A short one! Tamiya 1/48 DH Mosquito B.Mk IX

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I am really hoping for a quick result this time, because this has to be finished by Thursday night. I've taken it so far, and now it requires Stew's non-judgemental judgement. This is about not giving Stew the satisfaction of not mentioning the fact that he was right and I haven't finished yet another thing!

 

So, Tamiya Mossie with resin bits. The purpose is to bring to the Scottish National Scale Model Show a model built using the Pangolin two-stage engines, plus some Ultracast bits because they make things better than not having them. Obviously all paints are Colourcoats with ACRN07 Ocean Grey, ACRN09 Dark Green, ACRN17 Night and ACRN28 Interior Grey Green featuring most predominantly.

Fearing running out of time, I didn't use the control surfaces in the end, and on closer inspection the canopy masks from the drawer were for the Revell one I have in the stash so I ended up doing it by hand which angered me because I hate masking.

 

So first of all it needs propeller bosses. These aren't on the engine castings as they'd be too weak. Normally I'd try to use brass for this sort of thing but didn't have any the right diameter and definitely didn't have time to faff about waiting on mail order so I cut out the kit ones and superglued them in.

 

 

Next the engines need cut from the Tamiya kit. It's pretty easy - straight cuts along kit panel lines are all that is required:

 

The fit is much better than when I tried this using Paragon castings (not because there's anything wrong with Paragon castings, only that they were explicitly designed for the Airfix kit and hence don't fit the Tamiya kit very well!)

 

The cockpit was roughly painted - no fancy work here - and everything is OOB save for the Ultracast seats which are better and have seatbelts which are visible through Tamiya glazings. The Tamiya decal seatbelts don't cut the mustard:

 

That done, it was closed up, given what little seam work Tamiya kits usually need (which did include a thin scraping to blend in the nacelles to my liking, but nothing major). It was then airbrushed straight onto bare plastic/resin/filler without priming, black basing, preshading or any of that caper:

 

The grey and green were airbrushed freehand. Not my best work, but still learning the new airbrush. It'll be ok though. These colours were minimally masked in strategic places (fuselage demarcation, wing roots, tailplane roots, cowling demarcations) and the rest was sprayed Night.

 

 

It currently has a gloss enamel clearcoat curing and I hope to get the decals on tonight:

 

 

Two or three weekends ago, when Stew was last here helping with paint tinning, I came downstairs and confessed that I had cut the single piece bomb door moulding in half to show them open. Stew looked as alarmed as he did disgusted with my stupidity - because now I had given myself a Bombay interior to paint as well!

 

The propeller tips were painted yellow last night, and will get the rest painted black tonight. Unlike my usual habits, the undercarriage is completely painted and assembled already so can get plugged right in once the decals are on. I haven't painted the 6-stack exhausts yet but should hopefully be able to fit that in before Thursday night!

 

 

 

 

 

[mick]

great work

[Howard Moon]

I think you may have convinced me to get a set of those nacelles.  Which airframe are you doing?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

11 hours ago, Howard Moon said:

I think you may have convinced me to get a set of those nacelles.  Which airframe are you doing?

 

For no particular reason, it's going to be 105 Sqn's ML913 which is the same aircraft that featured in the Matchbox 1/72 kit

 

 

This is not the ideal way to do this, but I couldn't find anywhere that made decal sheets of code letters in red. The general theme of "rushed job" remains

 

 

 

This side came out alright - I used the same tape masks for the other side and got a little bit of bleeding. I decided to let it dry and sort it out later, lest I make a mess with softened paint. So, that's tonight's job and I will try to make a start on the decals. I will need to raid the stash - Tamiya's red is and always was non-typical of RAF red and now I have painted letters the correct colour it will stick out like a sore thumb if I use the kit decals. Tamiya's red leans too far towards blue giving it a purple caste rather than a rusty red appearance like it should have.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I think I've painted the camouflage backwards too

 

Hmm can that be recovered in time? Unlikely, tbh. It's times like this when this entirely stops being remotely enjoyable and firmly establishes itself as just another flipping chore.

