fubar57
General
Great mods
GB-43 1/48 Mosquito FB.VI - Aces' Aircraft of all Eras
- Thread starter Crimea_River
- Start date
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I agree, very nice work Andy.
That's a great reference pic, and I often wondered what the 'thingy' was - now I know it's a bungee cord.
That's a great reference pic, and I often wondered what the 'thingy' was - now I know it's a bungee cord.
Nice details Andy, well executed too !
Great work so far Andy!
- Thread starter
- #385
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks everyone. Clear parts are my biggest opportunity for improvement and I did my best here but there are some rather ugly (to me) interfaces. However, here's a shot of the finished canopy complete with scratch built wiper and de-ice tube. Don't look too close......
- Thread starter
- #387
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Wojtek.
One of the things I was wrestling with was where, if anywhere, the Gee whip antenna was on this aircraft, assuming it even had Gee. The few pictures of this particular aircraft, and indeed many (not all) period pics of Mosquitoes don't show the aerial. Aviaelogy's decal documentation acknowledges the issue and suggests it may have been a late install and offers two possible locations: one at the back of the canopy and one where the fixed mast was. Well, I think I may have found out why it's not visible and I suspect that the Mosquito's wood construction made it possible to hide the antenna inside the fuselage. Take a look:
As a result, I feel fine leaving the antenna off the model, despite all the Gee equipment in the cockpit. Other opinions welcome!
One of the things I was wrestling with was where, if anywhere, the Gee whip antenna was on this aircraft, assuming it even had Gee. The few pictures of this particular aircraft, and indeed many (not all) period pics of Mosquitoes don't show the aerial. Aviaelogy's decal documentation acknowledges the issue and suggests it may have been a late install and offers two possible locations: one at the back of the canopy and one where the fixed mast was. Well, I think I may have found out why it's not visible and I suspect that the Mosquito's wood construction made it possible to hide the antenna inside the fuselage. Take a look:
As a result, I feel fine leaving the antenna off the model, despite all the Gee equipment in the cockpit. Other opinions welcome!
fubar57
General
Wow....interesting
Fantastic work here Andy.....!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Canopy looks good to me - even with close-up photo.
I'd need to check my refs, if I can find them, but I thought that internal antenna was for the radio, replacing the mast.
The 40 inch 'Gee' whip antenna was normally mounted through the rear canopy, offset slightly to port, or where the original antenna mast was mounted, depending on Gee Mk and other equipment fit.
I have some notes somewhere, describing this, although they're not all that clear on exactly what's what.
However, from conversations I had with Mossie crews years ago, particularly Navigators, I was told that the original mast antenna was replaced by a whip antenna in the same location, and then eventually internally, and this seems to be confirmed by some photos showing the 'Gee' whip in the canopy, and a second whip at the mast location on the fuselage spine, with the later fitting showing only the 'Gee' whip in the canopy.
Some confusion can be caused by the 'Gee' whip not being visible in photos, due to the contrast in the print ( also sometimes deleted by the official Censor ), although if the inside of the rear canopy area is visible, the mounting tube can often be seen, when the antenna can't be seen.
I'd need to check my refs, if I can find them, but I thought that internal antenna was for the radio, replacing the mast.
The 40 inch 'Gee' whip antenna was normally mounted through the rear canopy, offset slightly to port, or where the original antenna mast was mounted, depending on Gee Mk and other equipment fit.
I have some notes somewhere, describing this, although they're not all that clear on exactly what's what.
However, from conversations I had with Mossie crews years ago, particularly Navigators, I was told that the original mast antenna was replaced by a whip antenna in the same location, and then eventually internally, and this seems to be confirmed by some photos showing the 'Gee' whip in the canopy, and a second whip at the mast location on the fuselage spine, with the later fitting showing only the 'Gee' whip in the canopy.
Some confusion can be caused by the 'Gee' whip not being visible in photos, due to the contrast in the print ( also sometimes deleted by the official Censor ), although if the inside of the rear canopy area is visible, the mounting tube can often be seen, when the antenna can't be seen.
- Thread starter
- #391
Crimea_River
Marshal
All true Terry and there are certainly photos of some Mosquitos sporting the whip antenna and they can be seen from a fair distance. However, there is no disputing that the diagram I posted is for only the Gee system. All of the components shown in both the location diagram and the schematic are all Gee-related, with no radio references. There is a separate diagram (below) in the manual dealing with only the radio and it also shows an internal antenna, presumably replacing the "spike" antenna seen on other contemporary aircraft. I have not seen the spike mounted externally on any Mosquito picture.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Ah !
