Tamiya 1/48 de Havilland Mosquito Mk.IV

[shortCummins]

Having finished my first AFV kit, which I really enjoyed, time to get back to things with wings.

I bought this kit, last year?, with the intention of joining the group mossy build however, back then with what I’ve got in mind I wasn’t sure that I’d have either enough time or skill to achieve what I wanted. I’m still not sure on the skill level, getting better with each kit, but at least I can take my own time.
With the I heart Tamiya GB going on I was also tempted to join that however, time could be an issue, also I’m going to use some aftermarket and also add a bit of scratch detailing so those would rule me out.

The kit I’ve chosen is Tamiya’s 1:48 “de Havilland Mosquito B Mk.IV/PR Mk.IV”, kit number 61066. I’ve chosen this kit for a number of reasons,

• 1) its a Tamiya kit, love them
  2) its the Mossie with a glass nose
  3) its a Mossie!

This version of the kit was first released in 1999, its a re-boxing with new parts of a 1998 kit, I’m assuming that the “new parts” are the glass nose replacing the nose machine guns?
There are decals and colour call outs for three schemes,

• B Mk.IV 105 Squadron
  B Mk.IV 109 Squadron
  PR Mk.IV 540 Squadron.

There are also numerous aftermarket decals available should you wish to build a different version.

As mentioned I’ve decided to add some aftermarket from Quickboost (Aires), True Details and Yahu.

From Quickboost I’ve opted for both the resin seats and wheel mudguards (fenders)


Resin wheels are supplied by True Details, I’ve used similar to these on my Beaufighter build and frankly wouldn’t use anything else


After watching Paul’s “updated” how-to build guide I’ve decided to try the Yahu instrument panel


Eduard also have a PE set, I was tempted but as I’m going to use the resin seats and Yahu IP I’ve decided to give this set a miss for this build.

I’m waiting for the seats and IP, they should arrive in the next couple of days, so I’ve got some research to do and then I’ll make a start on the cockpit, wheel wells and bomb bay.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

whilst researching this aircraft I found this official de Havilland documentary on the Mosquito

[shortCummins]

To start on this build I wanted to add some wiring in the cockpit.
For this I’ve used various sizes of lead wire, fuze wire, copper wire, stretched sprue, “old” PE and some “leadcore camo-flex” fishing line.

I started by drilling holes for the “wires” …

…and then added pre-bent wires, I’m hoping that at least some of these will be seen through either the large canopy or nose cone.






I’ve used Kristal Klear as brackets for the wire, I’ll pick these out when I paint the interior.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

After adding the additional details to the cockpit it was time to lay down a coat of Ultimate primer. Normally this is fantastic stuff however, for some reason I had a hard time getting it to spray? I’m 99% certain its something to do with either my airbrush or “operator error” rather than the paint because I tried other paint (Tamiya) and had the same results.
I started off using my H&S .04 Ultra but I just couldn’t get the primer to spray evenly, it kept coughing and spluttering. So, I stripped the airbrush down and thoroughly cleaned it, I even went as far as putting it through an ultrasonic bath and then tried again. Still the same result, albeit marginally better. I stripped it down again and gave it another clean. I’m really lucky in that I have two airbrushes, so I swapped the .04 needle and nozzle over to my H&S Infinity. At first this worked really well, I was getting quite a lot of “tip dry” but it was spraying nicely. Towards the end of the session it became more problematic, I needed to clean the tip every 30 seconds or so and I was getting a lot of air coming back into the paint cup, it was blowing more bubbles that a West Ham fan!
Anywho, after I finished the primer I stripped both airbrushes, cleaned throughly (including 15 minutes in the sonic bath) and then rebuilt both. I tried spraying “neat” Ultimate thinner through the .04 Ultra and virtually nothing came out and once agin lots of bubbles in the paint cup. My Chinese compressor was set to 2.5 bar, approx 38 psi.

Here are the results …
these 1st two were sprayed using the Ultra


These were sprayed with the Infinity



here are the excellent Quickboost resin seats



I left the primer to cure for a day and then sprayed a light coat of Tamiya XF-71 cockpit green








While I’m waiting for that lot to fully cure, before I can do the detail painting on the cockpit, I’ll make a start on the engine nacelles and landing gear

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Oddly the instructions require you to start with the engine nacelles and landing gear.
After giving them a coat of Ultimate primer I sprayed them with vallejo acrylic Metal Color 77.717 dull aluminium


these are Quickboost fenders, very nice detail compared to the kit originals


True Details wheels
Ultimate primer

masked for dull aluminium…

…and sprayed


The landing gear bays were sprayed using Tamiya XF-71 cockpit green. I’ve spayed using very light coats to allow the black primer to act as a shadow





I need to do some detail painting before I assemble the landing gear, I’ll not attach them until after I’ve painted the rest of the aircraft.

