GB-43 1/48 Mosquito FB.VI - Aces' Aircraft of all Eras

[Crimea_River]

Thought you might like that, thanks.

Shiny spray now curing:

Here's the finished tail cone detail. With the advantage (?) of a close-up, I now see that the flange turned out a bit rough. May knock it down a bit with fine micromesh.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Wurger]

 

[herman1rg]

Behave? This lot?

 

[Wayne Little]

Nicely done Andy.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks gents.

Based on input received from someone who has researched this particular aircraft and who says he had access to maintenance records, it would seem that the entire fin/rudder was replaced with a unit from a T.III. I've therefore decided to continue the day fighter scheme into the vertical stab so that both rudder and fin are OG/DG based on photos of T.IIIs that I've viewed. Here is that simple modification, showing masking of the area and completion of the colour mods. This time, I lightened Tamiya's stock Ocean Grey with a touch of MSG as I've always found it a bit dark and a bit too blue. It arguably looks a bit too light now but I'll attribute that to a bit too much time in the sun! (Not me, the tail....)

 

[Airframes]

Neat - and good info.
Just noticed the drop tanks. When researching for my FB.VI, I discovered that these were mainly painted silver, confirmed by the tonal difference in most pics. That's not to say they were never painted in MSG, as some probably were, just as, for example, PRU Mossies normally had the tanks in PRU Blue.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. Let's look at this picture:

I'd suggest that the tones of the tanks would indicate that they are MSG in this case as they appear to be very similar in shade to the sides of the cowls and spinners.

I based my colours and scheme on a number of pictures showing a clear Dark Green demarcation on the port tank. Here's one example:

and another:

Having said that, I now notice that the port tank on Bannock's rig seems to be within the MSG portion of the upper wing camo as the Dark Green demarcation line can just be seen on the leading edge to the outboard of the tank. That's different than what I painted and indeed a bit odd for most FB schemes that I've seen. Looks like I will need to dig a bit deeper into this and possibly adjust the lines on my model.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, I'd agree that they are MSG.
Of course, I was concentrating on 2 Group aircraft, and this, and some units from other Groups, would often jettison the tanks, if or when fitted in place of the wing bomb racks, so not worth re-painting them in the relevant colour.
Other units, such as Intruder, PRU and probably bomber, would more than likely have the tanks 'semi-permanently' fitted, to extend range or 'loiter time', with little need to jettison, so would make sense to have them in the camouflage colour.
Good catch on the cammo demarcation on Bannock's aircraft.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry.

I learned a lesson to no longer rely on my memory to commit paint to plastic. As I looked back at my reference pictures, it became clear that the pattern that I sprayed on the starboard side of the vertical stab did not reflect reality in that every photo that I studied (after I painted of course) showed that the dark green extended to the base of the fin. As a result, I went and reworked that detail this morning, adjusting the demarcation and gloss-coating again. Compare the below pic with the one above and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks gentlemen.

The cannons on 418 Squadron's Mossies were mostly seen to be doped over and I've seen no pics of the fabric coverings after being fired through, assuming that at some point the would have been. I therefore took a bit of liberty and chose to model the openings with the fabric shot through. I did this by covering the troughs with old red decals that were cut to the rough size, allowing these to set, masking and painting a very rough pattern of red dope colour around the openings, and then perforating the decals. With a bit of touch up, this should look OK.

With that done and the tail gloss coat still curing, I started on the decals. The Aviaelogy decals are beautifully printed and, though they took a very long time to loosen from the backing, the eventually slid off with no problems and set very nicely with setting solution.

There's a lot more to go with the many stencils, codes, and fin flashes to be applied before I weather some more and apply a flat coat. Thanks again for watching.

 

[Airframes]

Starting to really look the biz Andy.
I like the doped patches over the cannon ports, and, being shot through, it saves having to 'cap' the muzzles of those nice Browning .303s.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. But now, putting bombs in the bay won't make sense.

 

[Airframes]

Well, the bombs could be loaded, but the armourers are at the NAAFi van, having a mug of tea, and haven't yet finished dealing with the guns !

 

[Crimea_River]

"There's a war on don't you know?!"

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

But everything stops for tea !!