gwana

The Profi kits I have, some of their "instructions" seem to be technical drawings from the actual aircraft manuals, not really anything to do with assembling their parts.

Anxiety. The thing I'm supposed to be relaxing from.

I think one decision I've made is to not stress too much over accuracy. Honestly, I'm not interested in representing serial # 12334 exactly as it appeared on September 8, 1943 at the Battle of Boogaloo. I just want a nice looking airplane that's representative of the breed. So if my tail number isn't right for the 489th Bomber Group, or if the scheme I selected was only on the -J and not the -H, well - too bad. Cal it Artistic License. I do enjoy what I learn doing research, but I'm not going to agonize over a shade of German Grey or whether *this* plane had the square intakes or the oval ones, or that Hermann Von Burgermeister never flew the BF-109G3, or that the kit I'm using has a rudder that's 3.5mm too tall. I'll worry about that stuff when building gets boring or I submit models for judging. Right now, it's for me.

Sorry. Or not, depending on how you feel about it. In my case, my SO let me take over an entire extra bedroom for my man cave, enjoys accompanying me to hobby shops, holds my selections while I browse, and suggested I build a display case in the dining room. I think I'll keep her.

Thanks for this - it's a good thing to think about. I'm not at the point of selling off my grand stash of 8 kits, or even quitting, I think for me it gets to be more like analysis paralysis. I think 20 steps ahead, forget 3 steps, make big plans, then get disappointed with myself when I can't deliver. Maybe it's like writer's block. I have the ideas and the want to write them down, but they won't come out because I get hung up in the process. I wake up thinking today I'll jump in my hobby room and spend 3 or 4 hours catching up on paint, and then I go in there and realize that first I have to mask and prep and get things organized by color and oh, I didn't prime that piece, so I'll have to do that first, and now it's 2 in the afternoon and... and I just lose the drive. I don't want to quit because it's hard. I want to learn how to let myself be an artist, and I think I need to slow down and lower my expectations of progress. I have a vision of the completed project, and I want the pride of looking at it and thinking "I made that." And I think I need to find ways to derive more satisfaction from the process itself.

I have found in the past that my greatest satisfaction comes from the build itself. So I think I put off the detail painting and move on to another sub-assembly, and eventually I'm at a point where I've got 5 or 6 different things - pit, undercarriage, engines, wings - in various forms of partial completion and I can't move on until I paint some fiddly details. And there's no point whipping out the RLM02 to paint just this, when I'll just have to paint that and that two steps later. So maybe I'll just start this other kit right now, and do a bunch of paint at once... but I never seem to get there and there's parts from 3 kits in the booth. So I made a decision on Sunday to concentrate on one kit, and to go back to Step 1 and finish that and move on. And that led me to painting detail, and I had a pretty good time figuring out artist's oils and brushwork, but I didn't get a whole lot of progress made in the grand scheme. I think I may have to change my tactics and paint more stuff on the sprue before assembly (and plan ahead better), but that's never been my process. I'd rather have as much gluing as possible done and paint the whole thing. It's not working.

I can't seem to get myself back into the groove. I went to a regional IPMS show on Saturday, drove 3 hours each way, and I was sorely disappointed. I did see a few nice models on display, but I was really hoping the vendors would have a full array of stuff I could drool over and look at in person, not just admire online. I wanted inspiration and ideas, instead I saw basically a garage sale - a bunch of old kits in battered boxes, parts missing, or just junk. It was advertised as 80 vendor tables, but in reality I think it was maybe 7 or 8 vendors, and only 3 or 4 of those actually selling kits. I actually had a better time at a local show weeks ago that was 1/4 the size and got a couple of deals there that got my juices flowing. I left really dejected, and it has lingered. I could have spent Saturday working on my own stuff, but I wanted to catch some excitement. Instead I got home not wanting to look at a kit and since then I haven't really wanted to bother. Between my commute and other responsibilities, I have very little time for my hobby, and I look at the thing and think "I need to do x,y, and z before I can proceed, and for that I'll need to dirty up the airbrush, clean it, paint that by hand... eh, screw it.

