U-Boat Hunting Mossie (1/72 Tamiya Kit)

[Squibby]

Hi All,

 

After finishing up my long winded P51D build I've decided to keep the momentum going and crack on with a new project. 

 

Somewhat simpler and more straight forward this time I hope...

 

The subject in question is Tamiya's excellent 1/72 scale Mosquito Mk VI kit, which I'm going to finish in the kit provided markings for the Coastal Command bird 'NEoD'. I think this scheme will give me a nice excuse to weather the paintwork a bit and I was not really keen on masking camo anyway 😄

 

I'm not going to go into exhaustive step by step detail in this log, just keep updates on major bits of progress. I've started with the cockpit because why break tradition, even though the kit would have you start with the engine / wheel pods for some reason.

Here is my completed cockpit and sidewalls before I close up the fuselage. I couldn't help myself and added some more details.

 

 

Some highlights of the cockpit sections,

• The front fuselage sections comes separate (for different marks I presume) to the main fuselage bits. They join nicely but have a couple of visible alignment tabs on the inside that needed to be removed and the seam filled. No real drama's here though.
• There were a few ejector pin marks that needed filling, annoyingly one was located in the nicely molded door detail. I just covered it up partially with a warning sign 😁
• Base colour was Tamiya XF-71 'Cockpit Green' and black bits were sprayed in XF-85 'Rubber Black'. Details were brushed with various Vallejo Model colour paints
• I scratch built the flare rack and fire extinguishers.
• Some wiring was added to the sidewalls and from the radios. Not particularly accurate but makes things look a bit more busy.
• The pilot's seat got a cushion made added from thick bit of styrene sheet.
• The seat cushions were roughed up with a knife and given a wash of extra thin to smooth them out.
• The belts are all scratch built from champagne bottle wrapping foil (stiffer and easier to pose). I punched the holes using a needle from the back so there would be a raised lip around them. I thought of using some Eduard PE belts but I didn't really want to mess around with PE for a enclosed cabin.
• I decided to forgo the kit IP decal which was quite simple and painted the instrument dials myself using a sharpened toothpick and and white oil paint. I added the glass with clear epoxy, though it's not visible with the lighting I used.
• The rear of the radios were hollow so needed to be closed up with thin styrene sheet. 
• The radios didn't fit too nicely, the receiver box ended up obscuring one side of the transmitter box. I solved this somewhat by cutting the mounting tab off the transmitter box so I could position it across slightly...but not too far or the canopy won't fit.

 

Hope you'll follow along, cheers for viewing.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Squibby

[Alan P]

Good start 👍

 

Also, had to laugh at 'I couldn't help myself', been there, it's like an affliction 😂

[neil5208]

Not seen this kit before, will follow