<-- **** DONE: 1/48 Mosquito NF.XII - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

Nice looking pit details Terry.

HK167 is as good as any. Service with 29, 307, 264 then 51 OTU before a landing accident ended her career April 14, 1945.

Good stuff

Doin' good there Terry..

Nice work on the cockpit Terry!

good start Dogsbody

Thanks very much chaps.
Haven't got any more done - been feeling a bit stiff, with swollen hands, these last couple of days. Might get some done tonight though.

I've done a bit more research, and might have found the source of the Squadron's Moquitos.
It appears that 108 Squadron had NF.XIIs in Malta and, when they moved to Egypt in July 1944, they "..relinquished their Mosquitos..", and returned to Ops with Beaufighters.
This corresponds to the time when 46 Sqn received the Mosquito NF.XII, and it's logical, if not certain, that the aircraft came from 108 Sqn.
A representative serial number, from 108 Sqn, is HK178 (code letter 'S' with 108 Sqn.). The only 'history' found for this aircraft, from the production listings, is with 256 Sqn, this aircraft missing from an intruder Op on March 4th, 1945 - thee months after 46 Sqn converted to the transport role.
Strangely, as with 46 Sqn, I can not find any reference, in the production listings, of the NF.XII being with 108 Sqn, although my other references show that they did use them. Although perhaps unusual, it's not uncommon to see such info in listings which may be, and probably are, incomplete.
Therefore, I'm going to use HK178 on my model, as it is possibly the closest to'fact' that I'll find.

You've got quite the mess of info here Terry, but the model looks good so far! Quite the schnoz on that one.

The only other 108 Sq listing I have for a NFXII is HK127 but it crashed on take-off on March 14, 1944.

Thanks Cory and Andy.

Yep, I'm getting conflicting info from all angles, so, having found the info mentioned in my previous post, I'm sticking with it !
(That is, unless Dougie Barr comes up with something positive !!)
Meanwhile, I've got a bit more done, with the instrument panels and fuel gauge console painted and partly decalled, and the radios painted.
As I suspected, the decals were a bit of a pain. I separated the 'Blind Flying Panel' from the main, one-piece instrument panel decal, and it sort of settled, but with some distortion, so I abandoned the rest of the decal, and painted the dials as best I could.
The decal for the fuel gauges started out OK, but I was distracted by someone knocking at the door, and accidentally caught one edge of the decal, which promptly folded over on itself, and could not be rescued, however much I tried. So, as with the main panel, the details have been painted, as the Airscale decals I have didn't match the style required, and were a touch too large anyway.
The seat belts have also been repainted, and will be detailed once fully dry.
I have to go out to a meeting, but if I'm not too late back, I'll post pics later tonight, otherwise it'll be some time tomorrow.

A bit late posting the pics, as I decided to 'crack on', and have now progressed to almost finishing the fuselage, and getting close to attaching the resin nose.

Those horrible seat belts have been repainted, and some detail added by drawing it on to the belts with a pencil. They look better in 'real life' than they do in the photos !
As mentioned earlier, I had problems with the instrument decals, so some of the instrument panel, and all of the side console fuel gauges have been hand-painted.

The kit is supposed to represent a FB.VI or a NF.II, but isn't quite accurate in either respect, although to be fair, it's hardly noticeable.
Apart from the 'known' small error in regards the height of the fin and rudder (not a problem), the wings lack the spar caps, part of the reinforcing on the FB.VI (but correct for the NF.II), and the radar equipment provided for the cockpit is the wrong type for the NF.II, which had the earlier A.I. Mk.IV.
The kit provides parts for a fairly good representation of the centimetric A.I. Mk.VIII, with the receiver and Type 73 Indicator units provided as separate parts, which was an unexpected bonus, as it is this type which was fitted to the NF.XII.
With the addition of lead wire to represent the various braided cables, and some careful painting, once buried in the cramped cockpit, the finished items look quite convincing.

I was about to accuse Tamiya of getting the instructions wrong regarding the fitting orientation of the rudder trim control and radiator flap switch panel, until I realised I'd been using a photo of a NF.30 cockpit for some of my references. A quick check of some pics of a FB.VI, and the Pilot's Notes, confirmed that Tamiya got it right, so this small, separate part was removed from the instrument panel coaming and re-fitted the correct way around !
The gun sight had to be fitted before joining the fuselage halves, which leaves it very vulnerable, so the sooner I can get the canopy fitted, the better. Talking of which, the canopy in the kit is beautifully moulded, and very clear, but I can't help thinking it's maybe just a tad too shallow - but again, it's not that noticeable.
I test-fitted the resin nose, with the gun bay bulkhead and 'shelf' in place, a number of times before assembling the cockpit sections and fuselage, and thought I could leave the 'shelf' in place. But, now that the fuselage has been joined, another test fit shows that the nose won't go all the way over the 'shelf' !
Once the fuselage has fully set, the shelf' will be removed with the aid of a razor saw, before attaching the resin 'thimble' nose.

