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Tamiya 32nd Mosquito FB.VI - Banff Strike Wing


11bravo

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Just some random pictures of my progress so far.  I'm building a Banff Mossie, assigned to 333 Squadron.   I can't speak enough about how nice this kit is.   Absolutely magnificent. 

 

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Regards,

 

John

Edited by 11bravo
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3 hours ago, Farmerboy said:

Looks wonderful, lot of details added or is that OOB?

Thank you!   Most of the wiring, hydraulic lines, etc are scratch built.   Also added aftermarket harnesses, Baracuda cockpit placards and will be using Avieology decals.  It’s been a really enjoyable build.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quick update, I've added the Avieology decals, AMS 100 gal slipper tanks.    The decals are wonderful, absolutely no carrier film showing.   The only downside is that they adhere almost instantly, you literally have seconds to get the decal in it's final position.   Stenciling was from the Barracuda set.

 

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Thanks for looking!

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Still plugging along, started the weathering, added RB photo-etched carburetor inlet screens to replace the somewhat clunky kit part that is molded in clear plastic and test fit the canopy (still need to do some touchups and a final polishing on this.   

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So, the weathering process continues.   This picture shows a good example of how grubby the underside got on these birds.   Between muddy fields, engine / cannon soot and the oil leaks that Merlins were known for, the bottom of these aircraft got dirty! Note also the patches of what looks to be red dope on the port horizontal stab. 

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After airbrushing the basic exhaust staining, I did a bit of oil wash and then tried out Flory Washes for the first time.   Very nice stuff, I'm a big fan.   Essentially nothing more than fine pigment, water and a surfactant.   You slop it on heavy, let it dry and wipe it off with a damp paper towel until you have the effect you want. You can go lightly and end up with some moderate staining or wipe off most and you’ll get a nice panel line wash.  I used Dark Dirt and Grime tones.  Just a warning, for matt paint, they tend to adhere pretty strongly and may not come completely off no matter how much water you apply after they set up.   Need to use caution here.      Anyway, this is still a work in progress.  I add some weathering effects, then tone them down until I feel that I got it just right. 

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Mud spatters coming off the tail wheel were Testor's dark tan with a dab of brown added. 

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I figured the drop tanks would have just been stacked in the dirt so I added some mud stains to their undersides.    Also added a few patches of red dope to represent battle damage repairs (see previous posts for more info on this). 

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That's it for now, thanks for looking! 

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  • 11bravo changed the title to Tamiya 32nd Mosquito FB.VI - Banff Strike Wing

Thanks very much folks.   I'm still weathering away.   I didn't use much of the Flory washes on the upper surfaces.   As mentioned, the semi-matte finish means that they could end up leaving darker stains that I'd like.   I added some foot traffic scuffs to the wing root areas using pastels since that's how the groundcrews would have accessed the fuel ports, upper engines and the nose MG bay.  Also added some metal showing around the nose gun camera and MG ports, which was common on all FB.VI's. 

 

I don't want to overweather the model, which is pretty easy to do.   I think I'm going to touch up the wing roots, use some pastels on the national insignia to tone them down a bit and then call it a day on the weathering.   Speaking of national insignia, note the ones on the wings are higher visibility, late-war versions with white added.  These were introduced by the RAF after a spate of friendly fire shootdowns (primarily involving USAAF pilots).

 

I also secured the canopy in place.  Still need to apply a final polish to remove the finger smudges and touch up a bit of the framework, especially around the open escape hatch.

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Note the red primer battle damage touch-ups above.

 

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Note the off-white line running vertically behind the pilot's seat.   Fashioned from stretched sprue, it's a bungee cord that was used to raise / lower the pilot's seat.   Typical British approach -  lightweight, cheap and it works.   You can see it clearly in the picture below.   This pic also shows the heavy weathering around the nose section, presumably from ground crew climbing up on the nose to rearm the MG bins.  I'll be adding some of this as I move forward.

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That's it for now, thanks for looking!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a couple of sub-assemblies. 

 

The kit door is pretty decent but was a bit basic.   I decided to add a few details.  First up, I hollowed out the canvas pouch that was used to hold the landing gear locking pins during flight.  The kit part is molded to the inner door surface as a solid lump.  I also added two tiny little drawstrings from fine stretched sprue.  I then scratchbuilt the cover and locking handle assembly.   Simply a bit of carved sheet plastic, two bits of plastic rod for the handle and a bit of PE scrap for the door strap.   I thought about sanding off the emergency hydraulic pump handle and the red emergency door jettison handle since both are simply molded into the door's inner surface but decided to just give them a black wash to try to replicate the handles being separate from the door.   I think they came out ok.   I also added some scratches to the  hydraulic pump handle and the door locking lever.  After all was done, I added a dark brown wash to certain areas, applied the propeller warning and door locking decals and called it a day.   Nice way to keep myself entertained for an hour or two on a cold New England morning. 

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It looks pretty crappy close up but from normal viewing distances, it will be ok (I did touch up the brown leather strap after taking these pictures). 

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Next up is the upper escape hatch.   As I had cut this out of the kit canopy, I figured I'd need to display the removed hatch somewhere on the completed model.   First off, here is a great picture of the real thing courtesy of Anthony over on LSP:

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The hatch has a very simple locking mechanism.  A single handle, connected by a cable to 8 rotating metal tabs that hold the hatch in place.   Move the handle and the tabs all open simultaneously. 

 

Using a spare canopy, I cut out the hatch by drilling multiple small holes and then using the blade of my X-acto knife to cut out the hatch.   A bit of sanding and I'm all set. 

 

i wasn't going to do anything detailing to this part but since  I had nothing better to do today, I decided to try to replicate all the bits of the real thing.   I started off with using thin plastic rod that was sanded flat on one side to represent the framing.   I then added the handle, cable, pulleys and locking tabs from various bits of stretched sprue, scrap PE, shaved bits of plastic rod, etc.  All up, I think I added approx 45 parts to this.   The warning labels came from the Barracuda stencil set.    I honestly think that this came out pretty bad.  I rushed things and will probably have the hatch displayed outer side up so these details won't be visible that much.   That being said, I guess it looks better than not having any detailing added.  

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That's it for now, thanks for looking! 

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  • 2 months later...

What a fantastic job you've done so far. Superb detailing and very convincing wear and tear on the airframe and paintwork. 

 

How's the project going? 

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19 hours ago, Alan P said:

What a fantastic job you've done so far. Superb detailing and very convincing wear and tear on the airframe and paintwork. 

 

How's the project going? 

Thanks very much Alan.  I'm done (finally).  Here's the RFI -

 

 

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