Ship Killer! 1/32 Mosquito FB.Mk.VI, 404 Sqn RCAF, Banff Strike Wing 1945

[Alan P]

Hi everyone, the glue's still drying on this but it's finished.

 

1/32 Revell Mosquito B.IV (the ancient 1970s kit) resurrected and converted to an FB.VI using Grey Matter nose conversion, AMS resin slipper tanks, Special Hobby RP-3 rockets, Master .303 guns, Quickboost exhaust pipes and decals from Aviaeology and Xtradecal.

Paints were all Gunze Mr Color lacquers for the camouflage, interior mostly MRP lacquer.

Base was built by me from some offcut wood and a carbon fibre rod.

Spinning props were made from the kit spinners, clear acetate sectors cut using a rotary cutter and painted with thinned Colourcoats enamel. 

Canopy was adapted from the kit B.IV canopy using more of the same acetate sheet and Tamiya tape strips.

The Grey Matter nose was a very nice piece and fit quite well. the gun camera port needed to be drilled with a Dremel.

The kit stands up pretty well despite being older than me, it just needs some help

It's just a beautiful aircraft - I've already got the HK Models B.XVI to build as a photo-recce, and I'm saving up for the Tamiya FB.VI because I need more Mossies in my life!

Anyway, one more!

 

Here's the build thread which might inspire anyone else to try this conversion:

 

Hope you like viewing it as much as I enjoyed building it!

 

All the best,

 

Alan

[MicTroy23]

It turned out very nicely! The imitation of the rotation of the screws is cool!

[Hamiltonian]

Oh, that's a beauty. Lovely result.

[Max Headroom]

That is a terrific result from an old kit. I envy you with your HK kit and saving up for the Tamiya! They’ll all take up a lot of room though.

 

Trevor

 

 

[Alan P]

1 minute ago, Max Headroom said:

That is a terrific result from an old kit. I envy you with your HK kit and saving up for the Tamiya! They’ll all take up a lot of room though.

 

Trevor

 

 

I'll MAKE room for them, my preciousssss

 

Thanks very much for inspiring the build in the first place, looking forward to seeing yours progress, still following with a front row seat

[Alan P]

9 minutes ago, MicTroy23 said:

It turned out very nicely! The imitation of the rotation of the screws is cool!

 

7 minutes ago, Hamiltonian said:

Oh, that's a beauty. Lovely result.

Thanks very much 😃

[elger]

fantastic!

[Dr. Quack]

Great result - and a very informative wip. I know your frustrations over the canopy but it looks fine in the photos  - I'd be more than proud to have built that!

Q

[kapam]

Before reading your post I just assumed I was looking at a build of the Tamiya kit.

That surely points to your excellent skill as a modeller!

The in-flight effects look super-real too!

👏👏

[F-32]

That's really great work

[Bertie McBoatface]

That’s very nice. Very imposing in 1/32. 
 

I don’t like action props generally but I have to say, this is about the best I’ve ever seen it done.  

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Alan, I agree with you - it's a beautiful aircraft, and you've done a terrific model of it. Regards, Jeff.

[Alan P]

Thanks for the very welcome comments 👍

2 hours ago, kapam said:

Before reading your post I just assumed I was looking at a build of the Tamiya kit.

That surely points to your excellent skill as a modeller!

The in-flight effects look super-real too!

👏👏

Very kind of you to say 😊 one day I will build the Tamiya kit 🙏

16 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

That’s very nice. Very imposing in 1/32. 
 

I don’t like action props generally but I have to say, this is about the best I’ve ever seen it done.  

Thanks very much, I've tried several different ways to simulate props without using motors and this is probably the most effective 👍

 

Alan

[Hairtrigger]

Fantastic...   Beast at that scale..

Love the props.

[Rod bettencourt]

Great looking build!! Always enjoy looking at your work.

 

Rod

[Bertie McBoatface]

6 hours ago, Alan P said:

Thanks for the very welcome comments 👍

Very kind of you to say 😊 one day I will build the Tamiya kit 🙏

Thanks very much, I've tried several different ways to simulate props without using motors and this is probably the most effective 👍

 

Alan

 

I've had a few goes too. I've loosely fitted props and then blown them round with a hairdryer for the photos. That's good but you look daft at a show with a hairdryer.

 

I once tried cutting off the props and filling the gaps in the spinners of a P-38. The rest of the aircraft was matt finished so I painted the spinners as glossy as possible. With a willing viewer, it sorta worked but wasn't great.

 

The philosophical problem I have with all the various methods of showing blurred propellers is that in real life you cant see the turning props at all, except sometimes a strobing reflection of the sun.  Even the coloured tips are really hard to see most of the time. That's why people walk into them from time to time. Usually once per person though. The blurred propeller only exists on photographs. Now, I can't tell you why that means we shouldn't try to reproduce it , to me it just seems wrong. It's one of those personal taste things I suppose. 

 

It's worth repeating that your method is one of the most effective I've seen.

[bigbadbadge]

Great model Alan, it looks great in action on it's stand , love the props too fella.  I really enjoyed the WIP.

 

A cheaper way to get more Mossies in your life is to leave the windows open with the light on at night!!! Sorry fella couldn't resist!!!

Good luck saving for the Tamiya kit and great work on your Mossie.

 

Chris

 

[Vinnie]

That is a stunner, Alan. Well done.👍

[RMCS]

Fantastic finish 

[kapam]

14 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

The blurred propeller only exists on photographs.

Yes @Bertie Psmith, you make a very good point.

Having said that, a spinner with the blades removed would just look like (to my eyes) ..........well, a propeller with no blades. 😬  

Hence, I think some of the blurred prop effects look good to me.

But only my opinion and you're perfectly entitled to yours too.  😎

[Bertie McBoatface]

48 minutes ago, kapam said:

a spinner with the blades removed would just look like (to my eyes) ..........well, a propeller with no blades

That was something of a problem! Lol. It depends on how the viewer decides to visually interpret the model and as builders we have only limited control of that. When I  think about it, getting a viewer to see a model as a real aircraft, if only briefly in their imagination, is quite an achievement. It definitely happens though; you can see it in people’s faces at shows. I wonder if it works best with a ‘lay’ viewer or a modelling enthusiast?

[James G]

Great work Al! 👏

[spitfire]

That really is most impressive, I'm not normally a fan of "In Flight" posed models but that really is very good.

I am a big Mosquito fan and should be building one myself, will get around to it one day though.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Stew Dapple]

Cracking job Alan, she's a beauty  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Alan P]

Thank you very much gents!

6 hours ago, spitfire said:

That really is most impressive, I'm not normally a fan of "In Flight" posed models but that really is very good.

I am a big Mosquito fan and should be building one myself, will get around to it one day though.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

That's high praise indeed, really hope you get around to one of the excellent, if pricey, Mosquito kits out there right now.

6 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Cracking job Alan, she's a beauty  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Thanks very much Stew, coming from you that means a lot 👍

 

23 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

A cheaper way to get more Mossies in your life is to leave the windows open with the light on at night!!! Sorry fella couldn't resist!!

Yeah but that might even offend the wife more than the regular deliveries of model boxes this year

 

Thanks again guys, very much 👍

Alan