<-- Mosquito FB.VI - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Hugh.

Getting closer to the painting stage, with the engines and wings assembled and fitted, and just the tail planes and one set of exhaust shrouds to fit, and some small areas to fill, then clean up and prime.
Having looked at, and test fit the resin drop tanks. I've decided it will be better to fit them before painting the model, as they're 'handed', and will need to be attached with CA. Masking will be a bit awkward (the tanks need to be finished in 'Aluminium'), but fitting first will avoid the risk of damage to the wing paintwork later.

PIC 1. Before fitting the wings, the cockpit access hatch was masked, using a piece of paper cut to shape, and sealed in place with PVA. That lower joint around the cannon panel has since been attended to.
PIC 2. Wings on, and up on her feet. Strangely, the test fitting showed virtually perfect joints, but when fitted and glued, there were very small gaps at the front of the starboard wing toot, along the upper joint on the port wing, and around the rear of the nacelle / wing joint on the port side.
PICS 3 to 5. The gaps mentioned above - small, and easy to fill.
PIC 6. The nicely produced, but now OOP, resin,100 gallon tanks by 'Paragon'. Once the tanks are fitted , painted and masked, the location points for scratch-built radio altimeter antennae, IFF antenna, and the beam approach dipole, will be drilled, and the parts made and fitted after painting the model.

Back soon with more progress pics.

 

[fubar57]

Looking good

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Geo.

I forgot to mention, I decided to attack the 'Panzerplas' again, and managed to engrave the cowling panels, radiator covers, and a couple of other small areas, which still need final sanding to remove scratch marks.
The gun camera aperture, not provided on the Airfix kit, had been previously drilled-out, and this has been cleaned up,and the area around it painted 'Aluminium', which will be masked with a small rectangle of tape, to provide the 'bare patch' later.

 

[A4K]

Great stuff Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Evan.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good work Terry. Some annoying gaps there but easily fixed.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Andy, and yes, I was quite surprised, and slightly irritated, as the fit seemed good during test-fitting. But the gaps have now been sorted.
Got the drop tanks off the casting blocks, cleaned-up, fuel filler and drain plugs added, and fitted to the wings.
Neil Burkill at Paragon did an excellent job when he cast these tanks, as the fit at the wing leading edge is perfect.
However, as the top face of each tank, where it meets the wing surface, is concave, there is very little contact with the wing, so a simple 'fix' was the addition of strips of plastic card.

PICS 1 to 3. The tanks were removed from the casting blocks by repeated scribing, then simply snapped away. The remaining excess resin was easily scraped off, and then filed and sanded smooth, and the drain plug added, just discernible inside the circular 'flange', scribed into the underside. The fuel filler was also scribed, and the fasteners replicated by small holes.
PIC 4. After trying to attach the tanks using CA adhesive, it was evident that there was very little surface contact, so strips of plastic card where glued in place with CA, and these were used to glue the tanks in place. A thin bead of CA was then run around the edge joints of each tank.
PICS 5 and 6. The tanks in place, nicely conforming to the leading edge with the correct shape and profile.
PICS 7 and 8. How the model looks to date, with the drop tanks fitted, and those gaps attended to.

As I made the mistake of having a nap this afternoon, and longer than planned, I'm wide awake now, so i'll continue with the model, and try to get the final bits fitted, before preparing to prime the model ready for painting.
Thanks again to all for looking in, and I'll be back soon -ish.

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice looking tanks. I think the convex shape is intentional to minimize the chance of the parts rocking on the wing surface creating a big gap at the edges. I probably would have left it like that and make sure that the edges followed the wing contour exactly and then used CA along the contact areas.

 

[Airframes]

That was my intention Andy, and is more or less what I tried initially. But there just wasn't enough tank to wing contact, except around the leading edge of the wing to tank.
I deliberately used a fairly narrow strip of plastic card on each tank, and the fit, and adhesion, worked out well. What looks like a gap on the shot of the tank underside, is actually just shadow, and the tanks conform to the surface as they should do.

 

[turbo]

Looking great Terry, love the Mossie! I've got the 1/24 Airfix kit in my stash, just sitting there staring at me daring me to start

 

[Airframes]

Thanks T.
I've been very tempted to get the big Airfix kit, but I just don't have the space to display it.

 

[nuuumannn]

Nice work as always, Terry; looking forward to seeing this when you've done your magic, mate.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much Grant - hoping to get the paint on in the next day or two.

 

[turbo]

Thanks T.
I've been very tempted to get the big Airfix kit, but I just don't have the space to display it.

Ermm, yesss. I haven't quite figured that bit out myself...

 

[rochie]

Nice work Dogsbody

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Karl.

Got the tail planes on, after engraving the control surface hinge lines (also done them on the main planes), and most of the prep has been done ready for a thin primer coat, to check for defects.
Not much more to show just yet, but I'll post pics once the primer has been done.

 

[Wurger]

 

[A4K]

Looking good Terry. Good heads up with the wing tanks - must remember that when I do my Mozzies.

 

[JKim]

The Mossie is really coming together now. Almost time for paint!