Bitten by a Mosquito... (Tamiya 1/48)

[JohnAnthony]

Sorry for the cliche. This is the Tamiya 48th Mk. II/IV kit which I started recently. Nacelle halves painted with MM Stainless Steel Metalizer...

I thought I could live with the gaps in the wheel wells but once I joined the nacelle halves I decided I couldn't so they got a filed out and slathered with putty. I prefer tuolene-based putties.

While the putty dried I assembled the wings...

This kit is supposed to have a great fit and a great fit it has so far! After the gaps in the wheel wells were sanded and re-painted, the nacelle halves only needed a light sanding to remove the seams, and the nacelles fit snugly onto the wing assemblies. A bit of gray primer highlights a few little places that need touching-up but nothing serious...

Started painting some of the interior detail directly on the sprues...

That's it for today. I'm looking forward to building the rest of this model. I can tell from the get-go that it's going to be very satisfying.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking good John. I have the Revell kit of the same scale and it's also very nice. Are you using any references for your colours?

 

[Wurger]

I agree with the post above. The same question...

 

[JohnAnthony]

No, no references other than Tamiya's mixing directions. This is my first foray into Mosquitos so any help along those lines would be much appreciated!

 

[Wurger]

I'm not sure but these nacelles should be painted with the interior green rater than the MM Stainless Steel Metalizer...

 

[JohnAnthony]

I'm not sure but these nacelles should be painted with the interior green rater than the MM Stainless Steel Metalizer...

Yes I was wondering the same thing. Tamiya actually calls out bare metal silver. The interior green is Model Masters RAF Interior. Is that OK?

 

[Wurger]

Yes it is.

 

[Crimea_River]

The interior green looks good. I was actually wondering about the bare well wells and also the red tanks. I've done all mine Interior Green but without actually referring to anything, other than the Revell instruction sheet which has these parts entirely in Interior Green.

 

[JohnAnthony]

I don't know where Tamiya got their info, but I double-checked the instructions, and they do call out bare metal silver for the wheel well side walls. Is it possible they were painted aluminum? The red is also a Tamiya call out: 3 parts flat red to 1 part hull red.

 

[Wayne Little]

Progress looks good so far......

 

[ozhawk40]

Neat work John - looks good

 

[Vic Balshaw]

That's a nice start Andy and sound direction and advise from our learned friends.

 

[JohnAnthony]

That's a nice start Andy and sound direction and advise from our learned friends.

You're confusing me with someone else but no worries, lol. Here is a small update. I prepped the gear pieces for assembly, just dry-fitting them numerous times to come up with a good order of operations. The engineers at Tamiya did an excellent job replicating these rather complex gear structures which makes them a bit tricky to mate - a total of ten pieces per gear. I would like to add some brake lines though. If anyone's got a good pic of Mosquito brake lines I would be very grateful - did a bit of a search but came up empty-handed...

Started assembly of the innards...

The fit of the wing on the underside will need a line of putty but nothing major. Thankfully the fit on the topside is very tight...

I haven't decided on a scheme for this bird yet but I thought it might be an interesting subject to model the one the Germans captured. The problem is I can't seem to find much info on it. At one time I remember seeing an Aeromaster sheet that had markings for various captured aircraft and the Mosquito was on it. The scheme was yellow and blue if I recall. That sheet was for 1/72 but if I could get my hands on it I could use it as a reference, just can't seem to come across it anywhere, or maybe I'm remembering wrong...

 

[Crimea_River]

Making good progress John. I'll see if I have something on the brake lines tonight.

 

[JohnAnthony]

Making good progress John. I'll see if I have something on the brake lines tonight.

Thank you sir!

 

[JohnAnthony]

Had a short modeling session this morning and here's how it stands: Instrument panel decal went on but it's going to need a few applications of Solvaset and some cutting to get it settled in...

Seat belt decals, which I'm not terribly fond of but there it is. the kit did come with some nicely-molded pilots so the belts may be superfluous...

The bomb racks attach at only one point so I supported the longer ends with bits of spare plastic so that they would dry parallel to the bay ceiling...

I think Tamiya did a great job with the internal detail. It's certainly one of the best OOB cockpits I've ever built. I will add some weathering inside before everything gets buttoned-up.

Bombs assembled, painted, dry-fit. I find it odd that the kit doesn't include decals for the bombs - surely they had some indentifying and/or cautionary markings...

This kit is a real pleasure to build. Everything fits like buttah!

 

[Airframes]

Looking good.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Looking real good. My understanding of the wheel well question is that the sides of the wheel wells were metal colored while the very top or bottom depending on how you look at it is interior green. Is that how you understood the directions?

 

[JohnAnthony]

Looking real good. My understanding of the wheel well question is that the sides of the wheel wells were metal colored while the very top or bottom depending on how you look at it is interior green. Is that how you understood the directions?

Yes. That's what the instructions call for. I'm guessing they painted the walls with some sort of aluminum-based paint...

 

[P40NUT]

Nice job John. Looking forward to more pics....