Jump to content

Airfix 1/24 Scale Mosquito Museum Restoration Diorama


Recommended Posts

I'm back - been a while, but have been following some great posts on here.

You may have seen my other 1/24 Scale Airfix diorama:

oh-view2.jpg

Very pleased to win with it at Telford this year, a very nice surprise indeed.

 

I said I would give aircraft a rest and get back to rusted cars & zombie stuff, my usual bread and butter when it comes to modelling.

Well it didn't last long, I have had my eye on the Airfix 1/24 Scale de Havilland Mosquito for a while now, but something else normally got it the way.

So I was happy to come across it again at Poole Vikings on Saturday 14th April (18), and at the price, how could I resist.

 

airfix-kit.jpg

 

Bring it back to the club stand I got the usual banter, "You cant rust that, its made of wood", etc.

Well I had already formed an idea in my head as to what I was going to do with it - another museum restoration diorama.

A quick search on the interweb and an idea had formed.

 

I need to get a few models out of the way, a Revell London Taxi diorama with a couple of Nutsplanet figures and the excellent Italeri 1/9 Scale German Motorcycle with Side Car in a barn find diorama.

Once these are done and dusted then its onto the Mosquito.

 

As a said before, a quick look around the interweb and found some great resource images:

 

mos6.jpg   mos5.jpg

 

mos4.jpg   mos3.jpg

 

Another source of inspiration are the Valiant Wings and Haynes books on the Mosquito:

 

valiant-wings.jpg   haynes-h5360-cover.jpg

 

Plenty of reading with these two.

I'm looking forward to this build and sharing its progress with you along the way.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Richard

  • Like 15
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, 1964rac said:

As a said before, a quick look around the interweb and found some great resource images:

Those pictures are of A52-600, which was at RAAF Richmond when I was first posted there in 1996 (the outside shot is taken at Richmond). It's now at RAAF Point Cook being restored by the RAAF Museum (the indoor shot with the Mustang tail in the background). Be great to see this as a diorama!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Morning, or evening, depends when you are reading this.

I have finished the models that have been on the workbench for a while, and now I have cleared the bench and have made a start on this little project.

This weekend was taken up with building the frame that the fuselage will sit on whilst it is in the hangar undergoing restoration.

I took the inspiration from this image for the frame:

mos4.jpg

 

So a quick visit to the local model shop, and an hour later I had a hand full of plastic.

Here are a few pics of the frame:

img_8973.jpg

 

img_8974.jpg

 

img_8976.jpg

 

And the finished frame:

img_8975.jpg

 

I had purchased, sometime ago a set of bolt heads from Meng, these have added a little extra depth to the frame.

And here are a couple of pics of the fuselage sitting on the frame:

img_8972.jpg

 

img_8969.jpg

 

img_8970.jpg

 

img_8971.jpg

 

I managed to make a start on the cockpit as well:

 

img_8984.jpg

 

img_8986.jpg

 

img_8995.jpg

 

I'm happy with the progress so far.

Looking through reference photos and websites there are different versions of the mosquito that have been restored or are in the process of being restored.

But this one closely resembles the version I am building:

The People's Mosquito

 

That's it for now, I have a week off next week from work, so will be spending most of it on this project.

Until next time...

 

 

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

A great idea. 

Looking forward to more.

 

4 hours ago, brianthemodeller said:

This looks fascinating. I have just bought Tamiya’s 1/72 offering so I will be watching with interest.

 

4 hours ago, Azgaron said:

Interesting project, and very nice work! :)

 

Håkan

 

 

3 hours ago, spitfire said:

Fascinating work

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Cheers guys thanks for stopping by.

I have just ordered an Eduard PE set of seat belts and from Kit Form Services (great place for 1/24 scale tools etc.), some straps, cones, pallets etc.

Richard

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello @1964rac ... If i may ask how are planning to do the wood ? I know there are painting techniques. I think there are now wood grain decals as well. I was curious as to which method or direction you were going to use ? 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/21/2018 at 5:39 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello @1964rac ... If i may ask how are planning to do the wood ? I know there are painting techniques. I think there are now wood grain decals as well. I was curious as to which method or direction you were going to use ? 

 

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

I was going to paint the wood grain, but a club member put me onto Uschi decals. I have had some of their Graffiti decals in the past, very good quality.

woodgraindecals1.jpg

So I purchased a few sheets at the Gloucester Model Show last week so will be trying them out on the tail section first, its a small area and I'm not sure what to do with the tail section anyway, so if it does not work then its not a problem.

Something like this:

img_0057.png

 

Cheers

Richard

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/21/2018 at 7:21 PM, pipthepilot said:

Wow, found your WIP and can't wait to see how this progresses as it is looking amazing so far.

Cheers pipthepilot thanks for stopping by.

Richard

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

Just taken delivery of a few items from Kit Form Services, they do a great line in 1/24 scale vehicles and accessories.

 

Two sets of their set of 10 ratchet straps with 1 metre of webbing strapping, got the Yellow ones.

ratchet.jpg

 

A nicely detailed set of common workshop bench tools & equipment. Includes;- spray gun, bench grinder, hand grinders, electric welder, compressor, pillar drill, commercial socket sets & air guns.

benchtools1.jpg

 

Set of 6 hexagonal base motorway style cones. Only need a couple of these, but useful for other dioramas I have in mind

cones.jpg

 

And finally...

Set of 4 standard pallets, resin cast with plastic strip bottom fork lift runners. Handy to put reconditioned plane parts on ready for installation.

pallets.jpg

 

Going to try out the wood decals I have from Uschi on the tail section, will post results next week.

 

Cheers

Richard

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A quick update on this project.

I have finished the frame for the Fuselage, this is what I was aiming for:

 

mos4.jpg

 

And here is my version:

 

fuseframe1.jpg

 

fuseframe2.jpg

 

fuseframe3.jpg

 

This weekend has been spent working on making frames to hold the Tail Fin and one of the Landing Gears, the other one will be on the wing section.

Here is the frame for the tail fin I got the idea from:

 

img_00571.png

 

Here is the finished frame:

 

tailframe1.jpg

 

tailframe3.jpg

 

tailframe4.jpg

 

Then it was on to the landing gear frame, this is the bases for the idea:

 

gearframe.png

 

And my version...

 

landgearframe1.jpg

 

landgear3.jpg

 

Needs a lick of yellow paint, then paint the landing gear, then fix in place.

 

Also removed the tail section from the kit, I could not find any reference material for how the tail section went together, so in keeping with the images I have, it had to go...

 

tailcrop1.jpg

 

tailcrop2.jpg

 

tailcrop3.jpg

 

Finally for this weekend, I have made a start on marking out the tail fin where the wood panels will go ready for the Uschi wooden decals.

 

tail2.jpg

 

Then added some pre-shading as the decals are on a clear transfer sheet.

 

tail3.jpg

 

Thats it for now, off to Bletchley Park tomorrow, then have the rest of the week off, so will see how I get on with the wood panels on the restored tail fin.

Have a good Bank holiday.

 

Cheers

Richard

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Wow this looks great.  Cracking work on the frames.  I would love to get hold of one of the Airfix 24th Mosquitos.  

Keep up the good work 

All the best 

Chris 

Cheers Chris,

I have had my eye on this kit for a while, then saw it going for about £70 at a Model Show could not resist it.

I love these 1/24 Scale Airfix kits, this is my second.

Richard

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...