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Tamiya 1/48 Mosquito NFII - DZ230 - 23 Squadron Luqa, Malta Early 1943


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9 hours ago, Ozzy said:

Nice choice, you can’t go wrong with a Tamiya Mosquito. Welcome to the build 

Good morning MiGFan79

I totally agree with Ozzy I have built several MTamiya Mosquitoes and It build like Legos ..

 

Welcome and Have fun

Best Regards

Patrice

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As above it's all dropped together pretty easily so far, only tricky bit was the lack of positive location on the exhaust flame traps but other than that really enjoyable so far.

 

50506293878_97bbef6919_h.jpgUntitled 

 

And test fit of the centre core / fuselage and wings (couldn't resist!).

 

50506293713_59bb5b3066_h.jpgUntitled 

 

The Eduard etch for the cockpit has arrived so I guess that's the next job, along with painting lots of sub assemblies!

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Spent most of a dreary weekend painting interior details, nearly ready to button up the fuselage halves.

 

50535981656_db6e073e8a_h.jpgUntitled 

 

50535261593_f0c7f02e7c_h.jpgUntitled 

 

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It's a nice change from building jets to not have piles of tanks and weaponry to paint! From this point onwards it's gluing big sub assemblies together then straight into paint. Only thing i'm not looking forward to is masking the canopy. I have the Eduard masks but it still looks an epic job.

 

 

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11 hours ago, MiGFan79 said:

Only thing i'm not looking forward to is masking the canopy. I have the Eduard masks but it still looks an epic job.

You'll discover the benefits & joys of pre-cut masks ;)  Hand-masked a Stuka glasshouse, it worked, but never again!

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Painting draws ever closer....

 

Most of the sub assemblies barring the propellors are all done now.

 

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Wing to fuselage fit was good, just a smear of Mr. Putty needed on the top of one side.

 

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Canopy is masked and has had a coat of interior green and then primed (off the airframe). No sign of bleeding so I need to take the brave step of gluing it to the airframe and hoping it doesn't bleed for the duration of the rest of the painting....

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Airframe primed and base coat of medium sea grey applied. First time using Mr Paint colours, very impressed! Also painted and built the propellors up, always find that a satisfying part of build WW2 aircraft.

 

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Another 24 hours and then i'll start to mask for the dark green Camo.

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Camo masked with 2mm Tamiya bendy tape and Maskol. Unfortunately had some bleed onto the grey base coat. I went back in with the Airbrush at low pressure to correct the worst bits but left the odd specks as it will be getting an overall wash after decals which should disguise the worst of it.

 

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Thankfully the black (Mr Paint RAF Night) masked up and went on pretty much ok - i took the time to tape every surface that wasn't being painted. Slight bit of bleed on the demarcation between the wing root and rear stabilator on one side but i think this will end up underneath the roundel. I did forget to mask a cut out / step where the serial number goes but will have to live with that and just shift the decal up a few mm. I really don't fancy remasking and trying to get a good coat of grey on top of black.

 

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Decalling next week and hopefully get it over the line sooner rather than later!

 

 

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Decals on and the start of applying a wash to the upper surfaces.

 

Had a few dramas with the decals. All the insignia decals came from the Extradecal sheet except the roundels on the wings. The insignia and squadron code markings on the fuselage side took lots of applications of Microsol to settle, especially the side which has a cable conduit running under the wing root, however the end result wasn't too bad. However the square national insignia on the tail decided to react when I applied a coat of sating varnish over them. Same decal sheet, same length of time applied as the other decals (so unlikely to be moisture). I got the worst of the blistering out by gently pressing on them (luckily none of the colour lifted or worse) and then brushed some Kleer over them. They are a bit rough if you look close but from most viewing distances / angles it's not noticeable thankfully.

 

It's the first time i've masked a greenhouse type canopy and I was pretty nervous how it would turn out as it's been glued in place for the duration of the painting so was just praying it didn't bleed! Luckily on unmasking it looks pretty good. Some of the grey did flake off here and there leaving the interior green undercoat visible but i'm calling it patina and leaving well alone!

 

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Have the black on the landing gear doors still to paint, as well as the aerials. After that it's just assembly to complete.

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Very close to completion now. Landing gear installed, wash applied. I did relent and touch up a few of the grey bars on the canopy where the paint flaked, unusually for me I got away with it!

 

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Just aerials to apply and a quick once over and it's done. I'll take some completed photos over the weekend in natural light.

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Ok i'm calling this one over the line now.

 

50623971132_c6b7a9e16a_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623126333_593c15a7b0_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623867081_f2bef5733c_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623126168_236b0f126e_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623126158_c0d2cec470_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623970957_f8badb2268_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623970932_a3919d930a_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623821446_d4603b964c_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

50623821371_9f9b42356e_h.jpgUntitled by Ian Brandon Anderson, on Flickr

 

All in all quite a straightforward build, a few strange paint / decal issues but nothing horrendous. It's not perfect if you look at it under a microscope but it's not bad at all from normal viewing distances!

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