Next I plan to detail paint the cockpit.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Looking superb. The aftermarket extras look really good and the scratch building is awesome.

I sense an epic build unfolding here

[shortCummins]

Looking superb. The aftermarket extras look really good and the scratch building is awesome.

I sense an epic build unfolding here

thanks Stokesy

I've yet to get to the Yahu IP, which looks fantastic, I really enjoy adding the odd bit of plumbing as I think it adds a lot for little effort.

The Quickboost resin also makes a huge difference.
For any future builds I will first look for Yahu and Quickboost rather than Eduard PE, for this build the Eduard set would have cost more than the Yahu and Quickboost combined!

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Thanks Stokesy

I've yet to get to the Yahu IP, which looks fantastic, I really enjoy adding the odd bit of plumbing as I think it adds a lot for little effort.

The Quickboost resin also makes a huge difference.
For any future builds I will first look for Yahu and Quickboost rather than Eduard PE, for this build the Eduard set would have cost more than the Yahu and Quickboost combined!

rgds
John(shortCummins)

Sounds good. When it comes to 1/48 aftermarket I am very wary as to whether any additions will actually improve the kit. You seem to have gone for almost exactly the same stuff I go for. I love resin wheels and seats with moulded harnesses. I like your Yahu IP as well. I put one in Airfix's 1/48 Hurricane and it looked beautiful. I look at a lot of bare PE and think 'Emperor's new clothes' and you're right on about the cost too

Really enjoying the build

[shortCummins]

Various colours used for detail painting,
Tamiya XF-57 buff - XF-62 olive drab - XF-64 red brown - XF-69 nato black
Mr Hobby 3 red - 26 bright green - 329 yellow - Mr Metal iron
Akan FS:35164 intermediate blue
vallejo model color 70.801 brass - model air 71.065 steel

Very light weathering, dry-brush and then Tamiya panel line accent color (dark brown)

Here’s the back of the instrument panel, I’m hoping that you’ll be able to see this though the glass nose canopy


This is the excellent Yahu IP, sorry its slightly out of focus, this was the “best” photo I managed to take. The right hand side is the kit part, Yahu doesn't have a part for that? also Tamiya doesn't supply decals for this either so I’ve used a couple of decals from an Airscale set. I’ve just noticed that the bottom one has moved, it isn’t really noticeable (to my eyes) unless you look at it with some magnification.

That Yahu IP is truly excellent and at £3.99 (from Hannants) its really a no-brainer, why would you want to build this kit without using this after-market?

I’ve still got to add the Aries PE foot pedals


The cockpit floor, trim adjuster and control yoke


The seat and rear cockpit assembly, I’ve used some “artistic licence” on colouring the dials and switches on the rear wall.
Both seats, transmitter and receiver are Aires/Quickboost resin.


The decal on the transmitter was also from the Airscale set.

Dry-fitting the cockpit assembly into the side of the aircraft, the instrument cluster and front floor of the cockpit needs to be attached to the cockpit assembly.



I’ve added some Eduard PE “placards” that I had left over from a previous build, I do wish kit manufacturers would supply these (as decals?)

So now I’m going to finish the instrument cluster, add the foot pedals, attach it to the cockpit front floor and then I can give it a flat coat and close the fuselage.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[ElCapitan]

Looks great!!!

[shortCummins]

Final steps before buttoning-up the fuselage

I wanted to show you the fantastic Yahu IP in more detail, I’ve also added the PE foot pedals


I’d added the IP sub-assembly to the cockpit from floor assembly




I think this photo shows it at its best?





The whole cockpit sub-assemblies…





Next I’ll be fixing the two fuselage half and setting about masking the canopy.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Tis a thing of beauty mate. That IP looks beautiful.

[shortCummins]

Tis a thing of beauty mate. That IP looks beautiful.

thanks Stokesy,
I'm going to use Yahu IP's wherever possible from now on

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

whilst researching the mossie I stumbled across these photos of "real" builds...

[Stokesy44]

Tis a thing of beauty mate. That IP looks beautiful.

thanks Stokesy,
I'm going to use Yahu IP's wherever possible from now on

rgds
John(shortCummins)

Aren't they great? You just get the panel, not loads of extra PE you don't want, need or have to pay for!

