Another Airfix 1/72 Mosquito B.XVI on the go

[TheKinksFan]

On 17/09/2021 at 22:26, Chuck1945 said:

Nice, I see you used pre-cut masks. I’ve been checking Hannants almost daily to see if Eduard masks are available for the kit. What ones have you used?

Eduard hasn't even announced any aftermarket stuff for this kit. At least nothing will be released in September or October. It's very strange, when compared to Beaufort accessories, which were all released last fall, months before the kit was released. This  seller on ebay doesn't seem to ship outside UK. 

[Cheshiretaurus]

Camo masking done, now armed with a modelling fluid and bottle of MRP 110 Dark green

 

Half an hour later..

 

 

Once the putty was removed its looks like this

 

Few patches need to be touched up I think but more of a concern is why does the grey on the starboard wing root look lighter than the rest? also the starboard tail is the same. I don't think its the way the light is because it looks lighter at all angles. Might go and rework that bit.

 

Now I'm going to retire for the night and finish that modelling fluid then follow it up with the other that's in the fridge while I try and work out what happened with that wing root.

 

CT

 

 

[Cheshiretaurus]

Wonder if I accidently put medium sea grey in the airbrush when I painted the 2 over wing panels a bit later on and may have gone over that area a bit more at the same time? I must be getting old, I cant remember.

 

Those areas do look lighter in this pic too

 

 

[Fritag]

10 hours ago, Cheshiretaurus said:

Wonder if I accidently put medium sea grey in the airbrush when I painted the 2 over wing panels a bit later on and may have gone over that area a bit more at the same time? I must be getting old, I cant remember.

 

It’s just the era of paint-woes were living thro’ CT.

 

I see why you like the MRP paints tho’.  Nice finish.  How robust are they?  Do they cope with being sanded back (I inevitably end up correcting c*ck ups and have to micromesh…)

 

 

[Cheshiretaurus]

8 hours ago, Fritag said:

 

It’s just the era of paint-woes were living thro’ CT.

 

I see why you like the MRP paints tho’.  Nice finish.  How robust are they?  Do they cope with being sanded back (I inevitably end up correcting c*ck ups and have to micromesh…)

 

 

 

Very smooth finish, dries straight away, yes very tough, doesn't roll up when sanded and passes the finger nail scratch test, it is bonded to the surface, not a thin film like some other acrylics. I use Mr Surfacer 1500 as a primer either from the rattle can or jar thinned with Mr Levelling thinner although you can get away without primer too.   Ive had trouble with Tamiya primer with it, get the wrinkles! 

 

So clearing up a grey area(s)

 

I made a small test card of Ocean grey & Medium sea grey (MRP 112 & 115)

 

Suspicions confirmed, I touched it up with the wrong damn paint! I must have done it when I did the MSG on the panel to the rear of the port nacelle. 

 

That panel is correct

 

The the two panels over the radiators are correct

On the above pic you can see how the in board grey camo fades from OG to MSG

 

Tail is MSG too

 

This leads me to conclude the following chronological list of events:-

1 I sprayed the upper surface OG

2 I Sprayed the port wing panel MSG

3 I then touched up some areas with MSG<<<<<<<<ERROR ERROR ERROR

4 I Sprayed OG on the panels above the radiator ( as I forgot to do them at step 1)

5 I Sprayed the green

 

At least now I know.

I've have a dash cam in the car that is great for analysing those 'how did I miss that?' situations on the road, maybe I should get a bench cam for the modelling situations.  

 

I'll sort it out later, but for now...its lunch time again already!

 

CT

 

[Cheshiretaurus]

Mask the rework areas

 

Check & re check its definitely ocean grey I have.

 

And spray

 

De mask:-

 

 

 

Now I'm a happy CT

 

 

The learning point here for my self (and I told myself this over a year ago when I did my Mustang III) when spraying a camo scheme cover the whole camo area with your first colour then you wont need to touch up areas before doing the second colour. I can always preshade again the second colour areas too.

 

 

[Beard]

Painting the wrong colour in the wrong place is something we've all done and, in my case, continue to do... you should see the mess I make of doing Temperate Sea Scheme.

