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1/48 Mosquito FB.VI - **FINISHED**


dswoofie

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Looking good Karl

Guess I'm going to ave to ask the GB mods if you can enter it :rofl:

Seriously though I guess it fits part of the criteria in that it could have been flying in the time frame, just not in theatre. Andy any thoughts?

Hmm.. I hadn't meant to rain on your parade. The first Mosquito sortie flown by 235 Squadron would have been on 15 June 1944, but the period covered by th GB is much wider. Operations undertaken by 235 Squadron would then have been over the Bay of Biscay and the Gironde. Not directly over Normandy, but arguably part of the overall campaign over France following the D-Day landings.

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A little update on progess...

Not having a clear sprue for the kit, I was left needing to make the wingtip lights for the Mossie. For this it was suggested that I found a source of clear plastic that could be used, in this case the clear handle of an old toothbrush! This is a process I'd not really done before and was shown it some time ago on my Jaguar ACT conversion...

Initially I cut out 2 discs of the handle with the razor saw that were larger in both width and depth required.

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Once I had them, I then shaped the areas that would fit into the wingtip but shaving off bits with the scalpel blade, and some sanding. Once I was sure they they fitted, and that there was enough excess on the outside of them, I prepared them for fitting. In order to make them more like lights, I decided to make it look like there was a bulb in there. To do this I drilled in a small hole with a 0.75mm drill bit to about 3mm in the back of the part, making sure it was in the centre. This was then painted with some Tamiya clear paint, red and green for left and right, using a very fine brush. When polished, this 'should' look like there is a bulb in there!

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The inner part of the wingtip was painted silver, and then the parts were fixed using plenty of CA. As the CA will dr clear, it will fill in the gaps and make for a firm fit.

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Starting with a very rough sanding stick, the excess is then removed until it is down to the shape of the wing. Using progressively lighter grades of sanding sponges, the 'glass' was then sanded and polished back to a clear finish. Hopefully what then remains is a smooth and clear wingtip light, that is 'seamless' with the wing!

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There we have wingtip lights!

Still working on the canopy at the moment, that is giving me some troubles, but hopefully I can get that sorted soon and move on with other things!

Karl.

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Karl,you are Uber brilliant!! :worthy:

Keep up the good work !!

My "mossie" will NOT be as good as yours,that's for certain!! :violin:

Cheers,Bazza

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I thought it was about time I got an update posted... work has been progressing, albeit slowly on the Mossie!

After the landing lights were completed I gave the whole thing a bit of a final rub over and began the painting stage.

First thing I decided to do was to apply the invasion stripes on there. I sprayed on Tamiya white first, then masked out the lines in order to add the black ones. The decal sheet calls out for the stripes to be at 24 inches wide (13mm in 48th) but when I tried this, they extended way too far forwards. I was then told that they would be 18 inches (approx 9mm in 48th) on a Mossie, so I measured them out again and they looked spot on. Once the were sprayed, I masked out the shape needed.

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I then went back to tidy up a few spots around the canopy where I'd previously made a bit of a mess :S It was quite 'interesting' making the vac canopy blend in properly.

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I then started to apply the Sky using H74 Gunze acrylic. As I'd skipped a primer coat, I suddenly started seeing some sanding marks that I hadn't completely got rid of. So it was time to stop and rub them all down again and check the whole thing over! Second attempt I was successful and got a proper coat on there without issues. Shading was then applied before a final coat of Sky was added...

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Luckily, before I started to add the Extra Dark Sea Grey top colour I was told that the Gunze EDSG is a little dark. Making a quick comparison against the Xtracrylix one (which I like) did show that it was considerably darker. Adding about 10% white into the Gunze EDSG made it pretty much on a level with the xtracrylix one, so I was happy.The underside was masked and this mixed EDSG was applied. Again shading was incorporated into the paintwork at this stage for weathering and the like.

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Everything was then de-masked and here's what we have...

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Decalling is currently taking place and more updates to follow soon!!

Karl.

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superb. How did you do the shading, waas it just a slightly lightened mix sprayed over the panel lines?