[Avgas]

Fantastic pit. I hope you can see it all through the transparencies! Those IP's are certainly worth a look I think. I've got to go through the Hannants list now and see what fits my stash!

By the way, I thought you might be interested in this if you're a Mossie fan like me. If you have a decent sound system and subs crank them up 'cos the sound is hairs on arms stand up good...there's only one thing that sounds better than a Merlin and that's two of 'em!

[shortCummins]

Fantastic pit. I hope you can see it all through the transparencies! Those IP's are certainly worth a look I think. I've got to go through the Hannants list now and see what fits my stash!

By the way, I thought you might be interested in this if you're a Mossie fan like me. If you have a decent sound system and subs crank them up 'cos the sound is hairs on arms stand up good...there's only one thing that sounds better than a Merlin and that's two of 'em!

thanks for that Dave what an aircraft, what a sound

[shortCummins]

The fuselage joined with minimal filler required, just a couple of spots of “spru-glue” and a light sanding



Closing the fuselage caused the radio and receiver to “pop off”, I’ll repaint and reattach them just before I fix the canopy. Then through my own ham-fistedness I managed to knock off the pilots seat.


I’ve also built the wing and engine nacelle sub-assemblies



The propellors and spinner covers have also been completed

I first painted the tips white…

…and then painted them yellow




True Details resin wheels

Ultimate primer


vallejo acrylic Metal Color 77.717 dull aluminium

Allan "new rubber" 79042 and then gloss coated

Ultimate light dirt weathering wash



I’ll either build the main landing gear next or start on the primer for the fuselage and wings.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Coming along nicely. The wheels look great and its getting to that point where it looks like a proper aircraft. I love that moment with aircraft kits, you can hold it in your hand and go yeah! - well, that's what I do anyway.

[Avgas]

Great job on the wheels.

[GarethCrossland]

That looks fantastic!

[shortCummins]

Coming along nicely. The wheels look great and its getting to that point where it looks like a proper aircraft. I love that moment with aircraft kits, you can hold it in your hand and go yeah! - well, that's what I do anyway.

me to

Great job on the wheels.

That looks fantastic!

thanks guys, I really enjoying the build

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Primer time, Ultimate grey
Little bit of re-scribing and the seam at the front of the windscreen opened so needed refilling

underwing masked, the landing lights have been painted with Humbrol Maskol (now thats an interesting smell!)


I’ve masked the inside of the canopy, and the nose, using the Montex mask set

I’ll first spray the inside and then mask and spray the outside of the canopy

I’ve decided to attempt a bare wood and metal scheme, as if the aircraft has been built and is now on its way to the paint shop. I know this would never have happened as they were painted on the assembly line during the build process, but its my model so I can imagine.

Here are some photos that I’ve found on the internet that I’ll be using as reference






I realise that these are from rebuilds and not “production” but I’m sure their reasonably close.

While I was looking for “wooden” mosquitos I came across some plans/blueprints that I’ve used as a base to allow me to create a guide for painting both the aluminium and plywood sections.







Once the primer has cured I’ll make a start on the linen tail and main aluminium panels, the inspection points will be painted after the wood scheme.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Dude, its going to look epic. What a fantastic idea for the exterior.

[demarcation]

Looks fantastic, keep up the good work!

[shortCummins]

Dude, its going to look epic. What a fantastic idea for the exterior.

thanks Stokesy, I can't claim originality as there have been 3 or 4 (that I could find) examples

Looks fantastic, keep up the good work!

thanks for the encouragement

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

The Montex mask(s) didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, the fit was OK, they needed to be “helped” with maskol in one or two places, however there was a bit of seepage, I’m guessing that I didn’t press hard enough with the cocktail stick?


I’ve decided to spray the vallejo acrylic metal color dull aluminium 77.717 first so I need to mask the main panels, the other inspection points will be painted after the wood scheme.




The “outside” Montex mask


Masks removed


The outside mask(s) left a fair bit of glue behind, I need to clean this off when I tackle the seepage.

The “dull” aluminium is quite bright, I’ll be adding post-shading so that will probably tone in down a bit?





Next I’ll tackle the linen tail and then mark out for the plywood panels.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

I started by masking the tail/rear of the aircraft to allow me to spray the base colour of Tamiya XF-55 deck tan for the linen tail.


