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

Lovely work there, Terry.

Agreed

Agree with all. Super nice work Terry.

Nice work, will look very effective when finished

worth the wait Terry.....

Your doing amazing work here Terry

Thanks chaps. It could be, and should be, better, but I'm finding it rather fiddly, due to still having stiff and slightly tender fingers and hands.
Anyway, further progress has been made, with the computer painted, and a Mk.XIV sight head ( of sorts ! ) made and fitted, and some other internal preparation jobs done, including painting and decalling the instrument panel and fuel management console ( to be shown later. ).
The bomb sight head proved to be extremely fiddly for some reason and, after losing some parts which "pinged" into oblivion, I gave up and simplified the whole lot, making a basic representation.

Pic 1. The bomb sight computer painted and detailed, with the "crackle" finish achieved by stippling the pant when still wet. It could be better, but as it'll only just be visible, it should pass.
Pics 2 to 4. I thought that the moulded fire extinguisher on the front of the rudder pedal "box" could cause problems when fitting the computer, and I suspect that on the real aircraft fitted with the Mk.XIV sight, it would obstruct access to the computer, and was probably re-located to the front of the bomb bay bulkhead, beneath the navigator's seat, as on the fighter-bomber versions. It was therefore removed, and a scratch-built extinguisher fitted to the bulkhead. Although not very visible in the photo, there is a nozzle on the top.
Pics 5 to 7. The very basic representation of the Mk.XIV sighting head.
Pic 8.. A compass and tray have been made, using plastic tube, a disc pinched from plastic card, and plastic angle for the tray. yet to be cleaned up.
Pics 9 to 11. The kit includes the internal entrance hatch cover, but the detail for the drift sight aperture hatch cover is only on the inside face. As the hatch will be fitted in the open position, the aperture was drilled out and reamed, and a piece of plastic card cemented over the inner side, which will be hidden, with the hatch cover being vertical, against the cockpit wall.

Next job is to mark out the locations of some of the cockpit additions, and mask these, ready for painting the interior, before assembling and painting the pilot's seat, instrument panel etc. and I hope to get most of this done later tonight.
Back when more progress has been made .......................

Beauty

Great work Terry

Looking great Terry

Excellent Terry. The sighing head is more than passable and the computer looks the part. Do you know what the drift sight arrangement was on the bomber versions? I know that on the FBs, the drift sight slid on a tray forward of the crew hatch and poked out the side of the fuselage when in use but how was it stored/mounted in the bombers?

Airframes man... you do go to town on this one. Very nice.

With all above Terry => excellent

Thanks very much chaps, it's appreciated as always.
Still plodding on with some fiddly bits, although I'm trying to keep extra detail to a minimum, as the distortion of the "blown" canopy will prevent most detail being seen clearly. and hope to have some more pics soon,

Andy, other than the fact that the drift sight was used through the inner hatch and entrance hatch "portholes", I haven't been able to determine where it was stored, or how it was mounted. Although the sight itself is not that large, as you well know, there is little "free space" in a Mossie, so maybe it was stored in the nose, or perhaps behind or to the side of the Nav's seat.

Thanks Terry. It's a mystery to me. Maybe the folding map table had some way of supporting it.

Lovely work so far Terry!

Thanks Hugh.

Andy, I've found out where the drift sight was stored and mounted. The sight was stored in the nose, on the starboard side, in what I had always thought was a parachute stowage. This is shown in the pics below, arrowed in red. The mount was in the porthole of the inner hatch.

Although it doesn't look like it, lots of progress has been made, with around ten hours spent fiddling and fettling, sorting the fit of parts around the kit mouldings - one of those times when you realise that it's sometimes not physically possible to make kit parts to true scale !
The bomb sight computer has finally been fitted, after much test fitting of kit parts, the instrument panel and rudder pedals and "box" have been assembled and painted, with the kit decal being used on the panel (not brilliant, but good enough under the canopy ), and the levers for the flaps, undercart and bomb doors added, using stretched sprue and PVA for the knobs.
Seat harnesses have ben made, fitted and painted, and the main painting done on the cockpit area, with the fuel panel also painted, decalled and attached to the starboard cockpit wall.
There are still parts to fit, and lots more general and detail painting to do, as well as some re-touching, before adding the home-made "Gee" equipment and R/F unit etc.
The pics below show the work to date, and apologies for the colour cast, due to mixed lighting.

Pic 1. The pilot's seat assembled and painted, and a late type harness added, made from wine bottle foil, plastic rod and stretched sprue - this was hard work, as it took three bottles of wine before I found the right foil !!
The harness release cable has also been made and fitted, but is not visible here.
Note that the straps have not yet been finally positioned and fixed., and that the armour plate needs to be re-touched, following handling.
Pics 2 to 4. How the main cockpit assembly looks so far, although there's quite a bit to add, and detail painting and re-touching yet to be done.
Pic 5. The instrument panel, using the kit decal, which refused to align with the moulded detail. The levers have yet to have the different coloured knobs painted, and detail painting has yet to be done.
Pic 6. Starboard wall, with the fuel panel fitted, and awaiting the wiring, to be added using lead wire. Again, detail painting and re-touching is yet to be done.
The red arrow indicates the drift sight storage, as mentioned above. I'm considering if it's worth the effort making and adding the sight, as it will hardly be visible, and that "scale problem" will also come into play.
Pic 7. Port wall, with the bomb sight computer in place ( what a job !!! ), but yet to have the throttle quadrant fitted, and detail painting etc done.

I'm hoping to get this area completed some time tomorrow ( if my hands aren't too stiff and tender after today's long session !! ), and possibly get the fuselage joined.
Thanks again for your interest and support.

Really nice work Terry and thanks for the info on the sight.