WE GOT WOOD! Mosquito Madness #3

[Out2gtcha]

Said it be fore mate, that light is sweeeet! The pit sidewall additions and the buttons look great.

 

Brian

[LSP_Ray]

Those panels look great, Phil! And the small lens made great bulbs. This going to be a killer model!

[nmayhew]

this is why i am too scared to go near 1/24 - there is NO hiding place

 

having said that, you are really showing off your skills here Phil - looks fantastic!

 

[PhilB]

Thanks for all the kind words Gentlemen.

I knew when I started this build that at some point I was going to have to cut up a terrific £100 kit!

Well this last weekend seemed to be about time to do what is probably the scariest part of the build.

 

The instructions only show a plan view of the measurements on the top wing.

You have to appreciate that the lower wing is not as wide due to the recess for the flaps so that is a bit of a grey area you have to sort out yourself.

How I went about this is my interpretaion but there may be better ways so I am by no means claiming to be any sort of expert but it may help others doing this conversion to see how and what I managed.

 

Firstly, there is a main cut through both upper and lower wings which appears to be parallel to the central axis of the aircraft.

There is a good reference point on the trailing edge for the main cut in the corner of one of the flap actuators but no measurement on the leading edge of the wing.

This is a bit of a bugger as both edges of the wing are tapered. Remembering my school maths I decided to find a straight axis across the aircraft and then use a right angle to get the cut in the right place.

The line across the back of the nacelle openings looks at right angles to the central axis so I used a right angle off this to get the main cut in the right place.

 

You also have to make additional parallel cuts 7mm into the wings to accept the resin folds.

I actually glued the lower halves on to give me something firm to cut against. As I made the cuts only 24hrs later, the glue was still soft enought to remove the lower inner wing portions without any problems.

It may well be ok to tape the wings and cut but I felt there was too much opportunity for a balls-up.

 

I marked the wings out and used a Hasegawa fine line scriber (white handled one) and dymo tape to make several passes to get a crisp edge then went through the rest of the way with a fine razor saw.

 

Horrific pictures!:

 

 

Outer wings:

 

 

The outer wings were the easiest do deal with. I found the tops to match up well but the lower wing needed a bit of "fettling" to get them in.

I haven't sanded or puttied any of these yet so these are as they are just after gluing.

 

Tops came out pretty well. There's a bit of blending in needed where the resin meets the trailing edge but I'm pretty happy.

I also made sure that the resin parts were lined up well with the leading edge as having to putty here would be tricky:

 

 

A few more gaps on the bottom from making adjustments but a little filler will sort them out:

 

 

Back in a minute with the central section.

 

Phil

[PhilB]

It is very apparent that cocking up the central section folds will have the biggest impact on the fit of other main components especially the engine nacelles.

The conversion gives you complete inner lower wing sections to replace those on the kit.

Here's a view of how they go on the top.

A little putty will be needed at the trailing edge joint and to fill the panel thats been cut in half:

 

 

Underneath you can see that by replacing the kit parts they will now butt up to the nacelles once installed so you need to get this right:

 

 

Again I got a good fit on the top wing after a slight adjustment to get other areas to line up underneath:

 

 

The resin replacemend parts have sockets inside to accept the pins on the kit wing but I found mine didn't line up very well so I chopped them to give me a bit more leeway.

By accepting the need to line up to the nacelles I made sure that on the leading edge the resin lined up with the kit wing.

The resin is slightly proud on the leading edge but its easier to sand this flush than have to use putty:

 

 

On the trailing edge the flap actuator needs to line up carefully:

 

 

More pics in a minute!

[PhilB]

I've done a test fit with the nacelles taped up and here's the starboard side:

 

 

And the port:

 

 

I'm pretty happy with the fit after all the measuring and hacking!

 

Next job is to get out the milliput and cover any joins and redundant panels.

 

If any body is in any doubt how big the Airfix 1/24 Mosquito is then here's a shot with one of the engine nacelles

sitting on a 1/32 109, GULP!