Once that had dried I sprayed some thinned Tamiya X-19 smoke to give the appearance of stretched fabric over a wooden frame



Previously I’d sprayed most of the aluminium, the remaining access panels will be applied after the wood effect, so I needed to mask these. Then I drew the outline of the plywood panels directly onto the Ultimate primer. Some of the longer pieces on the wings and fuselage were masked before I applied the pre-shading.
For recent models I’ve taken to “black basing” rather than pre-shading as I think it can give a far more interesting tonal effect however for this I’m planning on using the “panel edges” as demarcation and pre-shading should help achieve the effect I’m after.


PHOTO GOES HERE


pre-shading







The long strips were then removed and the base colour for the wood, Mr Hobby H27 tan, was sprayed







I need to let this coat fully cure as I’ll be doing a lot of masking for the wooden panels, which I’ll be starting next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Wood effect.
To “paint” the wood I need to follow a number of steps.
1) apply base colour
2) apply wood grain
3) apply wood colour
4) apply transparent colour

So previously the base colour has been applied, now I need to apply the wood grain using RB productions PE mask/stencil for wood pattern and vallejo model color woodgrain 70.828.
I’ll need to mask each plywood panel to create the effect I’m after. Rather than show each panel from start to finish I’ll only fully document the one of the wings.
various panels are masked in preparation for the wood grain

the PE mask

the first wood grain panels are made, various parts of the PE stencil and rotations were used to give different grain effects

I then added shading to the edges of the panels using thinned Tamiya flat black

additional panels and shading



Rear stabilisers





Still a few “panels” to add to the top of the wings, then the underside, after their complete I’ll start on the fuselage however, that’ll have to wait until I get back from a week in Cornwall.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[MrGav]

The way you build your aircraft is what I aspire to do in the future when I've gotten more experience, absolutely fantastic stuff so far can't Wait to see how this turns out!
Oh and who doesn't love a mosquito

[NorthernModeller]

WOW SUPERB. I like your photography style great work on the mossy and great research

[gazmat]

I need to get those PE stencils, have couple of WW1 planes to do, there ideal....And great work work by the way SC..

[Stokesy44]

Superb work on the wood effects. I had no idea you could get graining stencils. Genius.

Really well done mate.

[Th3voic3]

Looks Superb!!!!!

Makes me jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shortCummins]

The way you build your aircraft is what I aspire to do in the future when I've gotten more experience, absolutely fantastic stuff so far can't Wait to see how this turns out!
Oh and who doesn't love a mosquito

MrGav, all it takes is practice, I've only been back model making a couple of years after a 30+ year absence, take your time and enjoy what you do, especially the mistakes as you won't learn without them!

WOW SUPERB. I like your photography style great work on the mossy and great research

researching is a big part of the fun for me, I spend far too much time trawling the internet

I need to get those PE stencils, have couple of WW1 planes to do, there ideal....And great work work by the way SC..

thanks, I got them here...
http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?mai ... cts_id=369

Now I'm back from Cornwall I'll be getting on with the wings

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Superb work on the wood effects. I had no idea you could get graining stencils. Genius.

Really well done mate.

thanks Stokesy, their a bit tricky to keep clean, soaking in Ultimate cleaner and gently rubbing with a soft brush seems to work

Looks Superb!!!!!

Makes me jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks Th3voic3

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[RossiM1]

That is awesome John the wood grain is very convincing and your step by step explanation will certainly be something I will be making use of, I have got a few WW1 bi planes one of them is the Eduard Roland which I have been putting off because I had no idea how to effectively create the natural wood finish, your piece of info will be invaluable.
Thanks
Gary

[shortCummins]

That is awesome John the wood grain is very convincing and your step by step explanation will certainly be something I will be making use of, I have got a few WW1 bi planes one of them is the Eduard Roland which I have been putting off because I had no idea how to effectively create the natural wood finish, your piece of info will be invaluable.
Thanks
Gary

Hi Gary, I've used this method before, you can see the build here...
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=18813

rgds
John

[RossiM1]

That's brilliant thanks John that Roland kit is the same one I have, your thread was superb I will definitely use your as reference if you don't mind.
Many Thanks
Gary

[shortCummins]

That's brilliant thanks John that Roland kit is the same one I have, your thread was superb I will definitely use your as reference if you don't mind.
Many Thanks
Gary

your very kind, I overdid the black demarkation between panels, this time I'm spraying the black edges before the top coat, think of it as a kind of pre-shading, we'll just have to see how this way works out

