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The new Airfix Mosquito B.XVI (or TT.35....)


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Hello folks.

 

Only my second model post, so being brave and going for it.

 

The kit is new, and mostly goes together well, with little need for sanding or filler. There are some nice touches in the kit, such as direction arrows put on parts that could be accidentally put in upside down or back to front, and a pair of wheelbay masks. The instructions are of good standard, as are the transfers. My only real fiddle was putting the assembled undercarriage in its bay once I had finished spraying, it took a bit of help from a cocktail stick to get the forward legs to pop into the locating holes. 

 

The model is built completely out of the box, and finished in one of the two schemes offered. It represents a September 1944 Mosquito of 571 Squadron. I finished it as per the Airfix instructions, which included spinners that are in PRU blue (I handmixed this paint so sorry if it's not spot on.) The radiator covers were not painted in the overall camo scheme, but in dark grey, and don't have the usual red crossed 'don't walk' legend on them (this is handy as it gives me a couple of spare transfers to stockpile if I mess up on another build.) The port wing also has an inspection/maintenance hatch finished in underside light grey - again, I like this inclusion of non-standard features.

 

The downsides:

 

  1. only one crew figure, and appallingly moulded at that.
  2. no provision of a 4,000 HC bomb or mounts for the same. (You do get four x 500lb MC bombs though to be fair). I think I could use mounts from the current B.II or B.III Lancaster plus a cookie from the RAF ground vehicles set if I wanted to model this, but as you can see I went for doors shut on this build.
  3. The cockpit canopy is ok, but the front frames seem much thicker than the Tamiya product, and look a bit bulky. It might be my painting making it like that though.
  4. The biggy - this model is apparently built from a scan of the TT.35 Mosquito at Cosford, and the bomb bay doors and rear fairing replicate the target tug version. The bulged bomb bay doors that should have been fitted are noticeably different. Whoops a daisy Airfix.

 

Now the funny bit - as I was looking forward to this kit so much, every time Airfix e-mailed me about it, I preordered the kit, then forgot I had preordered.  Therefore when the postie brought a gigantic box I was puzzled until I saw there were three kits in it. The missus thought it was funny, and it gives me two more kits to make. I won't be making them straight away; I will make one in the second scheme provided in the box (black undersides, green/grey upper surfaces), but I'm going to wait a bit to see if Airfix or someone else comes up with the proper bomb bay doors and rear fairing. I might make the third one as a TT.35 in fact as there is a second cockpit canopy provided that has the dome over the navigator's position.

 

Summary - a good kit, but if you want it totally authentic as a B.XVI you're going to be doing some rebuilding and possibly sourcing of custom parts. Bad show from Airfix there.

 

I've been as brutal as I can with the photographs, so you can see where I've buggered things up, also I seem to have acquired quite a few white specks of dust in the matt varnish finish which is annoying but they are barely visible to my old eyes. The last image is with the Tamiya model on the right; the Airfix kit sits lower, and you can see it's down the the undercarriage legs seeming longer on the Tamiya... again this could well be my lack of skill with building.

 

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Very neat Mossies! The new kit looks like a winner, and the finish and restrained weathering show it to best advantage, and the exhausts look very convincing.

 

I take it that you're neither a sailor, nor a pilot? At sea, and in the air, starbord is green and port is red. IRL, mixing them up is likely to land you in trouble… 😉

 

Excellent modelling, though!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

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Very nice build. It really looks the part if you ignore the slip up on Airfix's part. 

 

Agree wirh Joachim on the point of the lights. They are reversed. An aide memoir for both pilots and sailors is: 'There's a little red port left'. That's how I remember. 😉

 

 

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You've built an absolute beauty there mate. Finish looks great, you can tell the coats of paint were thin, which makes all the difference. The dust must have been frustrating but something to plan for next time around.

 

Great aircraft too, what scale is it, 72nd?

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Well built and a nice honest summary of your Mossie build. The port vs. starboard thing can also be remembered by the amount of letters in each word. Port, Left, Red have less letters than Starboard, Right, Green.. that’s how I got taught. Anyway.. good show. 
Cheers.. Dave

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8 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

Very neat Mossies! The new kit looks like a winner, and the finish and restrained weathering show it to best advantage, and the exhausts look very convincing.

 

I take it that you're neither a sailor, nor a pilot? At sea, and in the air, starbord is green and port is red. IRL, mixing them up is likely to land you in trouble… 😉

 

Excellent modelling, though!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

 

Damnation - you're totally right, and yes I should know better.  Thanks to everyone for the nice feedback 🙂

 

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On 9/13/2021 at 2:50 PM, Simon Nonymous said:

the front frames seem much thicker than the Tamiya product, and look a bit bulky.

 

Great build(s). I understand that later Mosquito's had pressurised cockpits and consequently had beefed-up canpoy frames fitted compared with earlier marks which would account for the difference. 

 

5 hours ago, Fensman said:

What's your view on the wing spars are they overscale I have looked at online images and they don't seem to visible whereas they are quiet prominent on the kit which I am building soon.

 

Worth bearing in mind that these spar caps (as opposed to the spars themselves) were again a feature fitted to later Mosquitos to strengthen the wings - so not all had them. Some say that they are a tad too prominent on the Airfix kit - a matter of conjecture; they look OK to me on this build - check this image.

https://www.eaa.org/~/media/images/museum/collections/1946-dehavilland-dh-98b-mk-35-mosquito/6-29-16-960-mosquito-2.jpg

 

The subject was covered in another thread here:

  

hope this helps

 

Rich

 

Edited by RichG
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Great looking Mosquito!  You've done an excellent job.

I really love the contrasting panel colour on the port wing - it really adds some visual interest.

Your weathering effects are excellent too! :clap2::clap2:

My appetite for getting one of these new Mozzie kits has really been whetted.

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Very nice indeed Mr Nonymous!

I was salivating for this kit until I saw sprue shots and noticed the bomb bay. I am going to wait until some replacement bits come out. Other than that I really like to look of the kit.

Cheers,

Gord

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Hi Simon,

Much better!

Airfix really don't do you a lot of favours with the clear wingtips do they? I think it was nearly the right idea but to try and drill through all that brittle plastic to try and replicate the bulb would be impossible. looks like I will have to cut the lenses out anyway.

Cheers and really a lovely model,

Gord

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