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


Bstarr3

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Thanks Carl. While not finished yet (still weathering to do) the engine looks a whole lot better after tonight's work.

 

20180110_220400.jpg

 

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Also painted starboard engine bearers and firewall, and slapped together the port engine.

 

Still trying to decide how I want to display this beast, so I'm not sure if I'm going to go to the trouble of detailing the other engine, though I probably will.

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I love that idea, Carl. I was reading through Wolf's (abandoned?) Mossie build again and loved the look of the Eduard engine. I have actually been having a hard time finding good clear reference photos of the engine off the frame.

Hi Bstarr3,

 

No, my Mossie build hasn't been abandoned (although it seems like it) it's just been put on hold while I try and recover some build mojo. I've tried a couple of other projects but gettin' back to the bench with any real drive has been hard.

 

If I can make a few suggestions on detailing the Merlins? Try and use styrene rod rather than a softer material for the ignition conduit. It's much easier to keep straight and as it's styrene, far easier to attach to your kit engine. Lead wire works really well for the ignition leads because it's so malleable and if you drill small holes in your ignition conduit they attach easily to the conduit with CA. Copper wire, I find, is just too stiff.

 

Keep up the good work and hopefully your build will inspire me to get back to mine soon if I don't get distracted by something else. ;)

 

Cheers,

Wolf

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Wolf, 

Really pleased to have you on board.  I've admired your builds, and look forward to seeing you get back to the Mossie one day. Thanks for the advice - it's always welcome.  I sort of used what I had available.  No LHS here, so my options for supplies are hardware store, Michael's, and online retailers/ebay. I'm a doctor so I have lots of access to hypodermic needles.  The port side ignition conduit is actually a 19ga needle with the sharp end ground off.  The starboard side as you can tell is 18ga solder (which is also, btw, the smallest size solder I can find at any local hardware store. If only radio shack weren't oob). I liked the needle, but grinding it was sort of a pain, and it's functionally impossible to drill holes in, which as you noted would be a great way to secure the wires. 

 

Since I have no local store, I've never bought any stock styrene since I'm not really sure of what sizes I need.  I don't want to wait a week for shipping (not to mention have my wife see yet another box come in from spruebrothers/hobbyworld/scalehobbyist  :rolleyes: ) only to find it's not what I really need.  So, since I have your attention, and you're in an advice-giving mood, what would you recommend as a good basic stock of styrene sheet/rod/strip to do some scratch building in 1/32 scale?  I look forward to your reply.  

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Small update today.  Inspired by dodgem37's IDF P-51, and Wolf's Spitfire IXc, I've decided that the first engine is going to be the one that I will keep covered up, and am redoubling my efforts at scratch built detail on engine #2. This resulted in a lot of research, thinking, and planning last night, and not very much model building. 

 

I measured and trimmed up 18ga needles to serve as the ignition conduit on both sides as well as the intake side of the engine. Following from something I read in dodgem37's thread, I rolled 18ga solder over a flat file to create a texture not unlike the woven steel on the wiring. I also drilled some additional holes in anticipation of placing wires here there and everywhere, and wasted the better part of an hour trying to measure, cut, and glue 2mm pieces of the needle tubing to the sides of the conduit.  I finally gave up on that and decided that I will instead glue the 0.02 solder representing plug wires directly to the metal tubing. I tried to engineer my own punch and die from a nail with the tip ground flat, but that was . . . unsuccessful.  I think I'm going to have to break down and buy some more supplies if I'm going to do this right. 

 

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I continue to welcome any advice on scratch detailing for beginners, including a good stock of supplies to have on hand. Thanks

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Lovely work,and seriously impressed with how far you've come so quickly. I'm a veterinarian, and we go through 18 g needles by the box load, think I may have to divert a box to my house. Will follow with interest as have this kit waiting for me to build up the courage to start it.

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Tim, thanks for the kind words.  Well, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.  If I had an LHS I'm sure I would spend hundreds on store bought solutions to all these problems, but since I don't, I spend a lot of time looking through the aisles at the hardware store, digging through the junk drawer in my garage, thinking of what I can fashion out of stretched sprue or parts from my spare parts bin, etc.  The needles are actually a great building material and easy enough to cut with a dremel. 

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And another follow up question regarding the shape of the intake side ignition harness. On the first engine, I tried to recreate what a saw on the Eduard instructions: an ignition conduit running centrally through the vee, with the individual spark plug wires coming off underneath it.  What I've seen on some Spits is an ignition conduit mounted off to the starboard side with plug wires much more visible.  So, which is correct for the Mossie? 

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Sorry Bstarr3, I've been under the weather the last few days so I haven't responded back to your query. I'll have to check what sizes of styrene rod I've been using but I usually go for the smallest diameter rod I can get from Evergreen and then the next two sizes up from that. I also buy some of their styrene tubing. You can heat it up and stretch it and still have a very nice small tube. It just takes some practice.

 

The Mossie had a central ignition conduit, rather than one offset to starboard. Coolant pipes ran either side of the intake valley with the ignition conduit down the middle. I have a photo but I can't post it until after work tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

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Wolf, no pics, it didn't happen ol' buddy.....Harv :rolleyes:

What you talkin' 'bout Harvey? ;)

 

The only thing I've accomplished in the last few days, due to being home sick, is finishing off the instrument panel on my F4U-1a Corsair. Next week Bonnie has surgery with a difficult recovery so I'll be home with her for two weeks but I might not have a lot of bench time so I haven't started any kind of a WIP thread.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

Sorry for going off topic Bstarr3

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Cheers, Wolf. That picture would be helpful. Turns out even detailed reference photos often focus on the sides of the engines and not the top. I will go ahead and get some styrene rod, tubing, and strip.

 

No off topic rules here, bud. Good luck to your wife as she recovers from surgery. Thanks for following

 

Brian

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Guest Peterpools

Very nice work on the Merlin's and the added details are going to bring up the engine area to another level. Just keep test fitting as even when doing the Mossie's Merlins, the squeezing everything in is a tight balancing act.

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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As promised Brian, here's a pic of the upper ignition conduit for the Mossie's engine. as you can see, it looks like an undulating serpent, with the individual leads coming off at an angle from the top of the conduit. You can also see parts of the black coolant pipes on either side and the fuel primer lines on top of the intake manifolds.

 

Mossie-ign.-conduit_zpsbkqbvl9f.jpg

 

Hopefully it'll help. This kind of detail is best recreated with styrene rod for the conduit and lead wire for the leads.

 

I've also included a photo that shows how the coolant pipe attaches to the front of the cylinder head. 

 

Coolant-pipe-attachment_zpsq67i5jws.jpg

 

 

Cheers,

Wolf

Edited by Wolf Buddee
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Thanks, Wolf. Wow I'm surprised that Tamiya left out such a prominent detail on the engine. Those photos will definitely be helpful.

 

Ordering stock styrene from any of the standard online retailers is going to take 5-6 days to get here at least, which is a huge frustration. I might just put the engines on hold and see what other assemblies I can do, although I'll want to have the same materials for detailing the bomb bay, gear bays, etc...

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