PIC 1. The 'fuel management' console instruments and switches have been painted, and glazed with drops of Humbrol Clear acrylic.
PICS 2 and 3. Instrument panel, cockpit floor, control column and the radar equipment, with painted lead wire representing the braided cables. The floor has been 'scuffed' to represent worn paint.
PIC 4. The main cockpit section, with the radios painted, the porthole in the Navigator's folded head armour glazed with Humbrol 'Clear Fix', and the seat belts, signal flares and fire extinguisher painted. Note that the latter is not red - wartime RAF extinguishers were bare brass or copper cylinders.
PICS 5 and 6. The cockpit assembled
PICS 7 and 8. Test fitting the cockpit assembly in both fuselage halves.
PIC 9. The cockpit installed and the fuselage joined. The extreme forward section of the fuselage needed to be clamped tightly, and the joint reinforced with CA adhesive, the excess of which has yet to be lightly sanded.
PIC 10. How the model look to date.

Next step is to remove the gun bay 'shelf', then fit the cannon bay / bomb bay doors and the cannon trough fairing, before attaching the resin 'thimble' nose.
All being well, I'll have more to show later today or tonight.

Since my sleep pattern seems to be shot to hell, I continued, after a short break, and got the nose done.
After sawing off the gun bay 'shelf', I found there was still a little interference around the lower edge, caused by some of the moulded detail on the gun bay bulkhead, and by the raised area of the locating tab for the cockpit bulkhead.
These were trimmed off and filed down as required, allowing the resin 'thimble' nose to be fitted, with minimal gaps, using CA adhesive.
These gaps look much wider than they actually are in the photos, but in reality they're very small, and easily filled, probably with stretched sprue, when the panel lines can then be etched to match those on the resin part.
The fuselage joints have also been lightly sanded, and await polishing, which will be done once the resin nose has been blended in.
The curved cannon fairing has been test-fitted to check alignment and fit, and it's virtually perfect.
I haven't yet decided whether to use the kit parts for the cannon muzzles, or cut these off, drill the mounting tabs, and fit the 'Master' brass muzzles that are included with the .303 Browning MGs I got for another Mosquito build - hardly seems worth the effort, so I'll probably not bother.

Nice work so far Pal. Keep it up.

Thanks my friend.

Looks fantastic Terry. My current work assignment on our Mosquito is restoration of the cockpit floor (I really should provide an update post) and one thing I did not know is that the floor has a thick and durable coat of hydraulic oil resistant paint underneath the grey-green cockpit coat. This paint was a dark brown, resembling Dark Earth, and would have been very difficult to wear through to the bare wood underneath.

Thanks Andy, glad you like it.
I knew about the oil-resistant sealing coat, having seen it during the re-covering and refurb on the BAe T.III RR299 back in the early 1980's.
However, I have seen a couple of pics which appear to show paint scuffing, but, being monochrome pics, this may very well be just dirt and dust, or even paint lightened by constant wear.
I thought I'd add this just for some contrast and, as the aircraft was operating probably first on Malta, and then in Egypt, it can always be excused as dust and sand !

Getting closer to completing the fuselage, with the joints now filled at the nose, and some other small parts added.

PIC 1. The very small gaps around the joint with the resin nose and the plastic fuselage, were first filled with stretched sprue, here seen being laid into the gap and fixed with Tamiya Extra Thin liquid cement.
PIC 2. Once set, the sprue was sanded flush, and any remaining tiny gaps filled with 'Milliput', applied as a wet, thin 'screed', which was again lightly sanded once fully set. The panel line joint was then lightly re-scribed. This will now be given a coat of primer, to check for any remaining small gaps, which, if present, will be filled with a mix of clear gloss varnish and Talcum powder.
PIC 3. The gap around the front curve of the cannon muzzle fairing was slightly wider, although still very small.
PIC 4. This was filled with 'Milliput', which is virtually the same colour as the resin part, then the excess putty was trimmed trimmed off, before smoothing over with a wet finger tip. Once set, this will be very lightly sanded and given a coat of primer to even-out the surface.
PIC 5. The joints and rivets or screws were re-scribed on the deflector panel, and elsewhere, as required.
PIC 6. The fairing for the 'Monica' tail-warning radar has been fitted.
PICS 7 and 8. The window for the rear-facing tactical or 'strike' camera was fitted in place and cemented. As The NF.XII didn't have this camera, or the window, the clear part was blended in to the fuselage, using a thin bead of 'Milliput' where needed, and then lightly sanded to provide a 'key' for painting later, when it will be the same colour as the under side of the aircraft.
PIC 9. How the model looks so far, with all joints sanded and polished, and ready for a primer coat.

Next step is to apply the decals representing the internal frames to the inside of the canopy, before masking this, and fitting to the fuselage. Once set, the canopy will be sealed around the edges, before moving on to the construction and fitting of the wings and engine nacelles.
Thanks again for your interest, and I'll be back soon with another up-date.

Stellar work going on there buddy.

Great work so far Terry!