<-- 1/48 Mosquito PR.IX -Twin Engined Aircraft WWII

Well it just so happens ...............

Whilst waiting for stuff to set or dry on the FB.VI build, I've done a little bit on the recce bird, with the base colour painted on most of the interior parts, the kit instrument panel sanded down and the Eduard panels fitted, with most of the rest of the panel and front bulkhead painted, and work has started on painting the cockpit details.
Some further test fitting of internal parts was required, in order to make sure that the wiring and other resin parts didn't foul the floor, bulkheads and other kit parts, and some adjustments have been made as a result.

PIC 1. Sanding the raised detail on the main instrument panel, leaving those details outside the area to be covered by the PE parts.
PIC 2. The front of the panel and bulkhead has the instrument 'pots' moulded in place, which will be detailed and painted later, but first, those two ejector pin marks need to be removed.
PIC 3. The Eduard coloured PE panels have been fitted, and the yellow oil pressure gauge (bottom left) has been roughly re-touched, and awaits detail painting. Unfortunately, my desk lamp 'died' at a critical moment, just as I had attached the main panel, with a spot of CA adhesive. which 'skewed' slightly as my hand moved in reaction to the loss of light. By the time I'd sorted things enough to see properly, it was too late, and the panel had set in a slightly 'off center' position.
PIC 4. The Eduard panels have been given a clear matt coat, to dull-down that 'crinkly' shine, and the kit parts have been painted to match, with a slight contrast. The dials have been 'glazed' with drops of Humbtol Clear Gloss, and some detail painting and re-touching has yet to be done.
PIC 5. Test fitting of the Navigator's seat base and back armour, revealed that the resin wiring harness fouled the armour, preventing the fuselage halves from joining properly. A small notch was cut and filed in to the resin part, at the line of the armour (indicated by the red arrow), which now fits snugly. The 'look' of the wiring is not affected, as, when viewed from normal angles, it appears to be running behind the armour plate. The armour plate has also been thinned down around the edges, to give a more 'scale' appearance, as the folding head armour probably won't be made and fitted to this moldel.
Although the folding plate was a standard fitting, and I have read accounts where it's been mentioned in PRU Mossies, I've also heard that it was sometimes removed, and it would appear, at first sight anyway, that this was the case when photos are viewed closely.
Just a guess, but when operating at high altitude, and with the ability to evade fighters, there was possibly less need for the armour, unlike the fighter-bombers, exposed to 'flak' at low level. The weight saving was probably an advantage too.
Work has also commenced on painting the internal detail, although there's a long way to go yet in this area.

That' all for now, but I'll be back with another up-date soon.

Good work Terry. As you remove those ejector pin marks, for what it's worth, you could consider filing down that face of the rudder box in such a way as to make the surface sloped as it was on the real bird. I only mention this as you will likely see it through the clear nose.

Lovely work so far Terry!

Thanks chaps, and thanks for that diagram Andy.
I'd already considered changing the angle of the lower bulkhead around the rudder pedals, but it would mean removing the front face, and re-setting it at an angle, with the side built up to suit. The plastic is quite thick on this part, so it would end up being a bit of a job, for not much gain.
I checked the view through the nose cone, and there's enough distortion that the angle won't be noticeable, although the remainder of the details can be seen.

Haven't got any more done, as I've had a bit of a lazy day - being stiff and sore, I've just stretched out and done more research on detail areas for the various Mosquito builds.

Terry, sorry I didn't explain myself. I meant that, because the part is thick and you need to remove the pin hole anyway, consider filing the existing plastic down so that the face appears as a slope. Plenty of plastic there for that but if you can't see it, no bother.

Ah, understood.
Yeah, the bulkhead can be seen, as can the other details, but as the nose cone is, of course, semi spherical, there's just enough distortion to hide the fact there isn't an angle.
I've taken the nose cone off the B.XVI conversion I did years ago, and noticed that I scratch-built an angled bulkhead on that model, but even that can't be seen. I also noticed I did a bl**dy good job on hand-painting the instruments on the panel, and the scratch-built compass at the time !
Can't do that nowadays !!

Very nice start

Looken good there Terry

Thanks chaps !
As mentioned in the FB.VI thread, I might not get any more done now until Friday, and over the weekend, due to last-minute Christmas interruptions !
I thought about using the Tamiya trim wheel parts to cast resin examples, for this build and the FB.VI, but having checked the cockpit of my old B.XVI conversion, it won't be seen anyway, as it's hidden down below the level of the pilot's seat, on the port side.
I will, however, try casting at least the front section of the Tamiya rudder pedals, and if this doesn't work out very well, then rough examples will be made from plastic rod, as in the FB.VI.
Back soon(ish) with another up-date.

