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

[Airframes]

Thanks very much chaps.
Not much more to show just yet - spent around two hours applying the decals to the inside of the canopy.
These decals represent the exposed, internal, tubular frames of the canopy, in those areas where the external frame does not cover the internal frame. Although there were only six separate decals, they were all very small and thin, printed in the colour of the internal frames (Cockpit Grey Green), and had to be placed and aligned with the engraved detail of the frames inside the curves of the canopy - very fiddly work, but a fairly effective solution to the problem of simulating the frames in this scale.
Once the decals are fully bedded down and set, the canopy will be cleaned, the 'frames' sealed with a coat of Humbrol Clear Gloss acrylic, and any small gaps or imperfections in the frames touched-in with paint.
The canopy will then be masked on the outside, the internal colour will be painted on the external frames and, when dry, the canopy will be fitted to the fuselage and sealed around the edges.

Whilst waiting to ensure the canopy decals are properly set, work can begin on the wings and engine nacelles.
Given that all of this goes according to plan, I might b able to get the first stage of painting done within the next couple of days.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Wurger]

 

[T Bolt]

Wonderful work Terry

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps, it's much appreciated.
I've started the clean-up and preparation work on the wings and engine nacelles, and I'll post pics later.

I'm considering entering another Mosquito, maybe two, or even three !
The next one will be a FB.VI of 464 Sqn (RAAF) which participated in the Shell House raid in Copenhagen in March, 1945 using the venerable Airfix kit and, if I do the others. one will be one of the B.IVs that bombed Berlin during the speeches by Goebells and Goering, from the Tamiya kit, with the final version being a PR.IX, converted from the Airfix B.XVI / PR.XVI kit.

 

[Crimea_River]

Would love to see more Terry. You seem to be on a roll.

 

[JKim]

Great work on the Mosquito! You got the resin nose faired in nicely.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Andy and John.
I think I'll do at least one more Mosquito, but I've been speaking to Dougie Barr, and apart from providing this Mosquito, and the already built Beaufighter for the Squadron Association, it looks like I'll also be doing a Meteor NF 12 or 14, and a Stirling Mk.IV or V , both in 1/72nd scale. But at least I have six months in which to get them all finished !

But back to the Mosquito NF.XII.
The 'internal frame' decals were given a coat of Humbrol Gloss Clear (similar to Future) to seal them - and they immediately started to lift and distort !
I must admit, I was rather dubious about the ability of decals to 'stick' to clear plastic, as I've experienced adhesion problems in the past, but I didn't expect a sealing coat to have the opposite effect !
I've managed to save them, but the 'frame' running across the canopy is now slightly curved, and the once pristine, crystal clear canopy is now very slightly 'bubbled' in appearance on the rear section, where I had to use a soft paint brush to manipulate the decals, which affected the finish of the varnish.
If I use the decals on the Tamiya Mosquito B.IV canopy, I'll skip the clear coat stage. But, on that kit, and my other 'Mossies', I'd thought of using clear 'Sellotape' ('Scotch' tape, for our American and Canadian cousins), painted with enamel Cockpit Grey Green, then cut to size and pressed in place. This method has worked very well in the past, when making external frames, so I can't see any reason why it should be any different when used internally - apart from possibly encountering problems with access and positioning.

Anyway, I continued with the canopy, masking the outside, ready for painting the external frames. Once masked ( a long and fiddly job, due to the offset frames and the small windscreen retaining brackets and windscreen wiper), the canopy was attached to the fuselage, using a couple of spots of poly cement, and a bead of Humbrol 'Clear Fix'.
When sufficiently set, the joints were sealed with PVA , and the interior colour was painted over the frames, using a small paint brush, and with the Humbrol No.78 enamel Grey Green lightened slightly by the addition of couple of drops of matt white. The paint was also applied to the canopy joint line, to check the effectiveness of the PVA seal (more PVA, or a suitable filler needs to be applied, to fill the joints), and also along the joint between the resin nose and the fuselage.
Once the paint has fully set, the excess, around the nose and the base of the canopy, will be lightly sanded back.The exterior colours will be sprayed onto the canopy when the model is painted.
I still feel that the canopy is a touch too shallow, and this feeling has increased, now that I've seen the canopy in place - it looks too low when viewed in side profile and, when compared to canopies from the Airfix kits, and the old Monogram kit, there is a small, but noticeable height difference. If I build another Tamiya 'fighter' Mosquito, I'll use the very nice vac-form canopy from Rob Taurus.
With the fuselage set aside to allow the paint to harden, attention turned to the wings, which have been assembled, along with the engine nacelles, the latter now fitted to the wings, but lacking the landing gear, gear doors, exhausts etc.
The engineering of the kit allows the landing gear to be fully assembled, along with the oil tanks, and fitted later, the complete assemblies being 'plugged in' after inserting into the wheel bays, a nice design feature by Tamiya.
What's not so nice, is their persistent method of sprue attachment, with the attachment 'lugs' being fairly thick and 'heavy', and attached to the leading edge of the wing, and along the line of the rather thin radiator intake upper lip.
Great care, and quite a lot of time, is needed to carefully remove the burrs, without damaging or deforming the wing and radiator intake leading edges.
Before joining the upper and lower sections of the wings, the landing lights were cemented in place, and painted chrome silver on the inner surfaces, and the holes for the radio altimeter 'T' antenna, and the radar azimuth dipole antennae were opened, and the radiator shutters were cemented in place.
Apart from a 'dirty' wash, no further detail has been added to the wheel bays.

