be my lack of skill with building.

I agree - even if I think Im not the man to do it justice. I'll hopefully post up the finsihed kit today, and will try to do a list of what I think needs fixing, and if anyone else chimes in with stuff, more than happy to update my OP to keep it current. I'll post here once the finished plane is on show, warts n all. Dave Swindell - thank you for your information and thoughts. I feel a bit disappointed to be honest:-(

Dave, does that also explain the second canopy with the bulge in the roof ? I have pics of the Mosquito at Cosford, and I have a feeling then that the model was developed from this plane. Hope you will do a WIP on your kit so I can see what might need changing - I bought three of these kits, so would like to try and get one of them spot on rather than OOB

Nice. I'm old enough to have watched Dusty Hare play the All Blacks 🙂