 

Edit - or have I? Is it Matchbox's boxart that's backwards? I can see I'm going to have a productive day looking at pictures.

[Stew Dapple]

I can't help but be judgemental about it; that freehand camo is very impressive indeed

 

I'm sure you will turn up at Perth with it all completed, but in the event you don't, I promise I won't mention it*  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

* ... for at least the first five minutes.

[CedB]

On 23/04/2018 at 08:04, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

The cockpit was roughly painted - no fancy work here

Er, I think you've posted a picture of the wrong model Jamie?

 

On 23/04/2018 at 08:04, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Not my best work...

... but it would be mine. Fine work Jamie

 

Feeling sad I'm not free to pop up for the Nationals to see you, Stew and the Mossie...

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

Er, I think you've posted a picture of the wrong model Jamie?

 

... but it would be mine. Fine work Jamie

 

Feeling sad I'm not free to pop up for the Nationals to see you, Stew and the Mossie...

That would be a long trip for a model show Ced! Besides, we'll take Stew back to Telford again

 

I am wondering if I should try to arrange a Saturday night informal/low energy necessary gathering for steak, chips and a pint somewhere... I don't think Stew much remembers the show, besides meeting you, letting the helium balloon go on Saturday morning to get stuck in Hall 1's roof steelwork, the guy with the awesome paint stirrer who accosted Gill at teardown on Sunday about one tin he bought from WEM years ago and attracted post-show contact from the hall manager after another trader reported this geezer to him, and all the steaks he ate over the weekend

[CedB]

5 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

I am wondering if I should try to arrange a Saturday night informal/low energy necessary gathering for steak, chips and a pint somewhere

I'm definitely up for that Jamie, please book me in!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Okay doke. We'll get Edward next time he's over too

 

Anyway - it's my mother's birthday so I'm sat in her living room awaiting arrival of a fish supper (can't complain) whilst my eldest is at dancing class. Before I left I got most of the decals on. The roundels and fin flashes are from Xtradecal sheets:

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

7 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Besides, we'll take Stew back to Telford again

Even though I disgraced myself with the balloon last time

 

7 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

...and all the steaks he ate over the weekend

My god, the steaks 

 

2 hours ago, CedB said:

I'm definitely up for that Jamie

I'm very glad to hear that Ced, it would be lovely to see you when we have a bit more time, it was all a bit of a rush at the show.

 

Jamie I do believe you might actually finish your Mossie by Saturday, it doesn't even look like you rushed it either...  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

p.s enjoy the fish supper  

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Sitrep:

 

At 2130hrs last night I finished the decals, or, at least, I finished applying all the decals I intend to apply. It's missing about 4 little stencils on top of the wing.

 

The serial number is applied (after this photo I realised I had cut out the wrong font of number 9s from the sheet, so swapped them out)

 

And this was taken just after a final douse in Microsol.

 

After that, I attached the Ultracast tailwheel, the Ultracast mud guards, the undercarriage doors, the bomb door hydraulic rams, the bomb doors themselves (minus round glazings), the crew access door (minus round glazing) and the pitot tube.

 

I have to get a haircut after day-job work this afternoon, then spray it with the final clearcoat. Once that's done, the tip of the pitot tube and the nav light recesses need painted silver. The nav light lenses already have tinted bulbs. Those lenses need attached. The exhausts need painting and attached, and the 3 remaining glazings for the bomb doors and crew access hatch need stuck in. Masking can come off the glazings then.

 

Tomorrow it can get some pastels applied by catapult then we're done I think.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Catapult...?

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

17 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Catapult...?

Well, not literally, just applied with an overall lack of precision!

 

[Stew Dapple]

9 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

I have to get a haircut after day-job work this afternoon, then spray it with the final clearcoat.

For extra hold?

