A Separate Little War - Strike Wing Mosquito FB.VI

[John1]

5 hours ago, madmusky said:

Some nice pictures here, but when based at RAF Leuchars, good for seeing how worn they got.

http://axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?13611

 

Will follow your build with interest as i was planning on doing the same with my Mossie but an early FII (maybe no Gee fitted) or 3E or 3H.

 

Darren

 

 

Thanks for the link Darren, those are some great pictures.  Good guide for weathering.   I also noted that a number of those aircraft didn’t have that mesh screen fitted in front of the carburetor intakes.  Never noted that before.  Tamiya’s solution is a rather clunky chunk of clear plastic.  Maybe it won’t be needed?   I’ll have to do some research.   
 

Btw, I’m not a Mossie expert, what’s the difference between an FII and the FB.VI.  

[Gazzas]

Interesting subject.  I just finished a book called "Bloody Biscay" by Chris Goss.  Mostly concerned with the Ju-88's of V/KG40, the Mosquitoes of the "Instep" missions couldn't be omitted.

I look forward to seeing more of your build.

 

 

Gaz

[madmusky]

15 hours ago, John1 said:

Thanks for the link Darren, those are some great pictures.  Good guide for weathering.   I also noted that a number of those aircraft didn’t have that mesh screen fitted in front of the carburetor intakes.  Never noted that before.  Tamiya’s solution is a rather clunky chunk of clear plastic.  Maybe it won’t be needed?   I’ll have to do some research.   
 

Btw, I’m not a Mossie expert, what’s the difference between an FII and the FB.VI.  

 

FII was built as a NF MkII but never had the radar fitted, still retained twin lights on wingtips and tail so designated FII, and from what i.ve read they were unable to carry wing stores.

I also noted some with no mesh on the intakes also the mix of shrouded un-shrouded exhausts, narrow and paddle prop blades.

 

Darren

[John1]

2 minutes ago, madmusky said:

 

FII was built as a NF MkII but never had the radar fitted, still retained twin lights on wingtips and tail so designated FII, and from what i.ve read they were unable to carry wing stores.

I also noted some with no mesh on the intakes also the mix of shrouded un-shrouded exhausts, narrow and paddle prop blades.

 

Darren

I need to find a good book that goes into all the technical details on these aircraft.  I think I was pretty well versed on my last two build subjects (Corsair and Mustang) but I know very little about the Mosquito.   

[madmusky]

22 minutes ago, John1 said:

I need to find a good book that goes into all the technical details on these aircraft.  I think I was pretty well versed on my last two build subjects (Corsair and Mustang) but I know very little about the Mosquito.   

 

These are quite handy, especially the last one with technical drawings of the systems.

 

[Scotsman]

hi there - there is another book about the Banff Strike wing, and I can highly recommend it - I just wish I could find my own copy ..

 

Banff Strike wing

 

 

and this is my take on KKQ - as I said , how not to do it !

 

colinR

[John1]

Colin, I think you did a great job on her!  I wouldn’t feel bad about that build at all.   I like the mottled patches on the upper surfaces.  
 

If I could ask, what did you use for paint?   I’m a big fan of colorcoat but I’m on hold for doing a lot of building until they get a new source set up here in the US (supposed to be approx 4 weeks away). 

[Scotsman]

Paints .. Tamiya for the light grey , and good old Xtracolour gloss enamel I think,  No real thought behind the choices ,just what I had in stock , as for the mottling , I think it was deliberate, well some of it anyway!

 

And Thanks for the kind words, I still have plans to add to the display , ground crew  , starting trolley , that sort of thing ..

 

John - best of luck with your build, you'll enjoy it 

[John1]

Thanks Colin!   

 

Still plugging away on getting all the parts and paints in.   Just received the AMS Resin 100-gal slipper tanks.  These are a characteristic of Strike Wing Mosquitoes.  My initial search showed them to be out of stock everywhere I looked and I was almost at the point of looking for a different subject to build.  Thankfully, a kind gent pointed me over to BNA Modelworld  (https://www.bnamodelworld.com/) in Australia.   Great service and quick mailing.  I had the tanks within a week of ordering.  If anyone is thinking about building a Coastal Command Mossie, get over to their site quickly.  I think they only had a few left and as noted, these are critical parts!   As far as the tanks themselves, they are of high quality (which is to be expected with AMS).

 

 

This is turning into quite the international build.  Tanks from Australia, decals from Canada, the kit from Japan and the paints (if they finally get stocked in the US) from the UK.  

