Minion's bargain Mossie. Finished!

[modelling minion]

Well after putting forward some possibilities for my build in the chat section I revisited the stash and came upon a possibility which instantly went to the top of the pile as its one of my favourite aircraft of all time, the DeHavilland Mosquito. Not the more modern Tamiya tooling (if I found them for £10 or less I would need a wheelbarrow to carry the ones I wold "need") but the old Airfix 1/48 FB.VI in 1/48 scale one which I picked up a couple of years ago from the Kit Swap at Telford for the bargain price of £5. Now this may be an older tooling but there is nothing wrong with it as it is dimensionally accurate and actually quite nicely detailed for it's age. Here are the usual box and contents shots including one of the very handy price sticker proving the bargain price and the fact that it is eligible for the GB;

 

The box top may have seen better days but the contents are still good;

 

And the price sticker;

 

Now the sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed the lack of something that is very important, decals! This had me rummaging through my decal stash for a part used Eagle Strike set which I know I have that has a nice SEAC example on it that I picked up for a couple of pounds as the set is incomplete. Now I know I have the sheet but can I find it? No is the answer. I have a sheet by Xtradecal but that would take the overall cost to around £13 so that won't do, but then I remembered my mini stash of Lift Here decals sent to me by my very good friend Sasha in Serbia over the years and all sent for free and in there is a set with a couple of Mossie's on it as well as a couple of P-47's, and as they didn't cost me a penny it keeps the cost of the package at £5!! Here are a couple of pics of the decal sheet and instructions;

 

 

I shall be building the FB.VI at the bottom for this build, though I would very much like to do the T.3 at some point when I can work out what to do in the cockpit to convert it from an FB.VI. One very helpful point is the fact that according to the instructions there were no stencils  visible! Which is excellent as I don't have any!

 

A slightly deeper dive into the stash found a later stablemate from Airfix which I picked up from an airshow at RAF Waddington probably 15 years ago;

 

Lets have a closer look at the price sticker on this one;

 

£4.50! Even bigger bargain!! I could actually build them both in one thread and it still come in at less than £10!! I will see how I get on with my FB.VI before I make any commitment to building the NF.30 at the same time, though I will probably spray the interior at the same time as I do the FB.VI as it makes sense. For those of you unfamiliar with the Airfix NF.30 you actually get the full FB.VI kit with a new sprue to enable you to build the nightfighter from it with new upper wings, nacelles and radar nose.

 

I am really keen to get started on this/these as I haven't built a Mossie in a long time.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by modelling minion

[busnproplinerfan]

You sure got horseshoes hidden away. Great catches, never knew Serbia used these.

[modelling minion]

19 minutes ago, busnproplinerfan said:

You sure got horseshoes hidden away. Great catches, never knew Serbia used these.

Thanks, yes I was lucky with both these.

Yugoslavia had around 140 Mosquitos of various marks supplied from 1951 and they stayed in service for 12 years, that last ones in service were converted to carry torpedoes by the Yugoslavs.

[busnproplinerfan]

35 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Thanks, yes I was lucky with both these.

Yugoslavia had around 140 Mosquitos of various marks supplied from 1951 and they stayed in service for 12 years, that last ones in service were converted to carry torpedoes by the Yugoslavs.

Probably the last Mossies in use anywhere I guess?

[stevej60]

Great choice Craig a well respected kit which builds well I remember having a crack at it when newly released.

[Max Headroom]

A Palitoy pressing too, so everything should be sharp. I’ll tag along please.

 

Trevor

[modelling minion]

2 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said:

Probably the last Mossies in use anywhere I guess?

If not the last then certainly amongst them.

40 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Great choice Craig a well respected kit which builds well I remember having a crack at it when newly released.

Cheers Steve, would you believe this is actually my first one, built lots of the Airfix 1/72 ones but no 1/48 kits until now.

34 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

A Palitoy pressing too, so everything should be sharp. I’ll tag along please.

 

Trevor

Thanks Trevor, you are more than welcome to follow along. Having looked over the parts they do seem to be nicely moulded.

[Ravnos]

Looking forward to seeing more on this one! the mosquitos are one of my all time favorates as well. I've never built one though so definately need to add one to my to do pile

[modelling minion]

6 minutes ago, Ravnos said:

Looking forward to seeing more on this one! the mosquitos are one of my all time favorates as well. I've never built one though so definately need to add one to my to do pile

Glad to have you along.

Every collection should have at least one Mosquito in it and there are some great kits out there in every scale.

[Ravnos]

26 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Every collection should have at least one Mosquito in it

Couldn't agree more, I was thinking I might grab one of the new tool airfix mossies when it comes out, watched a flory models video interview with the designer of the new kit the other day and it looks really nice.

[Hockeyboy76]

You have to build them both Craig, I mean two mossies are better than one, unless it’s those annoying insect ones that constantly buzz your ear five minutes after you turn out the bedroom light, which then turns into a massive hunt of the room looking for the little *******. I may have gone slightly off topic. 

Good luck dude. 

[modelling minion]

17 hours ago, Ravnos said:

Couldn't agree more, I was thinking I might grab one of the new tool airfix mossies when it comes out, watched a flory models video interview with the designer of the new kit the other day and it looks really nice.

The new tool Airfix Mossie does look very nice indeed and if they get it right will be a very popular kit as Mossie's with 2 stage Merlins in any scale are hard to find, as are the correction sets that make the engines look like the real thing.

7 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

You have to build them both Craig, I mean two mossies are better than one, unless it’s those annoying insect ones that constantly buzz your ear five minutes after you turn out the bedroom light, which then turns into a massive hunt of the room looking for the little *******. I may have gone slightly off topic. 