 

Looking very smart Jamie - the Mossie I mean, not the haircut, though I'm sure that's looking reasonably smart too

 

Cheers,

 

Stew 

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Little tip time - if you want an impression of a hollow exhaust stack but for whatever reason (in this case speed) don't drill them out, a way to make it look slightly better is to drybrush the end silver after painting it flat black. That highlights where the steel tube would be and suggests at some depth...

 

 

Anyway - hair is cut. The model (clarifying for Stew's sake!) has its satin clear coat on. Glazings have been added or demasked. Juuuuuuust about pulled this off I think - just need some pastels for exhaust staining etc.

 

 

 

 

 

[Stew Dapple]

Nice, very nice, and fast too; I look forward to seeing her at the weekend

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Seconded! (Apart from the seeing her at the weekend bit, sadly...)

Nice job Jamie, she's a beauty

[billn53]

Yes, very very nice. And a lot quicker job than the Mossie I’m currently building. 

[stever219]

On 4/24/2018 at 7:49 AM, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

For no particular reason, it's going to be 105 Sqn's ML913 which is the same aircraft that featured in the Matchbox 1/72 kit

 

 

This is not the ideal way to do this, but I couldn't find anywhere that made decal sheets of code letters in red. The general theme of "rushed job" remains

 

 

 

This side came out alright - I used the same tape masks for the other side and got a little bit of bleeding. I decided to let it dry and sort it out later, lest I make a mess with softened paint. So, that's tonight's job and I will try to make a start on the decals. I will need to raid the stash - Tamiya's red is and always was non-typical of RAF red and now I have painted letters the correct colour it will stick out like a sore thumb if I use the kit decals. Tamiya's red leans too far towards blue giving it a purple caste rather than a rusty red appearance like it should have.

Don’t forget that national markings and serial numbers were applied at the factory (or an MU if the aeroplane had been repaired or extensively modified) and the squadron codes and aircraft letter would be applied at unit level, so the chances of the reds matching are going to be quite slim.  That said Tamiya’s red for British national markings is distinctly and perpetually off.  Have you tried Xtradecal, or even raiding one of the Airfix 1/48th Mossies?  The Red there is usually a far better match for the MAP/BS colours.

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

I was led to believe that all Mossies were painted either in Dark Green / Medium Sea Grey or PRU Blue at the factory, ergo any painted in the bomber scheme (aka Day Fighter Scheme for everything else) or with Night undersides must have been MU repainted. Thus, no serial numbers would have been red from the factory.

 

Anyhow, Xtradecal was where I first looked, and where all the serial numbers/letters came from and where all the roundels and fin flashes came from. Curiously, Xtradecal offers WW2 font serials in red, but not the correct size of squadron code letters (only the huge ones for the 4-engine heavies), or, the correct size squadron codes in Sky. Serials are only available in red; their black offerings are post-war only. Thus, it's not really feasible to build many Mosquitos using only Xtradecal markings because the range is missing something necessary for each scheme. Duncan of BlackMike Models found red squadron codes the right size, but by then I'd already masked and painted them - the entire reason for this model existing being that it needs to be finished tonight to be on our table at the Scottish Nationals in Perth on Saturday morning - it serves no purpose other than showing the Pangolin two-stage nacelles assembled onto a completed model

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

He's only gone and done it! Apparently it IS possible to build a model in less than 9 months? Who knew? Not me, well, not since I've been an adult anyway.

 

 

 

 

[CedB]

Beautiful Jamie, she's a cracker!

Have a good show.

[billn53]

Excellent work! I hope the 1/72 Mossie I'm currently building looks half as nice when I'm done.

[stevehnz]

I'm just a wee bit late to this one. having arrived via the thread about the Pangolin engines winging their way to Canada even though its not my scale, I think it has given me an idea for one of my Paragon engine sets, of which I have "enough"  That is a seriously nice Mossie Jamie & a super scheme.

Steve.