Airfix de Havilland Mosquito PR.XVI (A04065) 1:72

[Mike]

de Havilland Mosquito PR.XVI (A04065)

1:72 Airfix

 

 

The Mosquito was one of the ground-breaking private projects of WWII, and it contributed a significant effort toward victory against Nazi Germany from its introduction in 1941 to the end of the war and beyond. Initially conceived by Geoffrey de Havilland as a fast bomber, it was not intended to carry armament, simply relying on speed to take it out of harm's way. Numerous versions were considered, but a twin-engine design with a wooden monocoque fuselage was eventually used, with space for four 20mm cannons in the forward section of the bomb bay. It was initially met with a very lukewarm reception from the Air Ministry, as they still clung to their obsession with turreted aircraft, the designs for which became heavy and complex, reducing speed both in the air and through the production line.

 

After some shenanigans that included a mock-up of a turret behind the main canopy, DH were issued with a requirement for a 400mph capable light bomber/reconnaissance aircraft, which solidified as DH.98, and was named Mosquito. Despite having been ordered to stop development work after Dunkirk, DH carried on due to the vagueness of the request, and the prototype flew at the end of 1940. After lengthening the engine nacelles and splitting the flaps to cure poor handling at certain speeds, she flew for the ministry and managed to outpace a Spitfire, pulling away with a speed advantage of 20mph.  Later developments of the Merlin engines that powered the Mossie included two-stage superchargers that gave the engine a substantial boost, with a commensurate increase in performance.  A number of 7X series Merlin variants were fitted to the Mossie, which included the B.XVI that also had a pressurised cabin for the crew’s comfort at higher altitude, and it could comfortably cruise at 350mph at 30,000 feet.  Without the gun pack in the belly, the XVI was capable of carrying the 4,000lb Cookie bomb, allowing it to punch well above its weight in terms of ordnance carriage as well.

 

The Mosquito lines were split between bomber/recon variants with glass noses and fighter variants with the four cannons in the belly and four .303 machine guns in the nose. It really was the master of all things, as it showed when it became a night-fighter, torpedo bomber, and even in its dotage it was well-used as a target tug until the early 60s. The Mossie was even converted to carry two bouncing bombs called Highballs, and always gave a good account of itself, striking fear into the hearts of the opposition. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, which was evidenced by the German Focke-Wulf Ta.154 Moskito, which attempted to recreate the success of the wooden Mossie, but failed due largely to inferior construction and use of an acidic glue, causing delamination of the wings in the air.

 

The Mosquito was mainly constructed by woodworkers that might otherwise have been left idle during the austerity of the war, and it was their skill and ingenuity that contributed to the success of the aircraft, and made it very economical to build using little in the way of strategic materials. Time is unkind to wood however, and very few Mosquitos have survived in airworthy condition, the last one in Britain was lost in 1998 in a fatal crash.  Some day we may get to see one in the skies of the UK again, and there are already a few in the air elsewhere in the world.  Not jealous.

 

 

The Kit

This is a reboxing of a brand-new tooling of a two-stage Mosquito by Airfix, and there are a lot of 1:72 modeller that have been looking forward to these boxings for some time now.  There has been a lot of back and forth on the forum about it over the months leading up to the original release, with some people happy, others complaining bitterly about this, that and the other.  Some folks even accused it of being under scale due to a typo along the way.  Of course there are going to be some issues, as kits – even modern 3D rendered ones – are created by fallible humans with limited resources, so all we can hope for is that the designers at Airfix have done their very best, having based their work on a LIDAR scan of an original at the RAF Museum, with additional help from Ian Thirsk, both of whom get a thank you at the front of the instruction booklet.

 

The kit arrives in a red-themed top-opening box, and inside are six sprues in a darker grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, a decal sheet and the instruction booklet.  A perusal of the sprues shows that detail is good, especially in the exterior, although there’s limited panel lines etc. thanks to the Mossie’s wooden construction.  The interior is also well-detailed, through the cockpit and wheel bays, but also into the bomb bay, although little will be seen of it in this edition.  There is a high part-count at 142, and the forward planning evidenced by the layout of the sprues is coming into play with this new boxing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the interior, and just like most Mosquito kits it is built up on the bomb bay roof, which also has a pair of spars moulded-in, onto which the front and rear bulkheads are mounted along with the cockpit floor that tapers to a rounded tip in the nose.  The aft cockpit bulkhead, radio box and Gee box at an angle, together with tubing across the front of the spar and the two seats are added, the pilot getting a much more salubrious seat, while the navigator gets shoe-horned into the rear on a more basic two-part seat.  The instrument panel has its rear portion fitted from behind with a representation of the rudder pedals, and cylindrical blocks at the rear of the panel to depict the backs of the dials, while the dials are covered with an instrument decal and plenty of setting solution to help it settle down.  A simplified control column slots in front of the pilot, with clear bomb-sight in the nose that won’t see much action.  In the belly on the port side of the fuselage, an oblique camera mounting hole is drilled out with a 3.2mm bit, then filled with a shaped lens with a pair of ears to hold it steady on its lugs.  A small bulkhead is inserted in the tail, then the spars are slid into place on the port fuselage half.  Here there are painting instructions for the moulded-in details, which are pretty good for the scale, and the interior green also makes an appearance in the tail wheel bay.  The other fuselage half has a jig applied to the underside without glue, allowing you to drill three 1.5mm holes into the belly for the recognition lights that are moulded into a clear carrier that slips into the depression in the fuselage.  After that it is painted while you have the interior green out, then the fuselage halves are joined up, with an insert that accommodates the bomber hatchway and clear porthole.  Behind the bomb bay is a small insert and another clear camera porthole with another lens further aft, and behind the dinghy bay on the top spine is another circular insert, this time for an aerial mount that is added later.  The rudder fin is moulded into the fuselage, but the rudder itself is a separate part, so you’re able to deflect it as you see fit, while the elevator fins are two parts each, but unable to be deflected unless you get the razor saw out.  Detail on the flying surfaces is excellent however, and there is a slight sink-mark at the root of one elevator, so smear a little filler on before you get too far into the build.

