**** DONE: GB-49 1/48 Mosquito B.XVI - Favourite A/C of WWII

[Airframes]

Work on the canopy joints is now complete, but the lower windscreen joint may need a tiny touch more filler - I'll know more once the primer coat has been applied.
Tail-planes are on, the ice guards fitted, and all masking is done, ready for the primer coat, which I hope to get done tomorrow, during daylight.
As mentioned earlier, I had to decide whether to use the PE ice guards, or the Tamiya kit parts. In the end, I went with the Tamiya parts, as they looked better overall, and should look fine when painted and a dark wash applied. They were also easier to fit, compared to having to bend the PE mounts and then fit using CA.

Pic 1. The Tamiya ice guard compared to the "Brengun" PE part.
Pic 2. The Tamiya ice guard fitted. A small hole was drilled into the nacelle, and the part mounted using the moulded-in "peg", and fixed with CA. The area has since been cleaned-up.
Pic 3. Tail-planes attached and the joints filled with PVA, and the wings slotted onto the spars, but not yet fixed in place. The aft, internal canopy frames have also been masked.
Pic 4. Landing lamps and wheel bays masked, along with the exhaust slots. The white arrow indicates the masking over the aperture where a rectangular, pinned "plug" is fitted, to lock the wings in place. This will be fitted after the main painting, and then have the joints filled and painted.

I should have some pics of the first painting stage, sometime tomorrow. Thanks once again for your interest in this build.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Nice work Terry

 

[Crimea_River]

Indeed it is. Good decision on the ice guards.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Not much to show at the moment, apart from a slightly different overall grey primer finish. I'll let this dry overnight, and hopefully get the MSG undersides colour sprayed tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'll start work on the undercart and props. The main gear legs will need to have additional door guards added, and I'm currently looking at the best way to do this, either using stretched sprue, or thin copper wire.
Back when there's something to show ..................................

 

[Airframes]

A slight delay before spraying the Medium Sea Grey underside colour.
I'm a bit dubious about the quality of the wing to fuselage joint, if the model is painted before cementing the wings in place. This could affect the paintwork and, if any joint-filling is needed, it would entail further painting etc. Therefore, I've decided to take the "traditional" route, and fit the wings before painting.
This will mean that masking the nacelles on the inboard side, fitting the exhausts and applying exhaust staining, will be a little more fiddly, but not impossible, and I think is worth the extra effort, rather than risk damaging the overall paintwork. It also means that the rectangular "plug" joints can be filled, to blend-in with the under wing surface, as these were not on the real aircraft.
If the wings have set sufficiently, I may get the MSG sprayed later tonight, and I hope to have some pics tomorrow.

 

[MaxCamps]

Work on the canopy joints is now complete, but the lower windscreen joint may need a tiny touch more filler - I'll know more once the primer coat has been applied.
Tail-planes are on, the ice guards fitted, and all masking is done, ready for the primer coat, which I hope to get done tomorrow, during daylight.
As mentioned earlier, I had to decide whether to use the PE ice guards, or the Tamiya kit parts. In the end, I went with the Tamiya parts, as they looked better overall, and should look fine when painted and a dark wash applied. They were also easier to fit, compared to having to bend the PE mounts and then fit using CA.

Pic 1. The Tamiya ice guard compared to the "Brengun" PE part.
Pic 2. The Tamiya ice guard fitted. A small hole was drilled into the nacelle, and the part mounted using the moulded-in "peg", and fixed with CA. The area has since been cleaned-up.
Pic 3. Tail-planes attached and the joints filled with PVA, and the wings slotted onto the spars, but not yet fixed in place. The aft, internal canopy frames have also been masked.
Pic 4. Landing lamps and wheel bays masked, along with the exhaust slots. The white arrow indicates the masking over the aperture where a rectangular, pinned "plug" is fitted, to lock the wings in place. This will be fitted after the main painting, and then have the joints filled and painted.