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Having spent a week away in Cornwall, fantastic weather for the time of year! I decided that I needed to re-do some panels, one on the main wing where I wanted a chevron pattern and I’d angled the grain in the same direction, and both of the rear stabilisers as I’d got the grain direction totally wrong.
Once I’d corrected those I finished the remaining panels on the top of the wings.

panels that needed to be amended



corrected panels and completed wood grain panels for the top of the wings



I’ve used different parts of the PE stencil and angled it differently to give different wood grain effects. I’ve also darkened the edges of the panels to try and give the impression of separate plywood panels.
These woodgrains will be over sprayed with a light coat of Tamiya XF-57 buff, depending on how this looks I could then give them a couple of coats of transparent orange, however this is really for varnished wood and I’m not sure I want to give that effect?

Next will be the underside of the wings and rear stabilisers and then I can start on the fuselage, so lots more masking and spraying and masking and spraying and masking and spraying.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

So I’ve finished masking and spraying and masking and spraying and masking and spraying, here’s what she looks like at the moment.





the front of the fuselage would have been made from a number of thinner strips of plywood to shape the nose

the rear section was made from smaller angled strips of plywood to shape the taper towards the tail


the bomb-bay doors were a little tricky as their longer than the PE mask so I had to spray part of the door and then try to position the mask making it join without making too obvious, I think it didn’t turn out too bad


So now thats all done next I’ll spray a couple of very light coats of Tamiya buff to blend them all and try to make them a little more uniform.
I have a go at that next week as I’m off to Telford this weekend

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

So after spending all that time masking and painting the wood effect its time to cover it up.
The idea is to blend-in the wood effects to make them look more realistic

This is the wood effect on the panels before the blending


a couple of thinned 50/50 Tamiya XF-57 buff coats and hopefully the wood grain is still visible




this shows a close-up of the wood grain effect




After letting the blending coat cure for a couple of hours a couple of thinned 50/50 coats of Hobby Color 92 clear orange was applied.
This gives the appearance (hopefully) of varnished wood, I was in two minds about doing this but I didn’t think that the blending coat gave the look I was after.






The clear orange gives a slightly gloss finish, I’ll be spraying a matt/flat coat to dull that down.

Now I’ve finished the wood effect I’ll be detailing all of the access panels, first I’ll paint then black and then dull aluminium

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Just a quick update, as I was preparing to start the detail painting of the access panels I decided to remove the masks from the aluminium panels and thought you might like to see the effect of the “wood” against metal





Theres some minor touch-up required on these, one spot of bleed through and a couple of scratches so I’ll fix them as I progress with the access panels

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Stokesy44]

Absolutely superb. Thanks for posting the full process too. Fascinating.

The aluminium panels look superb and the contrast against the plywood panels is a thing to see.

[MrGav]

Progressing really nicely, love the look of the wood against the metal lovely effect

[HIghAltitudeScale]

damn, I like what you've done, especially the wiring in the cockpit and the wood events. Very nice work!

[HIghAltitudeScale]

Damn, I like what you've done. Especially the wiring in the cockpit and the wood effects. Keep up the good work!

[shortCummins]

Absolutely superb. Thanks for posting the full process too. Fascinating.

The aluminium panels look superb and the contrast against the plywood panels is a thing to see.

Progressing really nicely, love the look of the wood against the metal lovely effect

thanks Stokesy and MrGav, the wood is a little darker than I'd intended but overall I'm really pleased with the effect

Damn, I like what you've done. Especially the wiring in the cockpit and the wood effects. Keep up the good work!

the resin aftermarket for the cockpit is a worthwhile addition

many thanks guys, much appreciated
John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

Before I brush-painted the vallejo acrylic metal color dull aluminium 77.717, I painted a base coat of Ultimate black primer to “cover” the wood effect. Both the Ultimate primer and the vallejo metal color worked really well with a hairy stick, I had to keep stirring the metal color as the pigments settled really quickly but I'll not hesitate to brush paint either of these in the future.

You can see in this photo a couple of area’s where the primer will need to be over painted, I’ve left these as I think I’ll need to fill some minor gaps when the nacelles are fitted to the wing(s) so I'll be breaking out the airbrush then


the edging of the bomb-bay doors will be masked and sprayed at the same time as the nacelles


the hatch detail


wing tips


fuselage details





…and just for fun I dry fitted the wings…



So next I’ll be firing the engine nacelles, respraying the dull aluminium where needed, and then joining the wings to the fuselage.


until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)