 

The complex landing gear of the Mossie is made up using the lower wings as a template or jig, but without gluing them initially, which is made abundantly clear in the diagrams along with the use of lilac to colour the parts.  Each leg is made from two halves, with the cross-braces joining them together, and the mudguard resting on two points plus the oil tank high up on the legs.  Here there are some of the door-bumper frames missing from the moulding, but as it’s missing on some of the larger scaled kits too, it seems churlish to complain, but some have and will.  The over-thick mudguard would be an excellent candidate for thinning or replacing with a PE part due to the limitations of injection moulding, and a little wire can be used to replicate those delicate bumper parts if you’re so minded.  This is done twice, one for each nacelle, and includes the two wheels, which have a flat-spot moulded-in and separate hubs.  They also have block tread, which is quite well done, and they should look great under paint.

 

With the landing gear temporarily removed, the wings are made up with their landing lights under the wing, and a couple of holes drilled if you’re fitting the drop-tanks, then the topside is glued on, with a completely clear tip so that the wingtip lights blend in well.  I had a little smile when I saw those on the sprues, and another when I saw the P and S engraved on their tabs.  If you’re a bone-head like me, I remember that Port is Left because it has the same number of letters.  Keep It Simple Silly (KISS).  Another bit of clever engineering takes place with the six exhaust stacks, which have three pipes per part and interleave to create the correct number for each side, with a handed box behind them that also have arrows pointing up and forward engraved on the rear so you don’t get them confused.   They slot into the lower nacelle cowlings, with the upper section standing proud until the rest of the cowling is put in place.  The nacelle halves are painted interior green where the moulded-in ribbing is, and there are front and rear bulkheads for the bay, and an axle for the prop at the front, then they’re closed up, have the chin scoop insert and a pair of small exhaust outlets added into recesses, plus the larger intake made from two parts slotting into a hole in the bottom.  If you’re planning on leaving the bay doors closed, chop off the door hinges before fitting the single bay door with a recessed line down the centre.  The nacelles can then be glued into the underside of the wing, with more green paint in the roof.  Now for some more fun engineering.  There are two “spare” parts in the sprues that have the work MASK in raised lettering on them, and guess what?  They’re masking parts.  You can tape, Blutak or tack-glue them in place around the hinges (they have cut-outs), and paint with gay abandon and no concern about your hard work in the gear bays getting ruined.  This should become a thing, going forward with as many manufacturers as possible.

 

Before the wings are slid onto the spars, you should paint and install the radiator cores, which are again thoughtfully covered with arrows to ensure you put them in the correct way.  The landing gear, their bay doors and the props are installed on the nacelles now, with the prop made from front and back spinner plus a single part comprising all three paddle-bladed props, which is glued carefully onto the axle, with yellow printing showing where best to put the glue to leave you with a spinning prop. All this is doubled up of course, so your Mosquito can fly straight and level.

 

The bomb bay doors are depicted closed in this boxing, as they carried no ordnance due to the installation of two bulky cameras in the front of the bay, with two ports cut in the front of the single bay door part, with a linked pair of clear lenses inserted from within before they are glued into place over the empty bay.  Reconnaissance often involves long trips over enemy territory, requiring large fuel loads to get there and hopefully back.  The Mosquito often carried large semi-conformal fuel tanks under the wings that were nicknamed ‘slipper tanks’ due to how they looked when off the aircraft.  Each of these is made from two halves, and as you’d expect, they are handed to match the dihedral of the wings.

