dirkpitt289
Master Sergeant
This was a quick build for me. 5 weeks.
Enjoy
History
The Mosquito excelled in a variety of roles during World War II, including as day or night fighter, strike fighter-bomber, photo-reconnaissance, pathfinder, intruder, maritime strike, and surprisingly, a few BOAC mailplane variants flew regular nightly services over Nazi-occupied Europe!
It was conceived as a fast twin engined day bomber that could outrun all contemporary fighters.
With no heavy defensive armament to man, the crew was reduced to pilot and navigator so the aircraft was lighter, faster and overall more efficient. de Havilland chose a radical construction technique initially developed for their earlier Comet racer - by utilising a laminated ply and balsa skin formed in concrete moulds by civilian craftsmen, the Mosquito was extremely strong, light, and flexible, yet placed minimal drain on essential materials and skilled-labour during Britain's 'darkest hour' in 1940 - 1941.
The model
As far as Airfix kits go this one seems to be the best quality of the lot that I've seen. There is some excess flash but a lot less then some other Airfix kits such as the Blenheim. the smaller parts also seem less clunky. I look forward to building this one.
I'm not sure yet but I believe I will be building this as the Mk XVIII. Guns, cannon and rockets going after shipping. Gotta love it.
The Cockpit
Here we see what Arifix gave us to work with
i'm not so thrilled with with the seats given with this kit. While they are not bad they don't look like Mosquito seats. So its time to break out the knife, saw and styrene. The operation begins with the dissection of the original seat.
Here is a comparison of the kit seat and the seat I made. I used a great photo of the pilots seat from the Squadron Mosquito Walk Around. The only original piece left is the bottom seat. I scratch built the armored seat back and the support braces. I also added arm rests.
Unlike the Blenheim project there are plenty of photos online of the cockpit to work with.
Next I started by adding some minor details such more bracing for both seats, seat belt anchor and bracing for the radio that goes behind the pilot.
Next the interior color was added
While that dried I tried to add some detail to the cockpit walls.
I admit I should have taken care of the ejector marks on the interior walls but I was just to darn lazy.
I apologize for the negativity but again I felt that Airfix fell short on the radio detail so its time to make my own. Believe it or not this hunk of plastic will be the aircraft's radio.
Next i attached a very small bit of styrene to the center of the block. Then using styrene rod I made knobs. After the glue drys they will be trimmed down and painted.
Here you can see the "almost" finished cockpit with the #2 seat in place and the radios.
Next I need seat belts...
Edwards Photoetch RAF harnesses to the rescue.
I installed the harnesses, weathered the cockpit a bit and put the cockpit in place.
Next I started the nose job. Cutting off a large piece of the fuselage had me a bit nervous.
Next I moved to the vent covers on the underside of the wings. When I first saw these clunky covers I thought I'd replace them with some PE strips I had but then I realized I would loose the detail on the originals. So I decided I would just file down the originals and save the detail. These Airfix kits don't have a lot of detail to begin with so I feel its our duty to say as much as we can.
Enjoy
History
The Mosquito excelled in a variety of roles during World War II, including as day or night fighter, strike fighter-bomber, photo-reconnaissance, pathfinder, intruder, maritime strike, and surprisingly, a few BOAC mailplane variants flew regular nightly services over Nazi-occupied Europe!
It was conceived as a fast twin engined day bomber that could outrun all contemporary fighters.
With no heavy defensive armament to man, the crew was reduced to pilot and navigator so the aircraft was lighter, faster and overall more efficient. de Havilland chose a radical construction technique initially developed for their earlier Comet racer - by utilising a laminated ply and balsa skin formed in concrete moulds by civilian craftsmen, the Mosquito was extremely strong, light, and flexible, yet placed minimal drain on essential materials and skilled-labour during Britain's 'darkest hour' in 1940 - 1941.
The model
As far as Airfix kits go this one seems to be the best quality of the lot that I've seen. There is some excess flash but a lot less then some other Airfix kits such as the Blenheim. the smaller parts also seem less clunky. I look forward to building this one.
I'm not sure yet but I believe I will be building this as the Mk XVIII. Guns, cannon and rockets going after shipping. Gotta love it.
The Cockpit
Here we see what Arifix gave us to work with
i'm not so thrilled with with the seats given with this kit. While they are not bad they don't look like Mosquito seats. So its time to break out the knife, saw and styrene. The operation begins with the dissection of the original seat.
Here is a comparison of the kit seat and the seat I made. I used a great photo of the pilots seat from the Squadron Mosquito Walk Around. The only original piece left is the bottom seat. I scratch built the armored seat back and the support braces. I also added arm rests.
Unlike the Blenheim project there are plenty of photos online of the cockpit to work with.
Next I started by adding some minor details such more bracing for both seats, seat belt anchor and bracing for the radio that goes behind the pilot.
Next the interior color was added
While that dried I tried to add some detail to the cockpit walls.
I admit I should have taken care of the ejector marks on the interior walls but I was just to darn lazy.
I apologize for the negativity but again I felt that Airfix fell short on the radio detail so its time to make my own. Believe it or not this hunk of plastic will be the aircraft's radio.
Next i attached a very small bit of styrene to the center of the block. Then using styrene rod I made knobs. After the glue drys they will be trimmed down and painted.
Here you can see the "almost" finished cockpit with the #2 seat in place and the radios.
Next I need seat belts...
Edwards Photoetch RAF harnesses to the rescue.
I installed the harnesses, weathered the cockpit a bit and put the cockpit in place.
Next I started the nose job. Cutting off a large piece of the fuselage had me a bit nervous.
Next I moved to the vent covers on the underside of the wings. When I first saw these clunky covers I thought I'd replace them with some PE strips I had but then I realized I would loose the detail on the originals. So I decided I would just file down the originals and save the detail. These Airfix kits don't have a lot of detail to begin with so I feel its our duty to say as much as we can.