I should have some pics of the first painting stage, sometime tomorrow. Thanks once again for your interest in this build.



View attachment 620769View attachment 620770View attachment 620771View attachment 620772

Its coming along nicely Terry - fascinating to watch! It just shows how much I have to learn!!!

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks, Max and Hugh.
Max, I'm aiming to have it finished, and ready to deliver when we meet up at Sywell.

 

[Crimea_River]

I had to truss mine up with some rubber bands Terry but the fit was OK.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Thanks, Andy and Wojtek.

Andy, I had to do something similar, and also clamp the joint where the leading edge of the wing root, at the radiator opening, joins the fuselage.
I'm now glad that I decided to fit and glue the wings before spraying the camouflage colours, as there was some clean-up to do at the wing root joints, and those rectangular plugs proved to be a pain ( I now remember having problems with them when I built the NF.XII , using the Tamiya FB.VI kit ).
Basically, they didn't fit. The location holes in the wing spar had to be enlarged, to allow the pin to fit, and the rectangular parts had to be filed back all round before they would fit into the apertures. They didn't sit flush, and therefore had to be filed and sanded, and the joints filled. This, of course, meant more clean-up, and the primer now needs to be re-sprayed in those areas where work had been done.
I'm just about to start on this, after some grub and a coffee, and may have some pics up later.
If the primer is fully dry, I just may be able to get the Medium Sea Grey sprayed tonight also. Back sometime .......................

 

[Crimea_River]

Glad it's working out. I didn't have the fit issue you report though admit the pins take some force to fit. The whole idea of the pins is to tightly draw the wing and fuselage into hard contact and in my case it worked. Enlarging the holes defeats the purpose as, if I recall correctly, the pins are tapered to bring the holes into alignment, though I could be wrong. But, yes, the rectangular plates are not a great fit and require filling and sanding to make them disappear.

 

[Airframes]

Andy, those pins would just not go through the holes in the spar, even when I tried to fit them without the wings in place. When they did eventually slot into place, I applied a lot of pressure, even resorting to using pliers at one stage, and then noticed that the rectangular plates were very slightly over-size, hence the need to file them back. Once this was done, the fit was fine, apart from not being totally flush, and the wings were pulled into place.
Anyway, that's now all taken care of, and the area has been cleaned-up and re-sprayed in primer. The wing root joints have also been cleaned up and re-sprayed, and the entire model has received another, thin, coat of primer overall, to even things up.
I'm pleased that the windscreen to fuselage joint has blended-in nicely, and the under-belly camera hatch has been virtually eliminated under the primer coat, and should disappear completely once the camouflage colour is applied.
I'm going to allow the primer to fully harden overnight, and aim to get the MSG sprayed tomorrow afternoon, and possibly be able to start on the upper surface colours tomorrow night ( er... that should read this afternoon and tonight - hadn't realised what time it was !! ).

The pics below explain what's what.

Pic 1. Rectangular plugs filled and sanded, wing joints filled where needed, and the area cleaned-up and re-sprayed.
Pic 2. Very minor gaps in the upper wing root joints filled, sanded, and the area cleaned-up and re-sprayed.
Pic 3. Camera hatch eliminated.
Pics 4 and 5. How the model looks to date.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff. One thing that I think Tamiya got wrong was that the inner edge of the starboard flap is far too close to the fuselage. It would never clear the reinforcing strip there.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Andy, and yes I'd noticed that. I'd thought of re-engraving the flap joint lines, but decided not to bother.

 

[Crimea_River]

Real version:

 

[fubar57]

Looking good Terry

 

[rochie]

Yep, nice work

 

[MaxCamps]

Thanks, Max and Hugh.
Max, I'm aiming to have it finished, and ready to deliver when we meet up at Sywell.

Great Terry - really looking forward to seeing you, the model & to enjoying our special day out! I think John is coming so that you can present him with the model on the day! Many thanks again