 

There is a pilot in this boxing, although he’s a lacking vigour and is doing the usual “hands on lap” pose for moulding simplicity, as he’s only a single part.  There’s no navigator though, which is a shame.  With him in place (or not) the choice of canopy with top observation blister or not is made from the appropriate main section with bulged side panels as separate parts, so take care in choosing the correct glue for these parts so you don’t fog them up.  It should fit snugly in the cockpit aperture thanks to lugs front and rear, then you can add the observation windows at the side of the bomb aimer’s nook, and finally put the main window in place on the nose.  Then it’s a choice of raised or lowered tail-wheel and a probe in the rudder fin and the one mentioned earlier behind the cockpit, and that’s it.  It’s worthy of note that a lot of Mossies had a grooved anti-shimmy tail-wheel, so check your references and see what you can do if it bothers you.

 

 

Markings

As usual with Airfix 1:72 kits of this size, there are two decal options, both wearing the same PRU Blue scheme all over, with D-Day stripes and tail decoration separating them if you ignore the fact that one of them is in US service of course.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• 60.Sqn. South African Air Force, San Savero, Province of Foggia, Italy, January 1945
• 635rd Bomb Sqn., 25th Bomb Group, 325th Photographic Wing, United States Army Air Force, RAF Watton, Norfolk, England, September 1944

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  The inclusion of instrument decals and plenty of stencils is good to see at this scale, as I believe that these details add lots of visual interest to a model.

 

 

Conclusion

Another Two-Stage Mossie in 1:72 will make a lot more modellers happy, and it’s a good-looking, well-detailed model of a beautiful aircraft, while the dramatic box art will draw in a lot of impulse purchases.  It’s nice to be reviewing Mossies again, even if it’s not in my own preferred scale.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[vppelt68]

Oh dear, I hadn't even signed in on this one - yet 😇. V-P

 

[-Ian-]

Looks good aside from one annoyance, the tail number decal on the RAF example.

 

It looks like it's on a PRU blue background rather than clear meaning you have to mess around matching your preferred paint to the decal colour. A decal on a transparent background would be far better, masking the small rectangle of blue in the white invasion stripe is as simple a masking job as you can get.

[PhantomBigStu]

1 hour ago, -Ian- said:

Looks good aside from one annoyance, the tail number decal on the RAF example.

 

It looks like it's on a PRU blue background rather than clear meaning you have to mess around matching your preferred paint to the decal colour. A decal on a transparent background would be far better, masking the small rectangle of blue in the white invasion stripe is as simple a masking job as you can get.

Airfix decals tend to be matched very closely to humbrol paints in my experience  so probably fine if you use humbrol 230 on it…..

[Marklo]

5 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

Oh dear, I hadn't even signed in on this one - yet 😇. V-P

Still plenty of time, you know you want to  

[stevej60]

Great review Mike I'll stick my neck out and say Airfix are producing quality I always associate with Tamiya and it's great to see.

[Wm Blecky]

I picjed this kit up recently and the one thing that jumped out at me is that the canopy looks under scale.   Any thoughts or comments on that?

[PhantomBigStu]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:07 AM, Wm Blecky said:

I picjed this kit up recently and the one thing that jumped out at me is that the canopy looks under scale.   Any thoughts or comments on that?

That thought had crossed my mind as well during my recent build having build the old tool airfix earlier in the year 

[klr]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:07 AM, Wm Blecky said:

I picjed this kit up recently and the one thing that jumped out at me is that the canopy looks under scale.   Any thoughts or comments on that?

 

37 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

That thought had crossed my mind as well during my recent build having build the old tool airfix earlier in the year 

 

In short: Yes, I have just done this check, and see the same thing. But the old (1973) Airfix tool had the canopy with the flat "fighter" windscreen, whereas this has the angled "bomber" windscreen. It's best to compare like with like. I have lined up the old Airfix canopy against the same type used in the Tamiya fighter and night-fighter kits. The Airfix canopy is noticeably longer, and probably wider as well. So maybe the problem is with the old Airfix canopy, not the new one. I will next try and compare the new Airfix Mk. XVI canopy against the equivalent canopy in the Tamiya B.IV/PR.IV kit, and report back ASAP. It will just take a while to locate the Tamiya kit.

Edited September 23, 2023 by klr

[klr]

32 minutes ago, klr said:

 

 

In short: Yes, I have just done this check, and see the same thing. But the old (1973) Airfix tool had the canopy with the flat "fighter" windscreen, whereas this has the angled "bomber" windscreen. It's best to compare like with like. I have lined up the old Airfix canopy against the same type used in the Tamiya fighter and night-fighter kits. The Airfix canopy is noticeably longer, and probably wider as well. So maybe the problem is with the old Airfix canopy, not the new one. I will next try and compare the new Airfix Mk. XVI canopy against the equivalent canopy in the Tamiya B.IV/PR.IV kit, and report back ASAP. It will just take a while to locate the Tamiya kit.

... and done. My best assessment is: "slightly smaller than Hasegawa, slightly bigger than Tamiya". There are also slight differences in the taper at the rear when viewed from above. The Airfix canopy looks slightly "fatter" at the rear than the Haswgawa and Tamiya canopies.

 

In conclusion, panic (hopefully!) over.

 

For now.