John1

Keep in mind that Baracuda offers a really nice set of underwing cannons for the -109 (along with lots of other stuff).

So they applied the 2nd camo color after national markings and serials were painted on? Interesting....

Totally uneducated guess but if this aircraft was indeed painted red at the factory, I think that just as a matter of standard procedure, they would have added the serial number and weight table. If it was my model, I'd include those markings. Just my $0.02.

Nice catch. That being said, any speculation on the paint scheme or mark of those two Spits? Was there a chance that some spits had a solid upper color?

Stumbled upon this picture when I was looking for references for my Mosquito's Merlin engines. Assuming it's not colorized, it's a pretty nice picture. I'm curious about the solid green over blue paint scheme. Never seen that before; Was it common? Also, anyone know what mark Spitfire these are?

Still plugging away on the motors. The Barracuda valve covers are a nice upgrade. Very reasonably priced, perfect fit and very well cast. Typical Barracuda! So both motors are now complete. Next up is a coating of semi-gloss black. To that, I added a dark brown wash, some pastels and started highlighting some of the nuts and bolts with a silver artist's pencil. Have a lot more detail painting and weathering to do here. I've added the ignition housing on the motor above. At this point, I think I'm only going to add details to one motor. I highly doubt I'd ever have both cowlings off the finished model. I'm winging the paintwork on these motors. Just about every color pictures I've seen are Merlin's mounted in restored warbirds or in museums after being "restored". Either way, they typically don't represent wartime engines. Here's one pictures I thought was pretty nice (assuming it's not colorized), not a Mosquito but shows a WW2 vintage Merlin pretty well. Note the spark plugs, their wires and the ignition assembly. Tamiya didn't include these bits. BTW, what's with the green and blue paint scheme on those Spitfires? Never seen that scheme before.. That's it for now, much work to still to do.

My vote is for Revell but they missed some obvious stuff. To do it right, you need to address the mg bulges, control surfaces and oil cooler. Then you have silly stuff like the deart with moulded on seatbelts. Hoping at some point Tamiya does this very important aircraft. I second looking at Thierry’s tweak list. It’s very helpful.

They did. Aside from magnetic cowlings on the Mosquito (which appear to work well), no more silly features.

2nd. Just found the silly "extra features" such as retractable landing gear, movable control surfaces, etc a bit annoying.

Are you using a specific product for the Fuel Stain wash? Again, just a really nice job on this kit. John

Love the castor oil staining. How did you replicate that?

I think I mentioned it before but I had some interest in cutting out the cockpit's overhead escape hatch. The kit canopy is amazingly clear but I thought having the hatch off would still increase the visibility of the cockpit and also add a bit of visual interest. It wasn't often done but I have seen a few pictures that show the hatch removed, including: My only issue was the thought of botching the surgery. If I did that, my project would be at a dead end. Thankfully, due to a very kind gent, I've got a spare Mossie canopy on the way. Once it arrives, I'll start the surgery. Initial plan is to cut out the escape hatch by drilling multiple holes inside and then between a very new X-acto knife and a rat-tail file, finish out the opening. The escape hatch itself would be re-built using a donor B.IV vac form canopy (not sure it's the same as FB.VI, if it isn't, I may use the spare Tamiya canopy as a donor). Here is the removed emergency escape hatch (picture courtesy of Anthony). If the surgery goes easily, I may also cut out the sliding "clear vision" quarter panel as well. On that note - if anyone has a picture that clearly shows what the retracted quarter panel looks like from the inside, please feel free to share. That's it for now guys.

