PeteF

Awesome thanks so much! Relatively straightforward ribbing.

Thanks Doc. I’m going to really work on the mixture for the dark green camo because it should have a spray pattern on the tighter end of what the H1 can do. I have used photos of the Tamiya kit and some of the aftermarket parts for it as some of my references. That kit looks pretty darn accurate and detailed to me. There doesn’t seem to be much of a need to scratch build all the bits this kit lacks. I’m into the hundreds of hours on this thing (I estimate it’s over 300 hours of build time to date) and now that it’s buttoned up, not much of the cockpit detail is visible (even without the canopy and framing on).

Lots of fiddly detail bodywork. Had the metal landing gear (for the tail wheel) and absolutely couldn't get it to glue together. Finally used too much kicker and CA and ruined it. Remounted the metal strut but the rest is the plastic gear. Meanwhile, scratch built the metal frame here that's under the fairing.

So here's a story that sums up model building...I am very close to out of the medium sea gray paint that the entire Mossie is painted in. I pre-painted all the assemblies then am re-painting the areas that I worked on so as to avoid hangar rash and to have a good position to paint each large assembly...so far so good. I have an old Paasche H1 that I finally replaced the needle and air cap (need the best possible spray to do the camo green) so it's been spraying the Vallejo paint better but generally I have had good results and a smooth finish but have had the spotty issue of the nozzle clogging or the paint being too thin. So I'm sitting there yesterday, carefully trying to conserve my last paint...squeezing the bottle to fill the cup on the airbrush and there was some clog or something and it suddenly came out and I sprayed about 1/3 of the remaining paint onto my pant leg (thank goodness for water-based paint!). In the rush to clean my pants I set the airbrush down and spilled out half of what was left in the cup...I had added some thinner and flow improver but was interrupted by the spill. Finally got my pants sorted and went back and shrugged and added some thinner and flow enhancer and a bit of the precious paint. Mixed it up and it sprayed like unicorn tears. Absolutely perfect opacity, spray pattern, consistency...it was just perfect...better than I have ever had it spray. Uh but I have no idea how I'd mixed it to do that...d'oh! It must be said though, I've had absolutely no problems with lumpy, rough or bumpy paint on the exterior.

Took an hour and a half to fit the fuselage together with the cockpit. Another hour to mount the tail and stab. It's all pre painted in the base medium sea grey.

Hey Jeff, do you have any pictures of the inside of the side and upper engine cowlings? another part of this kit with no detail whatsoever.

If anyone needs it, here are the boxes in 1/24 scale for the Gee radios. This JPEG SHOULD be actual size but the dimensions are also on there.

Installed!

Painted.

Meanwhile, the radios were totally wrong. This plane would have had Gee with the big receiver and transmitter buried in the fuselage. Plenty of references out there.

Thanks a ton! I suspected that was how it was as Airfix sort of indicates it. It covers some cool detailing but makes much more sense that way!

That's okay...maybe you know this. Is the cannon cover one piece (these two parts put together) or is the inner piece attached to the plane and the outer piece removable?

Thanks! Yeah that does help. That panel is actually on the kit (fortunately).

Finally did the navigator's seat belts...grrr what a frustrating thing to make.

There is an end in sight.

I could believe that. As an example, the elevators have raised rivet detail, the rudder has fabric detail and the only detail whatsoever on the ailerons were the trim tabs. There are definitely parts that just seem unfinished.

It’s weird how this kit has some really good detial on some parts and none whatsoever on others. It really is sort of a blank canvas kit.

Inner gear door added detail. Aluminum tape is rough and not good for a clean build but I knew these would be filthy and I don't know how well they'll show anyway.

Yay Airfix! New wing arrived safe and sound.

So the model will be displayed bombed up but panels off so I added scratch built hooks (no detonators) and weathered them.

Found a Squadron riveter that does nice small rivets like this.

There was no detail at all on the ailerons! Added a seam and rivets.

Weathered the nacelles. Found many pics of oil pouring out of the cowling at that center seam. I believe in "additive" weathering. From my experiences with an oily plane, the dirt, grime, grease and oil is always stuck onto the plane. I have seen the trend towards "under" shading but I thought I'd experiment with pigments...it was easier to get a really grimy plane quickly than restrain it to the level I wanted so I had to do some over-painting to tone it down. I used gloss varnish over the oil to make that shiny. I also found that stippling a damp brush with pigment on it did a nicer job of exhaust soot than airbrushing did. But there's still plenty of airbrushing here.

Thanks, the only problem is the Vallejo primer and paint don’t adhere well at all so the paint easily lifts from these parts and they could never be touched with masking tape,

Found this photo.