Revell’s 1/32 Scale Mosquito B.IV

[Max Headroom]

I know I seem to be a serial starter and I promise I’ll get back to them, but recently I’ve had an influx of very late Christmas goodies. First off my daughter and son in law gave me a gift vulture for my favourite model shop in Chester. Lock down and stuff meant that it was burning a hole in my wants list until such time as the Rona had got to manageable levels and eventually I walked out with the Airfix 1/48 Tiger Moth, Airfix 1/72 Brick S.2B and an Eduard 1/72 Late Spitfire IX Weekend Edition. I’d even started on the Tiger too when this turned up........

 

 

a Christmas present from my son’s girlfriend 🤭

 

I was well and truly banjaxed! The last 1/32 model I built was Revell’s Seafire Ib on first release.

 

It’s big. The box could quite happily house a family of hamsters in comfort. So of course it went to the top of the build pile. 
 

So let’s have a Cook’s Tour of the contents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only game in town in this scale until HK and Tamiya gave us their offerings.

 

I know this kit has issues, other than simplified internal detail. In no particular order, square windows on the nose sides (they should be rectangular), brake cooling slots on both sides of the wheel hubs (one side only) and a canopy that’s wrong at the front end (the windscreens at the front should be a flat rectangle rather than square).

 

Lots of internet surfing ensued and I then started fiddling with the plastic.

 

More soon.

 

Trevor  

[bigbadbadge]

What a haul, some lovely kits there. I have one of these in the stash and will watch with interest.

Chris

[Alan P]

Good to see you tackling this classic. I recently moved mine down from the loft to join the build queue! So I will be following with interest 👍

[Max Headroom]

Thanks guys 😁

 

I did some dry fitting to see how things would look. A mixture of blue tack and a spot of Tamiya extra thin to see what was what. To be honest, the cockpit is where most attention will be drawn to, so if I could get that looking busy, I’d be happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry but I’m not one of those modellers who includes the crew in a model, so Mutt and Geoff will not be appearing!

 

As you can see the interior isn’t bare but how much is accurate/useable? My only immediate thought was that the nav’s cushion looked a bit iffy. Obvious flaws are that there is a gap between the radio shelf and the lower ledge. The stub wall at the far end of the shelf is also missing. A cursory googlage established that the gubbins on the radio shelf is a work of fiction. Also the ‘device’ behind the pilot’s seat seems only applicable to radar equipped marks, so that will also be disappearing too. 
 

Checking the navigator’s back armour, some photos show it as moulded and others missing. However looking at the USAAF’s preserved example, the top part is hinged, so to add interest that’s the way mine will be. 

 

Other observations included signs of mould wear. The control column has flash that will need attention and there are also join lines on the outside of the cockpit where there is a line that needs removing

 

 

The cockpit floor is also a tad short

 

 

 but a slice of plastic card would cure that.

 

 

a shimmy of card underneath to give it strength and the job’s a good un.

 

 

I’m enjoying this! Working in a larger scale is so much easier.

 

Trevor

 

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey I wonder what they were thinking when they designed the rear shelf??? 

[Max Headroom]

38 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey I wonder what they were thinking when they designed the rear shelf??? 

I’m guessing that it’s supposed to show a spar?

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

As part of my preliminary tour of the cockpit, my attention then focused on the control panel. Something was amiss

 

 

 

It became obvious that the navigator would have to be a contortionist to get out of his seat and then position himself in the prone position to look out of the nose. I looked at the pedals and realised that they were offset to the right, rather than directly in front of the pilot. This is because the hole in the floor into which the control panel part is inserted is in the wrong place. Snip off the locating lug and position it slightly to the left so that the part rests adjacent to the hole. That gets the part to fit better (fettling still needed) and the pedals in the correct position. Most importantly it gives the nav vital wriggle room. I’m still figuring out how athletic he has to be to do it though and I’m coming to the conclusion that he would have to stand in the hatch entrance to do it. Incentive to ensure the hatch was secured properly!

 

Trevor 

[Paws4thot]

39 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

I’m guessing that it’s supposed to show a spar?

 

Trevor

Surely not. There's neither a main spar nor a bomb bay ceiling in the kit, and the bomb bay doors are moulded closed.

[Paws4thot]

26 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

he would have to stand in the hatch entrance to do it

Not according to some of my refs, which show an inner hatch/floor panel that lowers from the cockpit wall to the floor.

[Max Headroom]

The modelling begins!

 

I thought I’d start with something simple. There are recesses moulded into the cockpit wall to cater for the radiator outer walls. Obviously they shouldn’t be there, so I cut a couple of plastic scraps to insert and blended them in with filler.

 

 

You may be able to see some moulded in erm.... details on the fuselage walls. Those get scraped off.

 

And now a little destruction.

Cushion came off and I also removed the pedestal that the pilot seat rests on. There is something under there but I’ll figure that out later.

 

Some plastic card and fettling got me here.

 

 

 

Oh aye, I’m scratching the pilot’s seat too as the bottom is square and not a scoop.

 

Since this photo was taken, I’ve started to add some fuse wire cabling. It’s going to end up cluttered in there. Missing at the moment is the tunnel in the floor leading to the entry hatch. I’ve decided to have the hatch open anyway so I need to figure out the best way to get it to line up properly. For this reason I’ll be fixing the cockpit assembly to the starboard fuselage half and will end up (hopefully) with a rigid structure.

