Tamiya Mosquito FB VI - 3/22 - Figure painting completed

[Mark M]

 

[Bomber_County]

This maybe of interest

 

[Bstarr3]

That's a good one too,bomber. Cheers. Is that from the unrestored walk-around? I have those all saved to my phone already, along with these of Wolf's, so I don't have to rely on spotty internet in the garage to check my references.

 

Another step I need to take is to paint over the bare metal on the firewall with interior green. I'm leaving it in aluminum on the gearbay side, which seems correct as far as I can tell.

 

I really appreciate people helping out with reference photos and advice. I've slowed down a bit at this point, but when I return I hope I'll have what I need to carry on for the rest of the build. Got some rods in .01, .02, .03, strips sized for stringers, as well as some strips sized for 1/32 2x4s for building things like ladders and work platforms. Also got some of those tiny brass nuts from modelmotorcars, as recommended by out2getcha. Thanks, Brian!

[RLWP]

In this picture:

 

 

You can see the tube that carries the cables and the cables themselves. It looks like some of the plugs are not connected

 

Richard

[Bstarr3]

Thanks for the follow up Richard. Yes, it does indeed look like most of the plugs are disconnected. It's a very useful detail picture though.

 

I do have a few updates though. Here is the second engine dryfit to the firewall and engine bearers.

 

 

This coolant pipe is just slightly off.

 

 

Priming lines scratched with 0.3mm lead wire. I used a trick that I learned, I belive, from Dodgem37's build. Made a jig from foam mounting tape to bend the wire at the right angles and lengths all at once. This requires very malleable wire to work. I tried even very fine brass and copper wire, but lead was the only thing that would do the trick.

 

 

And the ignition conduit, again made from 18ga hypodermic tubing. The last two lead wires are glued into the open end of the tube. The rest will be added after installation and paint. I went with insulated 18ga wire for the coolant pipes. Diameter seems about right and easy to bend into shape.

 

 

Hope these pics turned out ok. I took them through my new magnifying light.

[BloorwestSiR]

The pics look great as do those the wiring on the engines.

 

Carl

[karimb]

Bstarr3,

The work on the engine is coming along superbly. The addition of the wiring conduits and wires, along with the texturing of the crankcase is nothing short or fabulous!

Can't wait to see this engine painted up!

are you planning on having it factory fresh or there is going to be weathering involved?

Karim

[Bstarr3]

Carl, thanks for the kind words. I like working on detailing engines. I'm also going to give a first go to adding some plumbing and wires to the gear and bomb bays.

[Bstarr3]

Karim, thanks for the reply. I don't know if it looks fabulous, but I'm pretty happy with where we are so far.

 

I think I plan to model this one as pretty well used. It will be an exercise in restraint for me on the weathering front, as my previous four models have been American PTO birds that were beat to sh!t.

 

I like the additional artistic element of weathering my builds. Plus, I'm not a clean enough builder to get away with a factory floor or museum display look. 😀

[Bstarr3]

I really got in the weeds with detailing the engines these past weeks.  Last night, I finally decided to call it good and get on with my build.  In the end, I added a few bits of plumbing and wiring, but the main parts were full ignition harnesses and cylinder head coolant pipes (which I only did on the display engine. I plan to leave the more detailed one open and leave the other closed up).  The research and scratch building was fun, but I can see how people get too deep into it and run out of steam.  It has given me much admiration for the amazing builders following this thread, like Wolf, Out2getcha, and Peter, who put these extra details into every corner of their models.  

 

Two resources that really helped with adding some additional realistic "busyness" to the engine compartment was definitely the Eduard Brassin engine instructions, as well as this very detailed, labeled schematic drawing:

 

 

Now, on to my photos. It's been a long slog, but I have two engines completed, detailed, weathered, and installed in their engine bearers!

 

 

Starboard engine, which was my first attempt, will be behind closed cowling panels (although I did install the magnets so they'll be removable.)

 

 

Port engine, first up close in detail, then installed in the engine bearer:

 

 

 

 

 

Based on something I read in the engine edition of Mig's weathering magazine, I used 0 silk suture to represent the individual ignition leads.  Drybrushing them with silver created the effect I was going for. I'm not 100% on the technique - there is some fraying in the thread that leads them to look too big in places. Perhaps a finer thread would have worked better.  Altogether, I think lead wire looks just as good and is easier to pose in the way you want it. 

 

The engines were both weathered using AK's engine & turbine wash, but getting brown to show up on black is tricky. I also applied some dark earth colored pigment, to represent built up grime from oil leaks, etc. Very minimal chipping was employed, just to show some use.  Overall, I'm pleased with the way they came out. 

 

Up close top view of the engine, showing added details. I also plan to connect those cooling hoses up to the expansion tank that goes on the front of the engine, probably with shrink wrap. 

 

 

My plan for the next couple of days is to get the engines completely finished and move on to another part of this kit, finally. I have exhausts to add, a few more fiddly plumbing bits, and then on to cowlings. It will easily take me another couple of days to do this.  I'll post more pics when I have them.  Thanks for following. Comments and criticisms welcome as always!

[Guest]

Very nicely done. Cant find fault with any of it. Carry on.....Harv

[Wolf Buddee]

That turned out quite nice Brian. The two large coolant pipes look great but they didn't connect to the glycol header tank at the front. The second pic I posted shows they terminated at the front of the cylinder head. How they were connected at the back I'm not sure. I suspect the lines at the back more than likely went to the radiators in the wing's leading edges. Eduard's instructions may provide you with a definitive answer.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

[Bstarr3]

Thanks for the thumbs up, Harv.

[Bstarr3]

Cheers, Wolf. I appreciate the additional info. I remember looking at another build that had extended those coolant pipes past the front of the cylinder heads. They even used great little model car hose clamps. It was obviously for a different Merlin on a different plane. They plumbing and wiring differences on these engines between airframes is very confusing for the newbie researcher. Anyway, thanks for continuing to follow and weigh in. Your comments are much appreciated

[Wolf Buddee]

The other build you might be referring to is probably my Spitfire build. I scratch built the coolant elbows that came off the cylinder heads and was going to use the Model Car Garage hose clamps. I posted a pic showing that and then discovered photos that showed a completely different style of clamp and had to scratch build the correct style of clamp.

 

While the Merlins were very similar for the Mossie and the Spitfire the plumbing was very different. It took me a long time collecting pics and drawings for the Spitfire's engine and then I had to sort out what was original or restored. I wanted to get my details as correct as possible for a war time aircraft. Half the fun, for me anyways, is the research involved.

 

Cheers,

Wolf