A Separate Little War - Strike Wing Mosquito FB.VI

[Collin]

Who doesn’t love a Mosquito....the DH type. Terrific build so far of this anti-shipping workhorse.  

 

Cheers

Collin

[Scotsman]

I went through hell with those decals as well, and I never found anything that would break the bond once they had grabbed on , I do recall one tip in an ancient FSM to deal with overly aggressive decals , and that was Spit, yup saliva.. and no I've never tried it !

[John1]

7 hours ago, Scotsman said:

I went through hell with those decals as well, and I never found anything that would break the bond once they had grabbed on , I do recall one tip in an ancient FSM to deal with overly aggressive decals , and that was Spit, yup saliva.. and no I've never tried it !

I should have mentioned that in my post above.  After I had the issue with the serial number, I posted on a few sites asking for help.   A kind person quickly responded and told me to A- stay away from setting solutions when placing the decal and B- to try a little saliva.  The saliva trick bought me 5 seconds of time.   Prior to that, they would set up almost immediately upon contact.   
 

Please don’t get me wrong folks, these decals are some of the best I’ve ever seen, don’t know how they do it but they seem to have no carrier film (or if they do, it’s invisible).  Just need to be on your game when you are placing them, you won’t get a second chance!

 

Edit - Also want to take a minute to announce the latest release from John1 Enterprises: Ultragrade Decal Lubricant.  $25 (plus s&h) for a 40ml vial.   PM me to place your orders!!

Edited October 20, 2020 by John1

[John1]

On 10/16/2020 at 2:09 AM, GDW said:

 

Yes, I use Flory washes and think they are great. 

 

A word of caution well heeded, will prevent a common problem with the product.

 

As you know, they are water based. When new and uncontaminated, they work fantastic. However, the pigmented clay will clog up and not distribute evenly if there is the slightest introduction of chemicals introduced by dipping a old brush into a bottle that has been used for anything else, weather it was solvent based or water based (paint or other weathering products).

 

Suggestions:

 

1) Only use dedicated, new brushes that have been purposed for Flory washes only.

 

2) Avoid putting a brush or anything else directly into a bottle of wash. Shake the wash bottle up and pour some into some other container/tiny cup, then load a brush from there. If the wash breaks up and starts to separate, it is reacting to something it doesn't like and find a different clean one. I toasted my first bottle of dark dirt wash by dipping an old brush into it straight away. 

 

Other than that, easy, bullet proof, fun to use.

 

You will like it!

 

Greg

Greg, thanks for the info. One last question - do you seal the wash once it’s fully dried?

 

On another note, anyone have suggestions for removing set decals?  I don’t want to get too aggressive and possibly impact the underlying paint.  Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

[Uncarina]

I usually use Tamiya tape with a good result. If there is any paint lifted — which does happen occasionally— I use worn steel wool to blend the surface, then respray. If you are out of a spare set of decals and have the original backing sheet with the outline of the removed decals closely cut, you might consider using the backing paper as a mask. I used to do this to avoid using the decals altogether before I got my Silhouette cutter.

 

Cheers,  Tom

 

 

[MikeMaben]

12 hours ago, John1 said:

On another note, anyone have suggestions for removing set decals?  I don’t want to get too aggressive and possibly impact the underlying paint.  Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

 

Like Tom said, tape works fairly well, but I also apply some decal softener first.

Try to keep it wet until you see it start to move, pull off what you can and use

the tape on the rest.

[John1]

Tom / Mike - thanks for the tips.  I tried it and it worked.  Took close to 40 minutes, those decals are tough!   Found some spare letters and numbers from another subject on the sheet and applied.    Looking much better!  

[Uncarina]

Excellent!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[John1]

As noted above, I finally bit the bullet and removed the out of alignment serial numbers.   Using some unused decals from the Aviaoelogy sheet, I was able to replace all the missing letters/numbers.    I think it looks much better but still not 100%.   Applying these decals is a real challenge!   Even with liberal applications of John1 Enterprises Premium Decal Lubricant (see above), I still had issues doing rushed final adjustments before the darned decals froze up solid.    

 

After that task, I hit the model with a light coat of X-22 gloss to seal things in and then after letting it dry, did a final clear coat.   For anything besides a gloss finish, I go with Testor's Dullcoat lacquer.  Been using this stuff forever and to me, nothing works better.  Just need to go with a high percentage of thinner to have it airbrush properly.   Unlike X-22 that needs to go on "wet", I do a few light coats of this stuff.   I think a totally flat finish is usually not appropriate for a model.   Even heavily weathered aircraft often have a little bit of luster to their paintwork.   So I went with a mix of 2:1 Dullcoat and Testors Gloss.   In theory I think I could have used Tamiya X-22 instead of the Testor's Gloss but I didn't want to take any chances with incompatibility.   So anyway, this concludes the base paint job.   Still have a few small touch-ups but the next step will be weathering.   I need to put some thought into the exhaust soot, the Mosquito has some pretty distinctive staining.  In retrospect, I should have done this before attaching the bomb bay doors since the inner nacelles are going to be a challenge to airbrush.   

 

That's it for now, here is where we are currently at:

 

 

Thanks for looking and Happy Friday! 

[John1]

Added the external "slipper" tanks.   As noted previously, these are long-range 100 gal versions that Coastal Command started using late in 1944.   Most Mosquitoes used the smaller 50 gal version which the kit provides.   My tanks are resin ones from AMS.   Nicely cast, just requires a fair amount of cleanup to get them to fit flush to the undersides of the wings.  

 

These wooden tanks were typically painted overall aluminum.   It seems that on occasion, the upper tips of them were sprayed in the field with Extra Dark Sea Grey, either for camouflage or to reduce the glare off of them which could distract the crew.   The fresh EDSG makes a nice contrast to the weathered finish of the airframe. 

 

 

 

That's it for now, thanks for looking! 

[Uncarina]

John,

 

Magnificent! The finish definitely looks the part, and your Mossie is really distinctive with your research-based authenticity.

Looking forward to the finish line!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Dpgsbody55]

Couldn't agree more with Tom's comment.    This model is turning out really well.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[John1]

I've started the weathering.  Some of these aircraft ended up pretty grimy.  A kind gent on Britmodeler posted this pic.   A really nice example of a heavily weathered mosquito. 

 

Note the staining on the undersides of the horizontal stabs.

 

Here is where I'm at so far.  Only the first step, still have much to add.  I typically start with airbrushing, then follow up with various washes and some pastels.  

 

 

[turbo]

Nice start on the weathering John, interesting staining patterns on the mossie!

[Anthony in NZ]

Looking great John, usually a few red dope patches are found on these birds in the combat zone too.  Might add a little colour and interest?

 

Keep up the great work!