Tamiya 1/72 De Havilland Mosquito Mk IV

[Aces High]

The Mossie was always my favorite when I was a kid, ever since I watched 633 Squadron! I've always wanted to make one, but either couldn't afford it or was worried I might not do it justice... I've ogled the Tamiya kit in numerous model shops over the years, decided the time had come to pull the trigger on one! This kit was a pleasure to build, but I've had a really hard time painting it - my Humbrol enamels weren't curing even after a day or two. I'm used to being able to recoat after 6 hours with these same paints! I wondered if the Tamiya plastic it's made from maybe wasn't compatible, but on consideration maybe it was some mold release material on the plastic? I usually scrub it all with a toothbrush loaded with fairy liquid while it's on the sprue, but this one I just gave a quick rinse. Anyway , I got there in the end, and fairly happy with the outcome. Varnish is Humbrol Gloss and Matt Cote, and weathering is my first effort at doing this with water colours.

 

 

As I suspected, the details of the cockpit can't really be appreciated through the glass. Luckily I tooks some photos before I put it all together!

 

 

Anyway let me know what you think, any helpful tips or suggestions gladly accepted.

[Gazontipede]

Very, very nice! I also succumbed to the allure of this kit a while back and did mine up as the PR.IV option. There's just something about the shape of that glazed nose tucked in between those beautifully streamlined Merlins that speaks to me.

Did you have any trouble with the Tamiya decals? The radiator 'no step' markings gave me a bit of a hard time and it took quite a bit of Decalfix to get the darn things to bed down properly.

I'll have to pinch your technique of using an old toothbrush and neat dishwashing liquid to prep the sprues. Up to this point I'd been just swirling the sprues in warm soapy water with judicious use of a dishwashing sponge, which is not really the best for small parts.

 

[Aces High]

Yeah the decals were a bit challenging, as you say the radiator markings looked like they were goig to be absolutely dreadful but I gave them a few goes over with Revell Decalsoft and they settled in quite nicely.

[trickydicky210]

Great Mossie, I believe this is one of the best schemes 

[F-32]

[PlaStix]

Great looking Mosquito! Very well done!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Hairtrigger]

Marvellous Mossie....  The ariel wire looks good, I don't bother now at 1:72 but admire those who can get that right....

Did you use the canopy internal decals?  Very fiddly those decals, I reverted to brush painting them on my recent Tamiya Mossie FB Mk VI.

I soak the sprues prior to build in warm soapy water (washing up liquid) with a few drops of vinegar for a few minutes.

[Aces High]

Yeah the canopy decals were very fiddly! Got them on in the end though. The ariel wire is uschi rigging, I bought a spool to rig a Hawker Fury, and can't resist any excuse to use it now!

[Sky Keg]

Very nice!!!!!  That`s a great color scheme on it too!!!!! 

 

Mike

[Wulfman]

Excellent build and finish, I will be using your cockpit as reference for my Mossie .

 

Wulfman

[russ c]

Great looking Mosquito, like the scheme you chose too

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely Mossie, great work.  It's a lovely kit, I built the PR version and enjoyed the model very much.

All the best

Chris