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Phil

[LSP_Kevin]

Phil, highly impressive work mate! You're a brave man, chopping up a mega-expensive kit like this, but you're nailing it beautifully.

 

Kev

[Max N]

Yep, very neat job, congratulations!

I think your fit to the nacelles is better than I got with the kit parts

[Anthony in NZ]

Great tutorial Phil

 

I dont know how you can cut the wing up like that...you are braver than I.

 

However it looks awesome and a credit to Alley Cat for getting it so 'right' A 24th Sea Mossie is very very cool!

 

Awesome clean work!

 

Cheers

Anthony

[JRutman]

It's a lot of painstaking work man but you will be rewarded by having a very unique model when you get er done.

J

[dodgem37]

Phil,

I guess I missed something. I don't understand why you are chopping up the wings. Was this aircraft stationed on an aircraft carrier and needed folding wings?

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Out2gtcha]

Phil,

I guess I missed something. I don't understand why you are chopping up the wings. Was this aircraft stationed on an aircraft carrier and needed folding wings?

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

Yep, Phil is doing the TR Mk.33 Sea Mossie with (and I dont blame him for space reasons) folding wings

 

 

Looks totally killer BTW Phil you brave man!

Edited March 7, 2011 by Out2gtcha

[LSP_Ray]

Nice job on the slicing and dicing, Phil! I always end up with a lot of putty work.

[PhilB]

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement fellas.

Thanks for the pic Brian, not one I've seen before and those 4 bladed props really give the Mossie a bit of attitude.

Mark, as Brian said this is a Sea Mosquito. It has a bit of a connection with the Hurricane as well.

You will remember those little things that had to be eradicated from the Hurri cockpit?

Well I suppose with the Sea Mosquito it would have been covered with Seamen during maintenance as well!

 

I managed to get some small scale ribbed rubber hose (say that quickly!) from a model car place to do the oxygen supplies for the crew.

Its steel coil covered in rubber so I put a piece of copper wire inside so it could be posed. Added a bit of brass tube to look like the connector.

The Nav's supply comes through the bulkhead under the seat. I'm working on the pilot's hose which will be attached to the kit part on the fuse wall:

 

 

I've put the two panels I made previously on the stbd wall. I haven't glued the cable connector in the centre yet as this part of the fuse is very flexible

so they would just keep snapping so I'll pop some glue in once the halves are joined:

 

 

I've added some discs (CRUD) to both walls and also the rib on the port side.

These are the kit parts added. I have replaced the connecting rods for the flaps etc with brass rod.

My next job is to do some wiring to connect these bits and pieces up.

 

 

I have painted the detail in white as opposed to yellow in the FBVI book as the photo I have again shows some differences in colours in the TR33 cockpit.

 

I've added a decal for the compass and I had to replace the tiny switches on the kit VHF radio "head" as they were badly molded.

Used 0.2mm wire painted red:

 

 

Back soon with the ID lights.

 

Phil

[PhilB]

As the kit doesn't come with the red,green and amber ID lights I got hold of a set of the clear resin Paragon ones.

These are about 6.5mm wide but with a small lip around the top to represent the panel around the lens.

I looked at my plans and decided that the single light has to be moved towards the rear as the hatch on the TR33 is under the belly just aft of the bomb bay and will be scribed in once the fuse is together.

The hatch in the photo will be filled.

 

 

This is one of those times you have to make a decision based on logic and lack of plans as to where the single lamp would go on the real thing.

After cutting them off the sprue I sanded and polished the cut portion to make them clear.

I managed to drill out the 6-5mm holes but I didn't have the skill or patience to try and cut a neat recess around the edge of the holes to fit the lip of the lights.

This is how they look and are too proud imho:

 

 

I decided it would be easier to glue them in, sand them flush and rescribe a circle round them for the mounting panel.

I have used some more domed foil for the lens inside.

I'm not going to do the twin lamps at this time as they are too close to the seam which will probably need sanding so I'll sand and polish them once the fuse is together.

The white rib is an additional one on the TR33 which comes with the conversion.:

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Phil