 

Lastly, a very helpful person over on Britmodeller posted a good quality pic of KK-Q (the only picture of this aircraft I've seen so far) and a very nice color profile that shows the overpainted codes, invasion stripes and other details.  I've asked him for permission to re-post them here, hopefully he'll agree.  

 

That's it for now, thanks for checking in!  

[Dutch Man]

Hi John. The service levels of BNA are very good, totally agree on that.

A big plus for purchasing aftermarket materials when modeling in Thailand.

 

Good luck building this beauty,

 

Robert Jan

 

[John1]

Well, to start things off - here's the obligatory box shot, in retrospect, I'm sorry I covered the box top.  The artwork is some of the best I've ever seen.   

The BarracudaCast resin radios are gorgeous but it turns out that for a late Mossie, they were relocated to the aft fuselage to make room for Gee navigation equipment so I many not end up using them.  Still need to research this a bit more.   On the subject of Gee equipment, the owner of Barracuda said he'd planned on releasing a resin Gee setup but hasn't responded to my email on a time frame.  If anyone has any info on this, please let me know.  Only other bit of aftermarket I'll be using are the Barracuda resin ammo chutes (the Tamiya ones are pretty basic and also don't show the cartridges present in the feed chutes), the Barracuda & Aviaelogy decals and I've got a harness set inbound from Eduard.  I find that that the stainless steel Tamiya PE harness are just too stiff and you can't get them to look like soft fabric. 

 

Lastly for tonight - as noted, my subject (at this time) is KK-Q, a later war Mossie from 333 Squadron.  A kind gent over on Britmodeler posted the only pic I've seen of this aircraft and a really wonderful profile.   He allowed me to re-post them here. Both are courtesy of Bengt-Arnie Stangvik.

First the original KK-Q

Note the large 100 gal slipper tanks.

And here is his wonderful profile:

Note the overpainted codes from 235 Squadron and the overpainted aft fuselage which previously had invasion stripes.  Also note that the serial number was simply masked off and EDSG was painted around it.   This profile differs in some details from the Avialolgy illustration but I've got plenty of time to research things before the painting stage.    

 

That's it for now, thank you for looking!

 

John

Edited March 31, 2020 by John1

[Scotsman]

Glad I hadn't stumbled across these Pics .. I'd never have finished mine!

 

[BloorwestSiR]

Nice subject there John. 

 

If you end up needing the intake screens, Radu Brinzen makes them in PE. They also include replacement rad screens. 

 

http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_68&products_id=647

 

 

 

[John1]

16 hours ago, BloorwestSiR said:

Nice subject there John. 

 

If you end up needing the intake screens, Radu Brinzen makes them in PE. They also include replacement rad screens. 

 

http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_68&products_id=647

 

 

 

That’s great news.   The clear plastic kit parts were not going to cut it.  Order will be placed today.  

[John1]

So I'm finally off and running (walking?).   The Tamiya Mossie is absolutely amazing.  You really need to spend a great deal of time reviewing the instructions and planning your approach to building and painting.   First off will be the cockpit which is an absolute masterpiece.  I'm guessing close to a hundred pieces make up this area.   At first, I wasn't thrilled about building this aircraft because it has a fixed canopy and a lot of the cockpit detail would be hidden.  In all actuality, there will be more visible on the Mossie than the previous single-seaters I've built.  The kit canopy is huge and is amazingly clear.   Plus I'm planning on leaving the side entrance door open.  Pretty much everything will be visible.   To enhance that, I'm still planning on removing the upper escape hatch but more on that later...

 

Period photo's show an extremely "busy" cockpit with lots of small fittings, wires, etc.  Tamiya did a nice job but obviously they couldn't capture everything.  Between the cockpit, the amazing bomb bay and the engines, I'm going to have lots of fun.    

 

Anyway, to start things off, I'm going with the pilot's seat.  Here is how it looks through the access hatch:

 

I assembled the basic seat and then added a few extra touches:

The seat support tube was drilled out, as was the relief tube and I added the drain tube to the "portal".   Can't have our plastic pilot piddling all over his cockpit, can we?  I wasn't going to bother but since you will be able see the underside of the pilot's seat through the door (as in the view of the real thing above), I decided it was worth it. d

 

I also added a canopy locking lever (Tamiya had this molded to the side of the seat) and it's associated cable that runs to the harnesses connection behind the pilot's armor plate. 

 

Don't worry about the ejector pin marks, typical Tamiya, everything gets covered with other bits.   After looking at the pics, I think I'm going to re-do the bands that secure the cable to the armrest support.  

 

Anyway, that's it for now guys.   Thanks for looking and STAY SAFE!

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by John1