PIC 1. The canopy after masking. That 'ragged' upper windscreen frame was corrected before painting the frames in the interior colour. The vertical 'ridge' in the center of the screen is the windscreen wiper blade, which was masked, and then exposed by very carefully slicing away the tape, after first ensuring the edges were firmly pressed in pace around the raised moulding. The wiper blade will be painted black after spraying the model.
PIC 2. The canopy fixed in place, and the frames painted in the interior colour. Further filler will be applied around the joints in order to blend-in the canopy, once the paint has fully dried.
PICS 3 and 4. The main wing sections have been assembled, and the 'bare' engine nacelles fitted, with all sprue attachment points carefully eliminated, and the joints and seams lightly sanded and polished. The holes for the radio altimeter 'T' antenna, and the radar azimuth dipole antennae have been opened, and the landing lamps painted and fitted, the lenses on which will be masked before painting the model.
The kit provides a choice of wing tips, with single or twin navigation lamp locations (single lamps on the NF.XII), and the holes for the outboard azimuth dipoles in the wing tips have been opened. The navigation lamp lenses, which will be fitted after painting the model, have tiny 'tunnels' moulded inside, into which the relevant 'bulb' colour can be added, using transparent paint.
The landing gear, gear doors, exhausts and exhaust shrouds, will be fitted after painting the model, along with the props.

That's it for now, but I'll be back, probably some time tomorrow, with a further up-date, when I expect to have the wings and tail planes fitted, the landing gear assembled and painted, and possibly even the first stage of painting the model underway.
Thanks again for your interest and kind comments.

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

Good work on the canopy Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Wojtek and John.

 

[Wayne Little]

Love it Terry, good work mate....

 

[fubar57]

Great looking innards and everything coming together nicely. Probably too late now but I'll see if i can find any 108Sqn pics

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Geo, if pics of 108 Sqn Mk.XIIs are available, it might confirm the colour scheme, which I doubt would change when the aircraft passed to 46 Sqn.
Got delayed getting to the bench today, so no notable progress yet. Might have some pics later though.
Got a scheduled hospital appointment tomorrow, so again not much time at the bench, but I hope to prepare the model for painting by tomorrow night.

 

[Robert Porter]

Yep that's a good idea. Also I woud suggest using the basic editor for posts. It can be set in user's preferences for all time or using of it just for the current post ( the last icon on the right at the post bar ) . Instead of seeing attached shots in the post window , the lines with image numbers and tags are seen. It makes the editing easier and gives a better look at the post layout.



BTW.. I would like to remind that pics can be attached using the "drag and drop" way for the forum too. It can be done directly into the post window without using the pic selector for that. Also it can be done by using the "Copy" and "Paste" options. But the moving of the cursor to the proper location has to be remembered too.

View attachment 356834

Thats great to know! I had no idea drag and drop was supported, for some reason I just assumed it was not. Well we all know what assume means. Dang! Thanks for the info!

 

[Robert Porter]

Terry great subject! I always liked the Mosquito, I dimly remember building one that was a glued up mess as a kid. I really look forward to seeing your finished build!

 

[Robert Porter]

PIC 1. The canopy after masking. That 'ragged' upper windscreen frame was corrected before painting the frames in the interior colour. The vertical 'ridge' in the center of the screen is the windscreen wiper blade, which was masked, and then exposed by very carefully slicing away the tape, after first ensuring the edges were firmly pressed in pace around the raised moulding. The wiper blade will be painted black after spraying the model.

Good grief that is some great masking! Before I got halfway to that I would have thrown it across the room! You guys make it look so easy I am tempted to hire one of you to do my masking!

 

[Robert Porter]

Yep that's a good idea. Also I woud suggest using the basic editor for posts. It can be set in user's preferences for all time or using of it just for the current post ( the last icon on the right at the post bar ) . Instead of seeing attached shots in the post window , the lines with image numbers and tags are seen. It makes the editing easier and gives a better look at the post layout.



BTW.. I would like to remind that pics can be attached using the "drag and drop" way for the forum too. It can be done directly into the post window without using the pic selector for that. Also it can be done by using the "Copy" and "Paste" options. But the moving of the cursor to the proper location has to be remembered too.

View attachment 356834

Thats great to know! I had no idea drag and drop was supported, for some reason I just assumed it was not. Well we all know what assume means. Dang! Thanks for the info!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much Robert.
Although I won't be adding lots of extra detail to the rest of the model, I need to get it as accurate and authentic as possible, allowing for the limited amount of info available, both for the aircraft type, and it's use with 46 Squadron, as this is going to 46 Squadron Association, along with probably another four models.
As for the masking, years of practice does, of course, help, but although very time consuming it's not that difficult.
The edge of the tape can be placed along the edge of one frame line, and then the tape stuck down, marked around the other frames, and carefully cut with a new scalpel blade, doing one panel at a time, or areas of panels can be covered in tape, with the frame edges highlighted by marking with a sharp, fine pencil, then carefully cut.
Never try to mask the entire canopy in one go, instead, do it either one panel, or one manageable area at a time.
It's essential to use a sharp pencil, and a sharp, new blade in the scalpel, and ensure that the cut edges are fully burnished down, but other than that, all that's required is time, and a lot of patience !
I think it took me around three hours to mask the Mossie canopy, but that's allowing for my knackered hands too !

 

[Robert Porter]

That's great advice! I have several canopies I have put off masking on just because I am a little nervous about it. But will mask my build canopy up now! Will post pics in my thread fingers crossed!