Well, yes. I looked at that video and the Eduard instructions for inspiration. But in this case, I think Eduard is incorrect. The engine they model is a representation of a Merlin XX or 21, but it is not visually the same as a 25, or even a 23. The production on these engines was fluid, and I'm not sure many people know or care about the differences. I only got interested because I could see that the pictures I found showed completely different plumbing and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. It's a real rabbit hole since there aren't a whole lot of survivors, and very few pictures of the TOP of a Mosquito engine in situ. Forward the video to 3:03. The pipes being installed on the top of the engine cannot be found on any Merlin 23 or 25 that I can find images of. They are a distinctive feature on the 21 and prior, which was not installed in the MkVI Mosquito. Other kits that depict a MkII or a MkIV may have the Merlin 21. If my production data is correct, it lists every single serial number Mosquito produced, and every MkVI is listed with the 23 or 25. Tamiya's own reference material in the box shows a Merlin 23 or 25 engine in photos of the admittedly over-restored example. I've found examples of period-crashed and under-construction Mossies on the web with engines that do not look like Eduard's example (and some that do, but not MkVI's). That Eduard engine was more common in the Lancaster, Halifax, Beaufighter, and very early spits. I think most of the model producers have a "Merlin" already molded and they just throw it at whatever. The later engine, like the 61, has a completely different supercharger housing and it's obvious, so a later Spitfire kit like a MkIX will have the proper engine and will not have the water pipes, but I think the changes between the 21/23/25 were so esoteric that they just didn't bother. The 25 variant isn't really found in anything else but the Lancaster and the York, and as yet there's nothing in 1/32. So throw what you've got at it. Even if Tamiya comes out with other Mossie variants in the future, they're not likely to model 4-7 different engines to make all the variants correct. Tamiya themselves may have run into the same variable and just decided to model it without the topside plumbing. The kit engine isn't wrong, it's just missing the key features that would differentiate a 21 from a 25. It's generic. Eduard's is not. So, yes, the Eduard engine is A possible Mosquito engine, and a fine model in its own right, but I don't think it's the correct engine for the MkVI of the Tamiya kit. If I'm going to scratchbuild extra detail, it might as well be correct (not to mention the 25 is easier to do). If anyone has a photo of a confirmed Merlin 23 or 25 with the external water pipes on top, I'd love to see it. I think the Eduard engine is a bit more interesting visually, but I just don't think it belongs in this airplane. I have no problem with modelers putting it in there if they want to, I just wanted to satisfy my own curiosity and I couldn't find a definitive answer anywhere.

Well, there should still be something connecting the coolant tank to the heads, and the overflow is missing, but they have all the stubs on the tank. The engine sprues are obviously shared amongst other kits. They cast so many other small parts, I'm not sure why they left out the 2 fittings. I'll have to see if I can scratch build something tiny enough that's believable. I think a bit of card and rod will do fine, plus an ignition harness. I'm not going to bother with the ones that are hidden by the exhausts.

Well, I think I have some closure. I have found 2 production sources that show some of the early MkVI aircraft got the Merlin 23, most of production got the 25. This makes sense just given the production dates of the MkVI being '43 and later. The 21 may have gotten into the MkII Fighter and Night Fighter. There's not much visual difference I can discern between the 23 and the 25 - I think the change is in supercharger output. However, the 23 and 25 do not have the prominent coolant pipes on the top of the engine like the 21 (and as depicted in the Eduard aftermarket engines). So, if anyone cares, unless you're modeling the first MkVI prototype (engine type not clear), it seems likely based on my research that the Mosquito engine for the Tamiya kit should be visually similar to the engine in this walkaround: https://www.largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/wk.php?wid=125 And this is why I should just build OOB... /nerd

Well, I've found reference photos from the period and documentation that show both Merlin 21 and 25 variants in what appear to be Mk VI's, so I guess the correct answer is that either could be correct, and if you want to be picky you'd need to know how your specific airframe was configured if you're after a specific subject. The engines were constantly changing in production. I've edited the post above in case somebody sees it in the future.

Hmm, interesting. I took a look back at your build, and I have no reason to doubt Wolf's reference photos, although we don't know what variant of the Mossie they came out of. The plot thickens. I'm nowhere near mounting engines yet, so I guess research continues. It's really hard to find period photos showing the top of the engine, and it's entirely likely that restored birds have newer engines in them... Thanks!