 

And that is about where I’m up to at the moment. Probably no more plasticing until the weekend, but I’ll be studying online builds of the HK and Tamiya versions and shamelessly taking ‘inspiration’ from them.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

31 minutes ago, Paws4thot said:

Not according to some of my refs, which show an inner hatch/floor panel that lowers from the cockpit wall to the floor.

Not seen that. Any photos anywhere?

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

43 minutes ago, Paws4thot said:

Surely not. There's neither a main spar nor a bomb bay ceiling in the kit, and the bomb bay doors are moulded closed.

I think the detailing is the product of an active imagination. The cube at the back can only be a nod to the radio. In any event that part hasn’t been used.

 

Trevor

[Paws4thot]

13 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

Any photos anywhere?

Yes, but my library is 200 miles away, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Sorry.

[Paws4thot]

12 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

I think the detailing is the product of an active imagination. The cube at the back can only be a nod to the radio. In any event that part hasn’t been used.

 

Trevor

Agreed. My point was that "accurate detailing" (a bit of an oxymoron in this kit) made visible by the omission of the cockpit rear bulkhead could only be the main spar and bomb bay roof / fuselage fuel tanks, which aren't included and I don't think were meant to be since the bomb bay doors, all 4 of them, are moulded closed into the fuselage halves.

[Max Headroom]

55 minutes ago, Paws4thot said:

Yes, but my library is 200 miles away, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Sorry.

I’ll use google-fu 

 

50 minutes ago, Paws4thot said:

Agreed. My point was that "accurate detailing" (a bit of an oxymoron in this kit) made visible by the omission of the cockpit rear bulkhead could only be the main spar and bomb bay roof / fuselage fuel tanks, which aren't included and I don't think were meant to be since the bomb bay doors, all 4 of them, are moulded closed into the fuselage halves.

At least there was no flipping’ great void 🤣

 

I could get resin radios for the shelf, but it’ll be more fun scratching them. All I need are their dimensions............

 

Trevor

[Biggles87]

We serial starters need to stick together, so I’m in.

 

John

[Max Headroom]

Right then.

 

Just placed an order with Tasman for their vacform canopy. I should have it by the third week in June. That boat from Hobart is really slow😆

 

Trevor

[Tcoat]

2 hours ago, Paws4thot said:

Agreed. My point was that "accurate detailing" (a bit of an oxymoron in this kit) made visible by the omission of the cockpit rear bulkhead could only be the main spar and bomb bay roof / fuselage fuel tanks, which aren't included and I don't think were meant to be since the bomb bay doors, all 4 of them, are moulded closed into the fuselage halves.

How are the wings and fuselage in yours? I have one on the shelf of doom with about a 5 degree twist to the wings and a 10 dree one to the fuselage.  Pretty sure I could use the fuselage as a corkscrew so the poor detailing was the least of my worries!

[Max Headroom]

4 hours ago, Tcoat said:

How are the wings and fuselage in yours? I have one on the shelf of doom with about a 5 degree twist to the wings and a 10 dree one to the fuselage.  Pretty sure I could use the fuselage as a corkscrew so the poor detailing was the least of my worries!

Mine are flat thankfully. Perhaps you were unlucky enough to get a bad un. Maybe the hot water treatment can cure yours. If not an email to Revell?

 

Trevor

[Tcoat]

7 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Mine are flat thankfully. Perhaps you were unlucky enough to get a bad un. Maybe the hot water treatment can cure yours. If not an email to Revell?

 

Trevor

It is so far down the I'll Get Back To That Someday list that Revell will probably be owned by three more different companies by the time I worry about it.

Didn't bother trying the hot water/blow dryer tricks and just pack it up in disgust.

Will be taking notes from your build for future reference though.

[Shalako]

Who can refuse such a big aircraft model, even if it was released back in the early '70s?

 

I definitely need to add one to my collection (of unbuild scale models)

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Trevor 

Great start.  @Paws4thotis correct  the outer hatch hinges open underneath the area in front of the Navigator, it hinges toward the Centre of the underside and has a porthole window.  Inside the door lifts from tge centre to tge Stbd cockpit wall so it is out of the way.  I have just done a quick Google search and there are a few , if you look under Mosquito B/PR mkIV britmodeller you will come up with some.  I built ghe Tamiya 72 kit as the PR mk iv and opened both inner and outer doors and you will need to fill the area between the two doors.

Hope that helps

Chris

[Max Headroom]

@bigbadbadge I think you’ve cracked it! I was spending an inordinate amount of time looking for this hatch and there it was on the Tamiya 1/48 sprue. I think I can copy this onto the kit floor and now saves me the bother of having to have the whole shebang open to the elements. I was only going to model the outer hatch open because I thought that was the only one. Hours looking at the real thing have failed to produce the money picture showing it either in place or open.

 

So that’s a relief.

 

I’ve been presented with a modelling opportunity tomorrow evening, so I may use the time to model the hatch and add some other gubbins (predictive Texas suggests ‘gibbons’).

 

Next headache......are all those circular discs on the cockpit walls all in the same place for every aircraft? 

 

I really, really need to get out more.

 

Trevor

[bigbadbadge]

Thanks for the mention, brilliant glad you got your reference.   I like the predictive texts comment,  that made me chuckle. 

Chris

[Paws4thot]

1 hour ago, Max Headroom said:

predictive Texas

OT, but when I can be bothered I call it "second guess you and get it wrong" text.