This second drawing is the one I was thinking of, confusing it with the first, Gee, drawing.
Just looked at those refs I have on my PC, and the Gee drawing is missing. Looks like this shows an even later fitting, with the internal antenna, so you should be good to go with your representation.
This second drawing is the one I was thinking of, confusing it with the first, Gee, drawing.
Just looked at those refs I have on my PC, and the Gee drawing is missing. Looks like this shows an even later fitting, with the internal antenna, so you should be good to go with your representation.
- Thread starter
- #393
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Terry. I just noticed that the above diagram also contains the beam approach antenna. That unit, commonly seen mounted externally on the bottom of the fuselage of metal skinned aircraft, is also shown above to be mounted internally on the Mosquito.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Just noticed it too - the 'boat' type antenna, fitted to such types as the late Marque Spitfire, rather than the Lorenz 'towel rail' type, seen on, for example, the Lancaster.
Looks great so far Andy!
- Thread starter
- #396
Crimea_River
Marshal
Back to the underside, I've decided to dispense with the idea of placing bombs in the bomb bay because 1) they'll obscure some of the detail that I painstakingly added and 2) their presence is inconsistent with the post-mission appearance of the fired guns. I mentioned earlier that I didn't like Tamiya's UBCs very much and so decided to break a couple of the much better Revell ones out of my finished B. IV. I'll add the two Tamiya bombs/UBCs to the Revell kit. Here's a comparison shot:
The Revell one, at top, suffers from a bit of chunkiness but features detailed bomb stabilizers and adjustment cranks. The Tamiya one is very thin and void of detail.
The ID lamps are now finished. These were simply moulded into the grey plastic so I had drilled them out much earlier before I started painting. At this point I filled the holes with Testors Clear Parts Cement, painted the lenses, and continued to add clear cement until the discs were flush with the surrounding surfaces.
Next up were the bomb bay doors. Here I added detail to the kit hinges at the ends of the door and added the center hinge that was missing. The use of the basic kit hinge parts is a bit of a compromise as they are a bit on the beefy side but are a benefit for strength.
Much more to come.
The Revell one, at top, suffers from a bit of chunkiness but features detailed bomb stabilizers and adjustment cranks. The Tamiya one is very thin and void of detail.
The ID lamps are now finished. These were simply moulded into the grey plastic so I had drilled them out much earlier before I started painting. At this point I filled the holes with Testors Clear Parts Cement, painted the lenses, and continued to add clear cement until the discs were flush with the surrounding surfaces.
Next up were the bomb bay doors. Here I added detail to the kit hinges at the ends of the door and added the center hinge that was missing. The use of the basic kit hinge parts is a bit of a compromise as they are a bit on the beefy side but are a benefit for strength.
Much more to come.
- Thread starter
- #398
Crimea_River
Marshal
Still questioning the racks and just want them to get done. Grrrrr! In the meantime, I finished off the bomb bay doors by painting the hinges and installing the jack piston rods. These were cut from a spool of 0.6mm silver solder.
I ran into a bit of a problem with the alignment of the forward jacks (below). Those of you who have been following closely may recall that there was something odd with the location of the kit part that represents the cross member with the attached jacks. At that time, the jacks almost touched the cannon butts. Well, though I solved that issue, I ran into the issue again because the jacks didn't line up with the hinges. I quadruple checked the location of this part against the instructions and I swear it's installed correctly and the door hinges were not moved. Nonetheless, the jacks did not align with the hinges and the whole part needed to be moved back by about 1mm. The back ones line up fine. I managed to carve off the locating notch between the fuel tanks, twisted the part off, moved it back, and reglued it. I broke off one of the hydraulic lines in the process but was able to quickly replace it.
Here are the rear rods in place:
Thanks again for following.
I ran into a bit of a problem with the alignment of the forward jacks (below). Those of you who have been following closely may recall that there was something odd with the location of the kit part that represents the cross member with the attached jacks. At that time, the jacks almost touched the cannon butts. Well, though I solved that issue, I ran into the issue again because the jacks didn't line up with the hinges. I quadruple checked the location of this part against the instructions and I swear it's installed correctly and the door hinges were not moved. Nonetheless, the jacks did not align with the hinges and the whole part needed to be moved back by about 1mm. The back ones line up fine. I managed to carve off the locating notch between the fuel tanks, twisted the part off, moved it back, and reglued it. I broke off one of the hydraulic lines in the process but was able to quickly replace it.
Here are the rear rods in place:
Thanks again for following.
fubar57
General
Nice. That solder definitely stands out