[Cheshiretaurus]

Quick question for the Mossie experts regarding the bomb bay doors

 

Ive sanded away all external detail on the meticulously faithful TT35 doors that Airfix provided us with on a B.XVI kit as I understand they were plain.

 

 

 

Now the question is on the inside of the doors. Those slots on the bottom / aircraft centreline, were they present on a B.XVI or should I get the filler out and blend them smooth?

 

 

Thanks 

 

CT

 

[Gondor44]

I'm not an expert, however after looking at one of mine in the stash I would say that those recesses should be filled.

 

I am also guessing that the reason for the bulged bomb bay was so that the construction was simplified as no recesses for the back end of the rear bombs in the doors as well as giving room for larger bombs.

 

Gondor

[Cheshiretaurus]

8 hours ago, Gondor44 said:

after looking at one of mine in the stash I would say that those recesses should be filled.

 

I'm thinking the same, still looking for some definitive pictures of aircraft that hadn't been a TT35 at some point in its life.

 

I gave it a few coats of Humbrol Gloss cote this morning and tonight its decals, going a bit slower than anticipated.

 

 

 

Top tip from Cheshire Taurus on this kit is to put the fuselage roundels [2] on BEFORE the trestle markings [33] & [34] underneath.  Ive just spent over an hour trying to release them to re-arrange them so they go over the roundel not under its as was the case.

 

 

CT

 

 

[Cheshiretaurus]

 

Am I expecting too much? the more I build this kit the more I see little errors here and there. Have Airfix got sloppy?

We have a brilliant kit that fits together perfectly but modelled on a TT35.

 

little errors in the instructions though.

One is black one is red, Copy & paste at it best

 

 

 

 

 

 

Demarcation line is above the wing trailing edge on the aircraft, below on the instructions.

Also the strengthener rod goes through the blue of the roundel not the red/white.

 

How many more are there that I haven't spotted?  

 

Minor stuff I know and the lesson here is do your own research.

 

 

And rant mode off, cos its lunch time again.

 

 

 

 

[Cheshiretaurus]

Further more..

 

 

1 Should that be a window underneath as Airfix gave us a solid part (that I have blended in)?

2 Is decal [15] really present on a B.XVI considering the cock up in this area?

3 Formation lights as a decal[16]? considering the technical capability's of Airfix these days

 

Can anyone help on questions 1&2 I have a plan for 3

 

CT

[Cheshiretaurus]

Finished the decals all except the formation lights and that red dot to the left of the rear bomb bay fairing.

 

Microl Sol & Set but the starboard roundel & 'K'  wouldn't conform over the strengthener strip so needed a slice with a razor blade and a bit X20A as a softener then it was conformal.

 

The exhausts looked too dark, I think I might have used the wrong paint on them too. Could have used Alclad Jet exhaust by mistake.

 

Masked around them and used Alclad 123 Exhaust manifold.

 

Next I'll seal them in with some more gloss cote then probebly a Flory darkwash followed by a matt coat and a little weathering.

 

 

 

Nearly there but as I write this I've just noticed the red circle behind the cockpit is still on the decal sheet. Looks like thats the next job then.

 

CT

 

[72nd SQN]

Looking really great @Cheshiretaurus

[Dave Swindell]

22 hours ago, Cheshiretaurus said:

1 Should that be a window underneath as Airfix gave us a solid part (that I have blended in)?

2 Is decal [15] really present on a B.XVI considering the cock up in this area?

3 Formation lights as a decal[16]? considering the technical capability's of Airfix these days

Can anyone help on questions 1&2 I have a plan for 3

1 This is the location for a rear fuselage camera fitted on some aircraft, blanked on others. Airfix don't give a clear part in this boxing.

2 No, it's the red downward identification light position on the BIV and some other marks with the flush bomb bay.

3 These are to represent the other two (green & amber) downward identification lights, not formation lights. On aircraft with the bulged bomb bay the these two were in the same position with the red one forward of them, equally spaced. Airfix have looked at giving us the correct clear part as the starboard fuselage half has flashed over holes and a rectangular recess for the clear part in the lower rear fuselage (upper left in your photo below).

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:46 AM, Cheshiretaurus said:

Now the question is on the inside of the doors. Those slots on the bottom / aircraft centreline, were they present on a B.XVI or should I get the filler out and blend them smooth?