Well, the Christmas 'do' I was invited to was about as lively as a geriatric gymnasium, so I made my apologies, left quite early, and got back to the bench, before having an early night and then getting up early (got a shed load of things to do today, so thought I'd start early).
Got quite a bit of the small jobs done on the cockpit area, with detail painting and fitting a couple of the Eduard PE parts, to the radio remote channel selector, the compass rose, and the fuel gauge console.
The kit doesn't provide the interior hatch cover, so one was fabricated from plastic card, and fitted in the open position.
Still a few bits of retouching to do, then it's time to start work on the cockpit floor, mid bulkhead and the pilot's seat, and then detail, paint and fit the radios, these being the T/R 1154/1155 on the PR.IX, as provided in this, and virtually all kits of the Mosquito.

Question for Andy - do you happen to know, from seeing 'your' Mosquito, if the heel boards either side of the control column have metal top surfaces ?
I have a feeling they do have, remembering my look round the BAe Mossie many years back.

PIC 1. The starboard cockpit wall, with the wiring painted, and the PE part fitted to the fuel gauge console. That inverted white 'V' is the retainer for the Navigator's chest parachute pack. I need to check one of my references for the PR.IX nose compartment, as there's an oxygen economiser and a couple of other small items to make and fit, which were in slightly different places on this version, compared to the 'bomber' series. Also, the camera controls and timers need to be checked against the moulded detail, and corrected / detailed as needed.
PICS 2 and 3. The port wall, with the various 'boxes' and wiring painted, as well as the throttle quadrant. The radio channel selector part can just be seen, with the compass above and to the right. Most of the placards are hand-painted, but I have yet to paint the oxygen hose, which will be done next.
PIC 4. Using the floor aperture as a guide, a piece of thin plastic card was cut and filed to shape, having first punched a hole for the drift sight aperture. This was covered, on the inside, by a hinged flap, allowing the sight to be used with the hatch cover acting as the floor of the cockpit. A piece of card was cemented on the inner face, to simulate the closed flap, and a scrap of plastic strip shaped to form the handle, was cemented on the outer (underside) face, before painting the hatch, and cementing it in the open position.
PIC 5. The floor was tacked in place to check alignment with the hatch and hatch cover, before cementing the completed cover in place.

Not sure if I'll get any more done now until Friday, but I'll post another up-date as soon as possible;.

Looking good Terry

Stunning work Terry.

There are no metal plates on the floor, at least on our B.35. Drawings for earlier marks in my possession don't show any either, Coincidentally, the cockpit floor is currently "my" project on the restoration. Here's a pic showing the area in question looking forward with the restored rudder box temporarily set in place. The plate with the circular hole in the foreground is the mounting point for one of the aileron pulleys. Between the two longitudinal stiffeners, the piece with the half-circle cut out would be just behind where the control column is fixed. Forward and to the right is an angled upright stiffener leading to the rudder box support.



Having said that, I looked in our parts manual for a NF II and it does show metal plates covering these areas. Perhaps ours, if they were there at all, had been removed by Spartan.

The only other thing I could offer is that the hole in your crew door looks a tad large and too far forward. Drawings show it to be 9.25 inches in diameter, which would scale to just under 5mm in 1/48 scale.

Thanks very much Andy. I vaguely recall seeing scuffed metal, probably alloy, on the slightly raised heel board area on the BAe T.III, and I think I've seen cockpit shots of the bomber/PR types in one of my books where the boards appeared to have possibly a mini chequerboard, more of a 'dimpled', plate, probably black, with what looked like bare metal showing through - B&W pics, so hard to be certain.
The part where I saw the 'scuffing' was on the top edges of that angled stiffener, shown in your pic.
The remaining 35 mm transparencies I have of the T.III unfortunately don't show this area, although I did take some pics which I loaned to a chap but never got back.
I'll leave the area in the grey green, but add some 'wear' around the edges in an alloy shade.

The hole in the inner hatch cover is 5 mm in diameter, the nearest I had in the way of a punch (it's a desk paper punch) that would punch the hole in the thin plastic, without causing the periphery to 'dish'. It does look a bit big, and I realised that it's a tad too far forward - I had to punch the hole, and then draw the hatch shape around it and cut it out. The first attempt was slightly more to the rear, but it 'pinged' as I was handling it, and ended up in the deep, dark, cavernous area beneath my desk, where there be spiders and other creatures !
I've used the same punch to make the hole for the outer hatch cover on other Mosquito models, and it looked right, but on this one, it does look a touch too large - perhaps Airfix go the dimensions wrong, although it looks right otherwise.
However, once the fuselage is joined, the view down into the cockpit is obviously at a more acute angle, and through the curved roof, or side blister, of the 'bomber type' canopy, so it won't look too bad.

Kind of hard to see here Terry. This is from, I believe a Mk.35 at Salisbury. Don't know much about the innards of various Marks.

Thanks Geo.
There's certainly a dark finish on the heel boards, either the metal I thought I saw, or at least an anti-slip coating.