Neil Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 About time I built another model, and here we have the rather lovely 1/48 Tamiya Mosquito kit which will be converted into an FB XVIII 'Molins' Mosquito. It is going to end up as NT225, 'O' of 248 Sqn, June 1944. Couple of pics of the real aircraft below...... Have chosen this one because some of the overall finish detail is a little 'different' to normal, and I am following the description of this aircraft from the SAM Combat Colours No.6, de Havilland Mosquito Day & Night Fighters. So, unless anybody can tell me otherwise, the aircraft will be finished as listed below: General finish of Dark Green & Medium Sea Grey Nose and underside forward Molins fairing appears to be in possibly Grey Primer (certainly a different shade to the rest of the camo scheme) Spinners are thought to be in Sky Underwing drop tanks in Silver/Aluminium Leading edge of port tailplane in Grey Primer (?) Area around port tailplane root, where it joins the fuselage, in Red Dope Aircraft letter 'O' in Red with thin White outline Also note that only two 0.303" guns are fitted in the nose. In the past whenever I have made an aircraft with Invasion Stripes, I have always tried my best to get all the stripes even and straight. However, looking at pics of aircraft from that time, this is certainly not always how they ended up! So this time I will do the stripes a touch uneven and out of true just slightly in a few places (if you look at the underside pic above you will see what I mean). Made a start by Dremmeling off the cockpit sidewall detail in the kit, and replaced it with the sidewalls from the CMK FB VI cockpit set. Have also chopped off the kit nose which will be replaced with my FB XVIII Molins set. Have to say that the CMK cockpit does look quite nice, and I will also be adding a few more wires etc to the cockpit sidewalls. Not quite decided what to do with the instrument panel yet, CMK supply a resin panel and also an etched panel with the film instrument faces etc, will decide which one to use very shortly. The flaps and elevators will also be repositioned so the kit parts were cut off and will be replaced with resin ones. Just to complicate things, the underside of the inboard resin flaps will be removed with a Dremmel and the underside inboard flaps from the Molins conversion will be added instead. This is because the Molins inboard flaps were reinforced with external strengthening strips, and you can just make these out on the resin flap sections below (and also in the underside pic of the real aircraft above). The resin elevators are actually taken from one of my TR33 Sea Mosquito sets, so the enlarged horn balances will need to be sanded back to standard size when fitted. Mosquito ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Mosquito ...... Oh Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Neil Burkhill + Mosquito ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted June 10, 2007 Author Share Posted June 10, 2007 There's no 'h' in there .... A few more of the bits that will be added, the replacement resin nose bits which have the added external armour plate (apparently something like an additional 900lb of armour was added to the FB XVIII, around the nose and inside the engine cowlings) and the Molins gun barrel and fairing, and the replacement underfuselage section which is used instead of the bomb doors. Also shown is the vac-form canopy which has a bulged window on the starboard side only (not too clear in the pic) which were peculiar to the FB XVIII, TR33 and some overseas FB Mosquito's. Have blanked off the two outer 0.303" gun ports in the nose cap, with discs of 10 thou plasticard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 We're in for a treat, even if I was going to build tha one:) Was wondering about the colours myself - including the nose. Greygreen primer was my first idea as well, but could it be repainted in Dark Green instead? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 I forsee another superstar build here Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHREAK Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Oh Yes! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Mosquito GB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 And so my 1/48 Tamiya B XVI conversion comes to a rapid halt as I pull up a comfy chair, grab some beer and a notebook in anticipation of Neil's masterclass Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!Mosquito GB? Great Idea!!! Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Looking forward to following this one. I love Mossie's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousAA72 Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 About time I built another model, Seems like a splendid idea to me!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 We're in for a treat, even if I was going to build tha one:) Was wondering about the colours myself - including the nose. Greygreen primer was my first idea as well, but could it be repainted in Dark Green instead?Jens Always a bit of a bugger trying to determine colours from B/W pics isn't it? . Will probably do it a sort of grey primer I guess, as suggested in the SAM book. A little clip showing footage of Molins and rocket armed Mosquito's (I have the full video of this at home somewhere, but can I find it ....? ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-a8U1QWUw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenshb Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 *Grey* primer? Not Aircraft Grey-Green? How many primers were used by the RAF? I've always thought that there was the AGG and nothing else? The tone on the pic does show up slightly lighter than the Dark Green, and that would compare well with AGG, though I am not sure how the AGG would look compared to Medium Sea Grey in a B&W pic. I suppose whatever you use, noone can tell you it's wrong. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary West Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 New range release - new build. I see Actually, I still regurarly slobber over your T4 which is now resident on my hard drive. I'll stay in touch with this even though I'm not really a prop man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 *Grey* primer? Not Aircraft Grey-Green? How many primers were used by the RAF? I've always thought that there was the AGG and nothing else? The tone on the pic does show up slightly lighter than the Dark Green, and that would compare well with AGG, though I am not sure how the AGG would look compared to Medium Sea Grey in a B&W pic. I suppose whatever you use, noone can tell you it's wrong.Jens Your guess is as good as mine, I'm open to any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 Cockpit mostly finished, almost ready to close everything up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 That's gorgeous Neil... Is that the kit 'pit, or an AM one? How on earth do you get the detail so good on the small parts? The instrument bezels for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchet Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Uh, that's not bad at all Neil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted June 23, 2007 Author Share Posted June 23, 2007 Thanks 'peeps. That's gorgeous Neil... Is that the kit 'pit, or an AM one? How on earth do you get the detail so good on the small parts? The instrument bezels for example? Mike, the cockpit is the CMK one though I did not bother with the resin panel in the end. Instead I used the film instruments with the photo etched dial faces, fixed to the Tamiya kit panel after removing the detail on it first. Anyway, a few more pics.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Nice (Taking notes for my Hi-ball build that'll be starting soon) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Damn that looks nice! Always liked the Molins-equiped Mossie and this isn't helping me resist buying the kit and conversion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Wow fantastic paint job in the cockpit. Thanks for posting Héctor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Damn that looks nice! Always liked the Molins-equiped Mossie and this isn't helping me resist buying the kit and conversion. Why resist? Here's how the conversation will go: Col.: "Hi love, Just got myself a lovely Tamiya Mosquito & Molins cannon conversion kit" Mrs Col.: "What the F do you think you're doing?" Col.: "Well, I WAS going to get a Vulcan, but decided that this was a better kit, as it's cheaper, and won't take as much work to complete, so I'll be able to spend more time with you" Mrs Col.: "How much was the Vulcan again, and is it too late to pick one up today?" See? Now you can have both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiSteve Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Great looking cockpit cant wait to see more progress shots, that baby packed a mean punch with the 6Ib gun the recoil must of been insane like the video said it kicked like a mule :wicked: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Why resist? Here's how the conversation will go:Col.: "Hi love, Just got myself a lovely Tamiya Mosquito & Molins cannon conversion kit" Mrs Col.: "What the F do you think you're doing?" Col.: "Well, I WAS going to get a Vulcan, but decided that this was a better kit, as it's cheaper, and won't take as much work to complete, so I'll be able to spend more time with you" Mrs Col.: "How much was the Vulcan again, and is it too late to pick one up today?" See? Now you can have both! Let me give you a more accurate depiction of the potential conversation: Me: "Hello lass, how's yo..." Fiona: "What the F*@£ is that!" Me: "Err, it's only a little..." Fiona: "You've been spending more f*@£ing money on f*@£ing model kits!" Me: But Mike said it would be..." Fiona: Oh, well that makes it OK then does it!?" Me: "Ouch!" Fiona: "Well, does it!?" Me: "Oww! But listen..Ouch! Don't..agh! Oww!" Can you see where this is going? Tell you mate, it's a tall tree in our garden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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