 

Great looking build CT. Now when I eventually do mine I'm thinking about cutting the closed Bomb Bay door piece in half length ways and using these as my open bomb doors. Hopefully that should resolve fitting in the cut outs that have been added to the kits open kit doors. Now if only the Kit designer got this part right, man it would have saved a little bit of pain. 

Cheers.. Dave  

[Cheshiretaurus]

2 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

1 This is the location for a rear fuselage camera fitted on some aircraft, blanked on others. Airfix don't give a clear part in this boxing.

2 No, it's the red downward identification light position on the BIV and some other marks with the flush bomb bay.

3 These are to represent the other two (green & amber) downward identification lights, not formation lights. On aircraft with the bulged bomb bay the these two were in the same position with the red one forward of them, equally spaced.

Thanks Dave that backs up what I was thinking

 

So downward position lights

Here is the cunning plan:-

 

I drew a cutting template. from the rear of the fairing to abeam the leading edge of the tailplane is 57mm. I used this dimension to scale the template.

With my scribing needle I made a mark in the fuselage for the lights.

 

 

With a 2mm drill bit and and a scribing template with a smaller hole as a depth restrictor I drilled the recesses for the lights.

 

 

Next I cut some 1.8mm discs from self adhesive aluminium tape and inserted them with a rounded off cocktail stick.

 

 

Next was the appropriate colours from Tamiya clears

 

Once dried I sealed them in with UV cure glue

 

All done

 

Wait a minute.........Bl***y pilots he looked on as I cocked it up and didnt say a word. No CRM from him!

 

wrong side init...     There are suggestions that the C19 vaccine slows the brain down...

 

Fill with CA sand smooth repaint start again.

 

 

 

Same process

 

and that's more like it

 

 

CT

 

[Dave Swindell]

So good he did it twice! 

I've done similar for other models (including Tamiya Mosquitos) the only difference being I'd colour the outside of the lens as the lenses themselves were coloured.

[Cheshiretaurus]

5 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Now when I eventually do mine I'm thinking about cutting the closed Bomb Bay door piece in half length ways and using these as my open bomb doors. Hopefully that should resolve fitting in the cut outs that have been added to the kits open kit doors

 

The doors have locating points for the operating mechanism so you might need to plan around that.

 

 

BTW is part C3 & C4 just a TT35 thing?

 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

9 minutes ago, Cheshiretaurus said:

BTW is part C3 & C4 just a TT35 thing?

Yes.

[Chuck1945]

Thanks for all this, I’m planning open bomb bay doors on mine so this all helps a lot. I’ll use a 1mm Molotow chrome pen for the light recesses

[Cheshiretaurus]

56 minutes ago, Chuck1945 said:

Molotow chrome pen

Brilliant idea, got one of those somewhere.

[Cheshiretaurus]

Gave it a Flory dark dirt wash clay wash then sealed that in with a bit more Humbrol Gloss Cote, 

 

Once all sealed it got a very light thin coat of Humbrol Matt Cote thinned with Mr Rapid thinner

 

As far as the main body is concerned thats complete.

 

De mask

 

 

 

 

Just whirly propulsive thingies, round dangley Dunlop thingies with the steel things to hold them in place and some doors to keep the ordanance warm then I think we might be somewhere near done.

 

CT

 

 

 

[Chuck1945]

Looking good 👍

[Cheshiretaurus]

Right I think I've been stitched up by the Airfix on the instructions again.

 

Here is how the MLG legs are moulded on the sprue, pay attention to the sprue ejector points around the legs particularly the one at the wheel attachment point (Jacking point?)

 

When I removed them from the sprue I removed all the ejector points too except for the last one I did as I had spotted in the instructions that they actually should have a slight bit of steel at the end. Instructions show them to look like this.

 

So I left it in place on the last one and made a mental note to repair the others later.

 

 

I've just spent an hour stretching some sprue and my eyesight to make new pins.

I was quite pleased with the result

Then I thought I'd check what I'd done with reference pics but all the pics I had showed Mossies on jacks and that part obscure. So I looked at more pics on the interweb and none seem to have this feature.

 

Tamiya FB VI in the stash could be giving me a red herring here.

 

 

This is PZ474 as an example

 

So the big question Did a B.XVI have these pins? or have I just wasted my time?