Good luck dude. 

Cheers H, well I have just given all the internals a coat of RAF interior green on both kits so we will just have to wait and see what happens. And yes the little buzzing ones are annoying little beggars, we don't want any of those!

[PlaStix]

Hi Craig. Hope you are keeping well. Welcome to the GB. Great to have you here. Awesome choice of kits for this GB. Always loved the Mossie. Looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

9 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Craig. Hope you are keeping well. Welcome to the GB. Great to have you here. Awesome choice of kits for this GB. Always loved the Mossie. Looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks mate, very happy to be taking part.

The Mossie does seem to be one of those aircraft that is very much loved by modellers and aircraft fans alike, lets hope I do it justice!

[modelling minion]

Doesn't take long to get pushed to the bottom of page 2 does it!

Fortunately I have some progress to report. Despite being part way through a Harvard for the STGB I just couldn't help but get stuck in on this one, in my defence I did say the Mosquito is one of my favourite aircraft. Although this is quite an old kit the cockpit is quite nicely detailed, I believe that this is due to Airfix originally designing the moulds for it to be released in 1/24th scale but budget issues made them scale back to 1/48th, what ever the reason it is quite nice and with the addition of some wire to reproduce some of the cabling in the cockpit and some seatbelts made of Tamiya tape the result isn't too bad.

The instrument panel received some detail painting;

 

The main cabin has been built up and painted and some extra details added;

 

 

And the cockpit sidewalls received the same treatment;

 

 

There could be a lot more added as the Mossie's cockpit was quite busy but finding clear pictures proved a bit elusive and when the canopy is on it should hopefully be a good representation of the real thing.

 

So that is how she looks at the minute, next job will be to get the instrument panel fitted, build up the tailwheel and close the fuselage up.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[TonyOD]

7 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Doesn't take long to get pushed to the bottom of page 2 does it!

 

I just made a similar observation! The Mozzie is looking great!

[modelling minion]

13 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

 

I just made a similar observation! The Mozzie is looking great!

Cheers Tony, yes I think we are going to keep our updates coming fast or we will be pushed into obscurity!

[PlaStix]

Fantastic progress already Craig!! Beautiful work in the cockpit!

Kind regards,

Stix

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, PlaStix said:

Fantastic progress already Craig!! Beautiful work in the cockpit!

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks mate, I have to say that this kit has definitely rekindled my love for the Mossie so I can almost definitely see me building the second kit too. For an old kit it is going together very well so far and certainly looks every inch the Mosquito.

[stevej60]

Great start Craig,I've just picked up Revell's 1/32 oldie and the Airfix cockpit looks much more detailed.

[AdrianMF]

Nice! I built the original 1/72 Airfix kit as a kid and the current 1/72 kit a few years ago. A big step forward! Looking forward to your 1/48 build. I remember talking to the guys at Comet Miniatures a few years ago about how the Airfix 1/48 Mosquito was a scale down from 1/24.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[stever219]

You’ve made a good start on thee cockpit but you might want to add to the detail under the throttle box; there are push/pull rods for throttle and pitch controls with a guard above (I think) which lead back to torque tubes that run along the front face of the front spar with support brackets near either end.  There are levers near the port wall of the cockpit projecting from the torque tubes to which the push/pull rods are connected and there are extensions of the throttle and pitch levers below the throttle box to which the front ends of the push/pull rods are attached.

[modelling minion]

10 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Great start Craig,I've just picked up Revell's 1/32 oldie and the Airfix cockpit looks much more detailed.

Thanks Steve.

I have never seen the Revell 1/32 kit up close but I have no doubt you will be able to turn it into a stunner. The cockpit in the Airfix kit is very good for it's age and I have no doubt that those more capable and patient than me will make a much better job than I have.

9 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Nice! I built the original 1/72 Airfix kit as a kid and the current 1/72 kit a few years ago. A big step forward! Looking forward to your 1/48 build. I remember talking to the guys at Comet Miniatures a few years ago about how the Airfix 1/48 Mosquito was a scale down from 1/24.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Cheers Adrian.

Yes I have built a few of the 1/72 kits over the years and the 1/48 one is a big step up in terms of detail, probably due to it having originally being designed for 1/24.

8 hours ago, stever219 said:

You’ve made a good start on thee cockpit but you might want to add to the detail under the throttle box; there are push/pull rods for throttle and pitch controls with a guard above (I think) which lead back to torque tubes that run along the front face of the front spar with support brackets near either end.  There are levers near the port wall of the cockpit projecting from the torque tubes to which the push/pull rods are connected and there are extensions of the throttle and pitch levers below the throttle box to which the front ends of the push/pull rods are attached.

Thanks mate, yes there is an awful lot more detail that could be added to the cockpit and what I have done nowhere near shows the extent of wires and cables but is just a representation to add a bit more interest, and I doubt much will be visible through the canopy either as it is quite thick.

[stever219]

4 hours ago, modelling minion said:

 

Thanks mate, yes there is an awful lot more detail that could be added to the cockpit and what I have done nowhere near shows the extent of wires and cables but is just a representation to add a bit more interest, and I doubt much will be visible through the canopy either as it is quite thick.

 

Good point about canopy thickness, I suspect that I’m quite a bit thicker for not remembering that.🥴😖

[modelling minion]

7 hours ago, stever219 said:

 

Good point about canopy thickness, I suspect that I’m quite a bit thicker for not remembering that.🥴😖

Not at all, the Airfix canopy is actually quite thick, much more so than the Tamiya one, and not particularly clear either, I am hoping a dip in Klear will help a bit.