Guy's entry : The Mossie B Mk IV (Revell 1/48)

[GuyMac]

I'll be building this kit OOB. How it will end up? I don't know yet but it has two M's in it
This is my first Group Build I joined. So the progress posts might not be like the ones you're used to in the other SIG or GB posts from members. But I'll get along.

[Novorus]

Nice bird their Guy

[GuyMac]

Part 1 of the build

Some history:
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito, affectionately known as the "Mossie”, is a British multi-role combat aircraft with a two-man crew which served during and after the Second World War. It was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the World War II era constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder".
The Mosquito was originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, and adapted to roles including low to medium-altitude daytime tactical bomber, high-altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike aircraft, and fast photo-reconnaissance aircraft.
When production of the Mosquito began in 1941, it was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world. Mossie entered service in 1942 as a high-speed, high-altitude photo-reconnaissance aircraft, continuing in this role throughout the war.
From mid-1942 to mid-1943, Mosquito bombers flew high-speed, medium or low-altitude missions against factories, railways and other pinpoint targets in Germany and German-occupied Europe. Late 1943, they were formed into the Light Night Strike Force and used as pathfinders for RAF Bomber Command's heavy-bomber raids. The Mossie was a pain in the you-know-what for the opposite parties as "nuisance" bombers, often dropping Blockbuster bombs – 4,000 lb (1,812 kg) "cookies" . When on high-altitude, high-speed raids Mossie was at his best.German night fighters were almost powerless to intercept.
As a night fighter from mid-1942, the Mosquito intercepted Luftwaffe raids on the United Kingdom, notably defeating Operation Steinbock in 1944. Starting in July 1942, Mosquito night-fighter units raided Luftwaffe airfields. As part of 100 Group, it was a night fighter and intruder supporting RAF Bomber Command's heavy bombers that reduced bomber losses during 1944 and 1945. In its fighter-bomber role in the Second Tactical Air Force, the Mosquito took part in "special raids", such as the attack on Amiens Prison in early 1944, and in precision attacks against Gestapo or German intelligence and security forces. Second Tactical Air Force Mosquito’s supported the British Army during the 1944 Normandy Campaign. From 1943, Mosquitos with RAF Coastal Command strike squadrons attacked Kriegsmarine U-boats (particularly in 1943 in the Bay of Biscay, where significant numbers were sunk or damaged) and intercepting transport ship concentrations.
The Mosquito flew with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other air forces in the European, Mediterranean and Italian theatres. The Mosquito was also operated by the RAF in the South East Asian theatre and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) based in the Halmaheras and Borneo during the Pacific War. In the fifties, the RAF replaced the Mosquito with the jet-powered Canberra. (Source Wikipedia)

About the kit:
Mosquito's are -in general- a rivet counter's nightmare as the original was mainly made of wood, not much rivets to count here
The Kit itself is the Revell 1/48 Mosquito B Mk. IV . That's no.4 for the non romans and basically just sat there in my stash catching dust as I didn’t have any plans building it on short terms.
Then Steve’s M group build came along, a lot of talking and shout outs etc… and I was like “lalala… nobody home up there”
Suddenly I had a ‘revell-ation’ : “I can build the Mossie!”
(john 19:42)..."And alas the angels descended from heaven causing mayhem in the weather pattern so it started raining like hell…had to run inside, forgot the cat and…."

we’re wandering off here.

Anywayzzzzz………..

The box opens at the side which is not handy if you ask me and contains the instructions, decals, 5 styrene sprues and the clear parts on one sprue.
The level of detail is -for Revell standards- rather high and you have lots of options for this kit : You can have the engine bay open, the bomb bay is well detailed as is the interior. The panel lines are recessed however maybe a bit shallow and there is also some riveting as well (huge relief for them rivet counterzzz). Though not cripsly molded, there's no flash or at least nothing problematic. The plastic itself isn’t the smoothest and the wheel gear struts are off scale (too short so I have read and yes I can read ). The color callouts are for Revell’s own aqua or enamel paints and <sarcastic mode on> as Revell is a fairly new company on the market, most of the colors need to be mixed to get the wrong camo color <sarcastic mode off>. I'm lazy, so I've checked on some alternatives because I hate mixing 2 or more colors (33% this, 33% that, 34% another one or 10% Red mixed with 90% of another red).
There are three build options available :
1. No. 627 Sq RAF Oakington (january 1943)
2. No. 109 Sq RAF Marham (1944)
3. No. 105 Sq RAF Marham flown by Wg Cdr John de L. Wooldridge, DSC DFC DFM in 1944
The kit changed owner at 10 Euro in the local shop, which is an absolute bargain.

I will build this one :
No. 04555 Kt as build by GuyMac OOB NAM NPE in 2016
(KitNo. , Out Of the Box , No After Market , No Photo Etch )

Little video aka slideshow : https://youtu.be/5lzvwos9t0E

And on with the build now...

[GuyMac]

Today I've finished the cockpit wheatering and it's now ready for a matt coat. I'm still thinking of removing the wash some more and add some more 'detail'
Cockpit assembly went very well and I've test fitted it...
And then my mojo got a kick in the aft section of the human body : there's a HUGE gap. Just figuring out how to fill it. Might use some styrene card and sand it down. Luckily there's not much of panel lines as the original was made of wood so rescribing won't be needed or not much anyway.



The kit is very detailed as you could see in the slideshow earlier and in below pictures:








Decals are matt but rather thick. I hope they will go on the kit well with a nice result




And this is the gap...




The cockpit weathered and some chipping.
I will applying a filter in the decal-seatbelts because at the moment they're to clean.

[GuyMac]

Gap festival ongoing
This kit is a mojo drainer. Let's get it done "A S A P".







You can see the from a mile away

The wings are ready to add to the fuselage. But made sure the gaps would be as small as possible so clamp, clamp, clamp...



The wife : "How the hell am I supposed to dry our laundry?"
Me : "I know nothing.... NOTHING!!!... I'm from Barssselona"

[GuyMac]

Quick update on the progress of the Mossie. Or should I say ‘Messie’. This kit turns out to be a mojo drainer. Fitting issues all over. Engineering is a laugh on this one. As you can see in the pictures it just isn’t right. Or it’s me, messing things up ?

I decided to keep one engine bay opened as you get a nice engine in the kit. you also have to add the pin for the propeller when mounting the engine in the bay. No problem there. On the other side I just wanted to keep the engine bay closed. So…. you have to leave the engine out or you can’t close the gap on top… So no provisioning for the propeller pin. I had to scratch build something to keep the pin at its place. Couldn’t glue it in or the propeller wouldn’t move.

As you can see the choice of kit wasn’t the smartest thing to do. I’ll complete it but I’ll set it aside for a while as it isn’t much fun at the moment. And I ran out of filler










This part is for left and right wheel gear bay. The parts only molded for left…. nice one Revell.




Just won’t fit…




difficult question : can you find the gap?




Engine

[GuyMac]

Heya fellow modellers. I'm in a bit of a dilemma: I was building the Revell 1/48 mossie for the group build but the further I progress in this build, it's getting more and more a pig of a build. Nothing fits, just not aligned. This must be the most badly engineered kit I've ever had during my modelling carreer. I've decided to dump it as it drains my mojo and it feels like "work" and no longer as "fun" and really kills my mojo.

At the moment I don't have anything else M-ish in my stash. For now I'm out of the build (yep the first did-not-finnish). Should I find another M-worthy kit. I'll join back in later.
Sorry Steve