John1 Posted September 3, 2020 Author Share Posted September 3, 2020 (edited) Still "busying up" the bomb bay. It's really quite mundane work. There is no way I can accurately replicate everything going on in this area. Instead, I'm just trying to produce a general representation of the various lines, cables, fittings, etc. Here is where I'm at on the starboard side with the sidewall and cannons dry-fitted. in addition to the hydraulic lines, I've added a fuel line running across the two tanks. This will be connected to the fuel manifold housing (aka "fuel gallery") mounted above on the sidewall. Still much more to do. I've also added the bomb rack support structure below. I've opted not to add the 500lb bombs (fun fact - the Mosquito was originally designed to only carry 250 lb bombs, during it's testing, DH figured out that if they cut back the tail fins of the 500 lb bomb, these weapons would fit in the bomb bay) as they would restrict viewing a lot of the details I'm adding. Plus I don't think 333 Squadron, doing the "Outrider" recce and anti-ship missions would often be carrying bombs. More likely would be a long range fuel tank in lieu of bombs. i'm honestly not sure that the racks would have even been mounted but they add a bit of visual interest so I'm going with them. Still have to add the actual bomb carriers to these racks. Lastly, i stumbled upon this pretty cool picture of a 333 Mossie shooting down a German He-115. Looks like it was snapped by the Navigator as they overtook the dying floatplane. In addition to their normal aerial foes, (the Fw-190's of JG 5), Strike Wing Mosquitoes often came across some unusual Luftwaffe aircraft such as this one. That's it for now, thanks for looking. Edited September 3, 2020 by John1 Scotsman, Landrotten Highlander, Kagemusha and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 That bomb bay area is looking simply fantastic John. Great photo too, haven't seen that one before! John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted September 4, 2020 Author Share Posted September 4, 2020 Starboard sidewall is mostly completed and glued in place. I also finished the bomb racks and glued them and the cannons in. Finally starting to show a bit of progress. Sidewall and the fore and aft hydraulic struts are glued into place. Lastly, I added fuel lines from the manifold on the sidewall. Have one more fuel line to add and that portion of this assembly will be completed as well! I went pretty heavy on the scratches on the black bomb carriers. I figured these items would get banged up quite a bit. Looking forward: That's it for now, thanks for looking. Rivas, turbo, MikeMaben and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted September 6, 2020 Author Share Posted September 6, 2020 (edited) The starboard bomb bay is completed. I added the remaining fuel lines and re-positioned the forward bomb bay hydraulic jacks further back from where I originally had them (really need to take my time and read the instructions). Lastly I toned down the scratches on the bomb carriers. I'd like to apologize for bombarding you folks (no pun intended) with so many monotonous pictures of this section of the bomb bay. I'm just really geeking out on this aspect of the build. Yeah, I know I'm a bit strange..... Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks and as always, thanks for looking. Edited September 6, 2020 by John1 Landrotten Highlander, Anthony in NZ, Rivas and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 My word, that is stunning John...totally loving this build! Your attention to detail is spot on, I hope my 24th one will look this good Keep up the great work....you and I are both geeking out LOL John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainM Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Geeking out is quite acceptable! Mandatory in fact! Loving your build, I shall be perusing this thread for reference when I get around to mine eventually!!! John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fvdm Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 I really love it when people are a bit strange. Especially when they detail bomb bays. Beautiful build. John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Stunning detail here. Loving this build. Cheers, Michael John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Bomb bay stuff is great - keep it coming. Love the ammo belts for those nose cannon too. This thing was some sort of conceptual progenitor of the A-10 with all that firepower packed in under the cockpit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 Finally done with the bomb bay! Completed the port sidewall, which was primarily control cables running the length. I might add a few last bits if the mood strikes me but at this point, I'm moving on to the bomb bay doors and then the engine cowlings. I need to be careful, this is typically the stage of a long build where I get into trouble, once I see that I'm getting close to the finish and start rushing. Must..... resist...... . Anyway, a couple of last pics of my work in this area. That's it for now, thanks again for looking! Anthony in NZ, Elger, Landrotten Highlander and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 WOW, just stunning work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 Thanks very much Dragon, appreciate the compliments! Just a mini update, I'm at the stage where I'm just building random sub assemblies. I'm also getting a bit apprehensive because I'm getting close to the painting stage and this is one of two steps that I figure have a good chance of blowing this project. On the surface, the painting should be straightforward, this aircraft was originally painted in the standard "nightfighter" scheme of Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green. At some point before it was assigned to 333 Squadron, it was over-painted in a "modified" Special Duties Scheme. This was a scheme standardized by Coastal Command, designed to offer better concealment for aircraft operating in gloomy weather, over the North Sea. The by-the-book version consisted of Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky undersides. The modified version was just Extra Dark Sea Grey topsides with the lower surfaces left in Medium Sea Grey. In theory, this should be pretty easy to apply. Here is what KK-Q looked like in 1945: Where it gets involved is that these aircraft weathered rapidly in the horrible Scottish weather. I need to make sure I can replicate this effect. Also, it appears that many times, the Extra Dark Sea Grey was a lighter version and it was applied in a thin coat that left the original camouflage slightly visible underneath, that's going to be a fun challenge. Lastly, I've got to replicate the painted out codes on the fuselage. Wish me luck guys, this is going to be a test of my very mediocre painting skills. Anyway, here are a few of the bits I've been working on: Main landing gear doors - On any aircraft, these doors (and the bays themselves) are typically filthy. I had no interest having these in immaculate aluminum paint, so I went pretty heavy on the weathering. Still tweaking the effects. Tail landing gear. Figured this would be pretty dirty given the muddy fields. And lastly the slipper tanks. Given the long distances they were flying, Strike Wing Mosquitoes used large, 100 gallon slipper tanks. The Tamiya kit only includes the more common 50 gal tanks. Thankfully AMS offers a very nice set of resin 100 gal units. These were painted overall aluminum (some had the upper surfaces painted EDSG to minimize reflections for the crew). Here they are (along with a kit 50 gal tank for comparison). Still more paintwork to apply to these. Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for checking in! MikeMaben, LSP_Kevin, Landrotten Highlander and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 That tail wheel looks superb, John! A micro-model all on its own. Kev John1 and Anthony in NZ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 On 9/8/2020 at 6:33 PM, John1 said: I need to be careful, this is typically the stage of a long build where I get into trouble, once I see that I'm getting close to the finish and start rushing. Must..... resist...... . I'm so bad about that... John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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