Got some detail painting done this weekend, but I mostly got mired in the intricacies of the Merlin engine. IMHO, with the engine being on display, it needs some more detail on top. I'm not too concerned about flipping the whole plane on its belly and counting oil feed lines, but in all of the pictures of the real thing, the top of the Merlin is... busy. HOWEVER. After looking lustfully at the Eduard resin engines and doing my best to research (and time spent copying scratchbuilding), it seems that they have reproduced the Merlin XX or the 21 from the Hurricane, early Mossie prototypes and early variants, whereas the Mosquito Mark VI had the Merlin 23 or 25. (Edit to add: Nope - further research shows a Mk VI could come with the 21.) Airfix also uses an older engine design in their 1/24 kit that might be suitable for a Mark IV or earlier prototypes. From what I can tell, the engine with the coolant tubes running across the top (a la Eduard) was phased out before many got into Mossies, and almost certainly not the FBVI. (Edit: I was wrong) The coolant tank connects to two small housings on the front of the heads. This seems to be a result of switching from a 1-piece block to separate block & heads. So the Merlin in most some of the Mossies is not going to have the coolant tubes or nest of snakes ignition harness as presented by Eduard, but instead will have a raised ignition harness with a more simplified routing. This is exactly what's shown in the Tamiya reference literature, and I have yet to find a photo of a wartime Mosquito FB that has an engine with the external coolant tubes visible on top. If anyone is well versed on the Merlin variants in Mosquitoes I'd be happy to get some more input before I make some fiddly bits. I have to connect that coolant tank to something.

It's like Game of Thrones in 1/32!

We all do. Her name is "Aftermarket". We buy sparkly things and stuff to make them pretty and get them plastic surgery to 'enhance' them.

Honey-do list was too long to accomplish anything worthy of photographs, but as an update I have a bit of a story... On Friday I received a notice in the mail that I had a Registered Letter I needed to sign for. Registered letters are never good, in my experience. I don't think I owe anybody money, and I don't have any rich relatives that may die and leave me money. So I was rather anxious on Friday night wondering what bad news I was going to get on Saturday morning. Saturday comes and I try to get to the Post Office, to find that there is a farmer's market, an art show, and a music festival all going on, and the Post Office is across the street from an Irish pub. On St. Patrick's Day. Annoyance level 11. Parked in the grass. So I got my letter. It's from RB Productions in Poland. The PE intake screens and radiators for the Mossie that I ordered off eBay a month ago. Forgot all about them. I'll try to remember to put up some pictures next to the kit parts when I get to that section.

I saw a very interesting idea at an art shop recently. Someone had built a cabinet out of decent plywood and installed a regular storm door for a house on the front. It's 3' wide, full glass, and it locks.

Found a very helpful video tour on YouTube, have some printed materials on the way, but it looks like I'm on the right track. Ordered the HGW wet transfers for stenciling.

Wonder Woman nose art?

Clear fuselage version, $144.

All right, I've been scouring the internet looking for some reference pictures of the cockpit, and I'm coming up short. I can see that the backrest of the pilot's seat is wood, not metal like the seat pan (Or is it metal? Now I think I've seen both). How about the floor and the bulkheads? The navigator's seat back and the vertical panel beneath his knees are marked with the yellow circle that I thought denoted that those areas were armored. Is it a metal panel, or metal sandwiched in the wood? Surely an inch of plywood won't stop cannon fire or flak. I've weathered my cockpit floor as metal, and now I'm thinking it's probably wood, as is the horizontal shelf behind the navigator. The restored pictures I could find seem to show woodgrain under the new paint. If so, I'm going to strip the assembly and start over with a different base color so I can model worn paint on wood instead, and I need to fix some boo-boos anyway. Edit: I know there's plywood on both sides of the control yoke, just not sure about the rest of the floor.

Thanks! I will. Always happy for input. Just going by Tamiya's color guide. I have to re-do those anyway.

Here is where the 'pit stands as of this morning: It would seem my crew has very muddy boots...

Interesting! Many decades ago, my dad taught me the dip trick for prop tips, but I hadn't thought about it for other parts.

It does help, thanks! I started discovering on my own that my 000 was not the way to go, since it doesn't hold any paint. I think I also need to get some enamels for brush painting, because I try too hard to cover in the first pass and the Tamiya paints just seem to bead up sometimes.