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The shading Karl has done is a four step process, based on techniques shown to me by Jay Laverty at his airbrush school.

Step 1 is a basic overall coat of the chosen colour, in this case the lightened Gunze EDSG.

Step 2 is to darken the first colour and add it to dark areas, a lowlight if you like. In the case of aircraft models this is generally used on panel lines, Karl used the unlightened EDSG for this step.

Step 3 is the highlight step. Lighten the base colour (not the darkened one) and use it to apply highlights wherever you feel they are needed. This is the part where Karl has done well on this model, as the Mosquito has very few panel lines to act as a framework, so it's more a case of trying to be random and fade various areas out, without looking too contrived.

The final step, step 4, is an further coat of the initial colour which acts to blend the first three steps together as a whole, reducing starkness and making the finished result look natural.

The beauty of this technique is that you are not locked into a preshade from the beginning of painting. Preshading is a perfectly valid process, but not one which allows for errors or retouching, where this one does. It is also a great tool to help you to really get to grips with your airbrush, and using it as a pencil, rather than a spray gun.

Hope that helps Timbo :)

Jen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Work has been ticking along slowly on this one and I am finally finished (for now!) There is the need for aerial wire on there, but until I get some Aeroclub stretchy thread, it'll have to wait!

The next step from where I left off was to get the decalling done. The Eagle Strike set I had provided the main markings, but no stencilling, so I was back to the Airfix decal sheet for that. All of the decals were applied using Klear as a setting solution directly onto the matt finish. Here we are half way through the process, main markings on and stencilling yet to come...

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For some reason I also decided that this was the point to re-attach the undercarriage and put on the exhausts... why I chose now to do it still remains a mystery to me :shrug: but I did it anyway, and should have waited longer!!

Once the decalling was complete I began to work on some further weathering and a panel line wash. I used a dirty dark browny blacky wash for all of the panel lines and rivets. The exhaust staining was then started using a very thinned mix of Tamiya Smoke to lay the first level of it.

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I then gave the whole thing a coat of Xtracrylix flat varnish before finishing off the weathering. This sealed in the wash, and gave a matt surface for applying the pastel weathering, making this easier to apply. Once that was done, I applied the final exhaust staining using a very thinned mix of Flat Earth and Black, and lightly applying. Some mud staining was also added to the undersides and rear sides by using very thin Flat Earth. Mud staining of the wheels was sone by using a Promodeller Mud brown wash, and the same very thin Flat Earth mix again over the top.

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After that it was a case of adding a final flat coat to everything and unmasking it all.

Here's the finished baby, and I'm mighty pleased with the result in the end. It's been a challenge, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. A few new tricks picked up along the way too! :D Thanks again to Jen for the kit, her patience, and help during the build ;) Hope I did it justice!

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Karl.

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Looks good Karl. I've just finished reading a book about the Banff wing... crazy bunch of guys, flying missions at zero feet. No room for error, and it cost a good number of them dear. :S

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Karl

I will say without hesitation that this is your best build to date. It just looks spot on my friend. Hopefully I will get to see it in the flesh this fall and oooggggllleee at it all the while I am making fun of you for something else. I like multi tasking :)

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Looks good Karl. I've just finished reading a book about the Banff wing... crazy bunch of guys, flying missions at zero feet. No room for error, and it cost a good number of them dear. :S

A Separate Little War? Read that in a day last year. Bit dry but a good read nontheless.

I'll echo what the rest of said. Cracking build but I'd like to do LA-F/HR115 from the same squadron at some date.

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Cracking stuff, Karl. I've never seen a Mossie in those colours before, and it certainly looks the part. Lovely sharp masking around the demarcations, nice restrained panel fading, and not a chip or scuff to be seen! Looks like the trend is moving away from heavily weathered aircraft lately, which is no bad thing as they all must have been new once.

Personally, I don't believe it's the Airfix kit either - I know for a fact that you got a bargain Tamiya FB.VI at Gloucester, and I reckon you've nicked all the engraved panel lines out of that kit and put them on this one. :wicked:

Well done mate, you've put the Wonder into Wooden Wonder there...

Cheers,

Dean

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