So my build is still motoring on. As much as I dislike engines, I need to get this phase over with so I've started building them. The Tamiya Merlins are absolutely fantastic. I'm not a fan of displaying engines on models but these are so nice, I feel like I need to. As another plus, the cowling panels are held on with magnets so if I don't like the look, I can always button up the nacelles. Each engine is around 30 parts, including 4 PE. Great detail, especially the supercharger. Another fun fact - later in the war, Rolls Royce introduced a two-stage supercharger that provided greater power at higher altitudes. The extra hardware required the later version Mosquito's cowlings to be lengthened. However, since the fighter bomber variants pretty much conducted their business at lower altitudes, they were never upgraded the newer motors and longer cowlings. Here is the first engine. Completely stock so far. I'll add some wiring / piping once it's installed in the nacelle. Dry fitted in the engine supports. When it comes time to permanently install it, you are provided with a couple of screws to keep it secured. And dry fitted into the nacelle. There are many more cooling lines to be added. One note - the cylinder heads are only tacked on. The real ones had prominent Rolls Royce markings stamped on them. I'm guessing Tamiya couldn't include these due to copyright issues. So I i opted to go with Barracuda's very nice update set. And a picture of the real thing: Once they arrive, I'll get them installed and start painting. That's it for tonight, thanks as always for looking.

So we’ve conclusively established the following: 1- this is the WNW product, no need to discuss any further. 2- wings are hopelessly botched due to stacking pad fiasco and require resin replacement. 3- middle wing is hopelessly botched due to tape issue and requires resin replacement. 4- box art is hopelessly botched and upon purchase, engine must be blurred with a sharpie. Or, if we are lucky, the box the corrected resin wings comes in will have updated art. Have I missed anything?

One note on the picture above. If you look closely, you will see an access door on forward, lower section of the two nacelles on the right. These are the port and starboard inner nacelles. This may be fake news but I was watching a walk-around video on the Mossie filmed by Kermit Weeks (well known vintage aircraft collector) and he mentioned that the Mosquito’s motors had to be manually primed through those access panels. Supposedly the poor maintenance guys had to reach in and hold down the primer mechanism while the pilot started the motor. I say “poor” because this put them directly under the Merlin’s exhaust! Not a pleasant place to be during the starting sequence. Again, no idea if this is accurate but since Weeks flew the Mossie, I’ll assume he knew what he was talking about. Just something I found interesting.

That console looks fantastic. Great work Tim.

So..... how's the build progressing? I've really enjoyed all the work done to date.

No... the prop is rigidly fixed to the crankcase. The only way you could have a rotary engine turn opposite to the prop would be pretty much rebuild the entire motor and add appropriate gearing.

I agree.. that's crazy. This kit is junk. Hopefully the aftermarket folks will come to rescue with corrected resin wings with those bumps in the correct location.

I’ve got a bunch of hours in Hueys (as cargo in the back) in the same time frame. All the cockpits I saw were NVG black. Some of the cargo compartments were black, some grey. Good memories. The Blackhawk was a fun ride (except when they were crashing frequently when first put into service) but nothing beat sitting in the door of a Huey doing NOE flying on a nice day.

Still looking for reasons not to start working on the engines. To kill more time, I did some weathering and installed the interior fittings to blank off the wing openings in the engine compartments. Like the firewall, these are metal, finished with aluminum lacquer, so they got a coating of the AK Matt Aluminum. After it dried, I painted the wooden sections that the cowling was secured to. I then hit the bits with various color washes to highlight the very nice detail and add some filth. Both the wheel wells and engine compartments on combat aircraft were typically filthy. Want a good example, open the hood of your car. In addition to the washes, I used some dark grey pastels. Still much more to do but I like the look so far. Sorry for the dark pictures, I was losing the light when I took them. Note the exquisite plastic spring. Tamiya truly has done some wonderful work here. I also did the same for the nacelle interiors. And for the fire wall assemblies. With the engines installed, a lot of this will only be visible at a sharp angle, or hidden completely. That's it for now, thanks for looking!

I for one am pretty happy. I don't believe in coincidences so unless someone comes up with additional info, for now, I'm assuming we'll be getting the WNW kit (minus their wonderful instruction booklet, which saddens me). On another plus - looks they are combining the early and late versions in one box, unlike WNW who opted to release the earlier version first and then make me wait for the one I wanted.

But... but.... the rib tape is clumsy. It can’t be theirs.

I heard from a friend of the sister of my favorite Starbucks barista that Meng's next release is going to be a 32nd scale Lancaster!

Reminds me of when my dog gets a bit too friendly and starts sniffing all the other dogs in the park.