Messing up a Mossie

[Bonehammer]

Hello all,

As I said in the Chat section, selecting the kit for this GB took me quite some time. To quote Coleridge, boxes, boxes everywhere, but the heavies were too large for the current state of my workbench and surel probably wouldn't get finished in time, the Anson operated with Coastal command, I couldn't find the Marauder and the box I have doesn't come with an RAF option anyway... in the end I settled for a Matchbox kit that I bought second-hand and had already fallen victim to my mistake habits (start a project, put it away cos I need the table, lose interest for months on end).

The props will be sourced from an Airfix donor but not the wheels, so the Matchbox nipples are going to stay, alas.

State of the kit as of today (clicking on any pic leads to a larger version of it):

So far: tested the fit, cleaned some flash and matching surfaces, cemented the side windows in the nose, boxed in 2/3 of a wheel well, sawn off the starboard navigation light and mislaid the sawing blade. I hope that the latter does not count towards the 25% completion threshold.

Closeup of the decal sheet. What will happen when I peel away that rice paper?

​

Edited November 8, 2014 by Bonehammer

[Chris Jephcott]

Superb! I love an old matchbox kit...

[Bonhoff]

A few people have wondered what happens with the old Matchbox decals,

FWIW I did a repaint of a 30 year old Matchbox Skyhawk which I'd done originally in Isreali markings. but decided that I'd use the US Marine originals that had sat with all my other spare ones for those 30 years.

They went on fine, reacted well to Micro Set and Sol and no real trouble at all.

I could just have been lucky

[bigbadbadge]

Wow, excellent, will watch with interest. Good luck with your build

All the best
Chris

[Bonehammer]

Some work done at last.

Last weekend I fitted the nose to the fuselage, extended the cockpit floor forward and made sure the fuselage halves could still close. Sand, check, sand, check, sand, check. In short, little to show for a lot of effort, just like Bomber Command itself in its early days...

Today I started adding bits here and there. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5586/15113604799_a8c01cdc1d_o_d.jpg'>

What's weird is that when I glued the starboard side of the nose, it seemed shorter than the port one, so I added stretched sprue to fill the gap. Now that the cockpit floor is fully contoured, I aligned the other fuselage half and now it's shorter...? Oh, well. More stretched sprue:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3901/15113666680_ff3ecb8ee5_o_d.jpg'>

'Till next time,

Bone

Edited September 20, 2014 by Bonehammer

[woody37]

Lovely start. That extra detail is certainly giving it a more modern look.

I used some old decals that looked worse than these on a Heyford and they went on OK. I went over them as soon as they were down with a coating of Kleer to soak up the silvering that was present which worked well.

[Martian]

Nice start, bit of a pain about the fuselage halves though.

Martin

[bigbadbadge]

Shame about the nose, but great start and the extra detailing looks fab so far.

All the best
Chris

[Potato Pete]

I like the cockpit detailing, once painted that will look nice (what's the canopy like?). Strange about the nose.

Pete

[tonyot]

Nice start there Bone,

This is looking really nice and you`ve done a great job on the cockpit. I like the undercarriage detail too and I`m intrigued to see how this one is going to look,

Good Luck!

Cheers

Tony

[Bonehammer]

The nose is sorted although I still don't know how it happened. When confronted with optional noses/tails I always glue front and back of a half-fuselage on a flat surface first to take care of alignment.

The canopy is as thick as a Coke bottle, and the upper blister wasn't present on this version, but I think I may have the relevant Clear-Vax set... Will investigate.

Another problem lies with the nose side transparencies, even though I thinned them I couldn't get get rid of the thick, deep 'frame'. Luckily GB-E was fitted with Oboe, so I can just paint over the nose.

[Bonehammer]

Some evidence that I'm still working on it... concentrating on the undercarriage as I plan to attach the finished wings to the fuselage halves and take care of the slots. Probably some extra pins to keep the fuselage from splitting open, as well.

So far:

1) made and unmade the diagonal crosslinking between the undercarriage legs, my first attempt didn't look right and fouled the nacelle to boot;

2) modified the undercarriage attachment, packing up the foremost support for a more positive location and deleting the aftermost L-shaped tab on the nacelle, to be replaced with pins;

3) drilled the axles so I can insert the wheels at a later stage (perhaps some correct resin ones if I don't screw up this model);

4) added some internal ribbing to the nacelle, no pretence of it being correct;

5) working on a scratchbuilt replacement for the mudguard.

Ta for now,

Bone

[tonyot]

You really are making a good job of this basic old kit and dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Great job,

Cheers

Tony

[Chris Jephcott]

Lovely progress. Looks really great!

[Deacon]

Nice progress mate.

I do love the Mossie.

[Sir T]

I do enjoy seeing old kits being built up with some nice scratch built details - nice work on that cockpit.

Cheers

Stuart

[Bonehammer]

Hiya, update. Not everything was done today, but today I took some pictures.

Landing gear and mudguards:

Instrument panel, throttle, compass, gizmos:

You really are making a good job of this basic old kit and dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Great job,

Cheers

Tony

Actually the kit is not kicking and screaming much... it's only that the dragging distance is longer than, say, the Airfix Mosquito of the same vintage. Still, it's a well-behaved bunch of plastic and I'm enjoying myself.

[JOCKNEY]

Great job Bone

Really enjoying the build

Cheers Pat

[Bonehammer]

Still trudging along with the undercarriage. I hoped to do some painting today but my bottle of superglue has congealed, meaning I can't attach the piping.

I discarded and remade the wheel bay ceiling, as my earlier efforts had left it too shallow, and removed the kit supplied blanks passing themselves for radiator faces. New ones were made from styrene sheet and surgical tape. I'm wondering whether to add the tank above the undercarriage legs or not... the compartment is busy as it is, but I only added a bulkhead in front that would fall right in the middle of the engine on the real thing...

Here's hoping that there will be some silver and green stuff sploshed on the plastic next time.

Over,

Bone

Edited December 6, 2014 by Bonehammer

[tonyot]

I`m loving this and never thought that the old Matchbox kit could be tarted up so well!

Keep up the fine work,

Tony,

[Col.]

Surgical tape for the radiator mesh - that's a bit clever

Tidy work Bone.

[bigbadbadge]

Wow looking good, will have to remember the surgical tape for future use, thanks for sharing

All the best
Chris

[Bonehammer]

Eh, when you're obsess dedicated, you see opportunities everywhere. The secret is to know when to stop (hint: before you start bringing home syringes from the park, just because OMG GUN TUBES!)

[Bonehammer]

As usual, when I start applying paint everything goes pear shaped, but no major screwups occurred and the main component have been brought together. Which doesn't happen often to me.

Thanks to all who stopped by to express support or just say "Hi". I'll keep you updated on further progress.

Ta for now,

Bone