Jump to content
Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

1:72 Tamiya Mosquito FB Mk. VI (woodgrain finish)


dr_gn

Recommended Posts

Thanks for the comment kahunaminor! Not sure whether it will turn out looking good or bad, but it will certainly be...different, for me at least!

 

So this is a version (bottom wing) with thicker joint lines that the middle one, but no preshading at all, plus a couple of new grain decals:

KwapBGip.jpg

Far too MFI kitchen I think.

Looks like there are only two or three grain types that look right, plus it needs a smidge of preshading similar to the middle wing. I think the preshade also hides any slight edge errors - the pure white sticks out a mile.

Next job is to try matching some oil colours to the decals to get a match for the tailcone. I'll use the remaining white bits of wings for this. I've not seen that many woodgrain Mosquitos, but IIRC all of them assumed a metallic tailcone, which, surprisingly given it's complexity, is wrong. I doubt the decals will conform to it, so I'm left with brush painting the grain in that area.

At least doing these decal tests have reassured me that templating and applying them is actually very easy - at least on a flat panel!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been puzzling over how to represent the dinghy hatch behind the canopy:

H2kzcL3r.jpg
(image courtesy of "The People's Mosquito" project: http://www.peoplesmosquito.org.uk/)

It was moulded-in on the plastic, but the double lines (representing the metallic framing) around the fuselage joint line area were too fine to re-scribe, and basically I screwed it. I tried several times to re-scribe them, but then opted to simply draw the hatch and framing in pencil. This was also a disaster - trying to get concentric lines at this scale - even using templates - proved impossible.

So I tried this: Forget scribing or drawing the lines on. Cut a rectangle of clear decal paper, and spray aluminium. using that as a guide, cut a slightly smaller rectangle and paint white, and preshade. Finally, cut some woodgrain to suit the white decal:

epVrLH5P.jpg

Then apply in sequence to existing plain woodgrain:

9lTLCQrX.jpg

Difficult to get a photgraph to match reality, but it worked fine.:

Obviously the geometry on the final model will be much more accurate, and it still needs a small window forming in one corner, but it seems a fairly risk-free way of doing it.

Also made a start on the metallic areas, and got the spinners done:

EykMefGH.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've masked the aluminium nacelles ready for overspraying with a slightly darker shade, or maybe clear "smoke" to give a bit of contrast between the panels:

CTgQnbXP.jpg

Also made a start on drawing the main wood skin demarcations on the wings and tailplanes:

0Z69aLX3.jpg

At least these are my best guess based on studying photographs. Another couple of chord-wise lines on the wings, and they'll be done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Ralph!

 

Tonight I applied some Tamiya Smoke to the nacelles etc., to give a bit of contrast to the panels. I then overcoated with Mr.Colour Gloss + 10% Tamiya Flat Base to give a satin finish:

JdxIwvgu.jpg

Ideally, I'd like it all a bit more matt, so for the final coat of the finished model, I'll probably go to 20% Flat Base.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main panel demarcations are pencilled in now:

1VpQiJQ5.jpg

Difficult to judge these because they appear to be slightly different on different aircraft. Even the two images of the new-build Mosquitos I've seen have different skin boundaries. Had a bit of help on the smaller details via. The People's Mosquito, so I thought I'd make a small contribution to their efforts:

852oa46b.jpg

Xvqjn0Un.jpg

I still need to draw some very fine demarcations for the herringbone sub-panels on the rear fuselage and outer wing panels. They are very obvious on the real thing, but unfortunately the linear grain on the decals isn't obvious enough to replicate the effect.

Also got a couple of new toys in the post today:

KfG5JClG.jpg

These will be pretty much essential for cutting masks for all the inspection panels on the airframe.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Masking around all the metallic panels was fun:

6aWdTaX8.jpg

At least the hole punch sets got some heavy use. Next job is to spray this lot in various shades of Aluminuinm, to match the nacelles. I'll mask the fuselage if the wings look ok when woodgrained. If not I'll quietly retire it think...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This illustrates the problems I have with oil paint woodgrain (and why I was keen to try decals):

 

iiUesAWr.jpg

 

The first panels I did (the lighter ones) were masked off and more oils applied in another direction.

 

1) It's very difficult to judge the amount of oil paint to remove during the graining process. The second panels are much darker than the first, even though I assumed they'd look similar. As it stands there is too much contrast for my liking.

 

2) Even though I used Liquin drying medium again, the paint hasn't dried. The first panels went matt within a few minutes, whereas these look like they could take weeks to set, judging by how similar they look to my SE.5a parts did (in terms of sheen). Obviously there can be no masking before the oil is fully cured.

 

So there you go. I wondered whether to try using enamels instead of oils for the grain, after all its a dissimilar paint to the acrylic basecoat, and has the same thinners, but they dry predictably...so why not? In fact why use oils over enamels in the first place - it's not like oils are widely used in model aircraft modelling to start with?

 

A long way to go with this one I think.

 

Alex from UvdR has very kindly been offering me some advice on how to perfect these techniques, so I'm sure with a bit of guidance I'll get a nice result.

 

At present, I'm working on painting the interior. More updates soon hopefully. Ta.

 

This would be a great What-If, you know... A triplex Tornado! :rofl: Great progress, BTW! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So here we go with the first templates:

m4TMQ4sC.jpg

They didn't look right...

Close of play:

bglSxwBT.jpg

It's a strange process: Adding adjacent panels makes the existing ones look totaly different. The variation in grain on the same sheet also makes a big difference to the results. I'm not even suer of the effect I want to end up with, I'm just trying different decals and seeing which looks best.

Applying the decals is fairly straightforward; cutting them around small details in-situ is surprisingly easy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Upper wing decals are complete now. It's very difficult to get a decent photo of it that shows what it really looks like. For example, these two are of the model with the upper wings fully decalled, but different lighting makes them look like different models:

C9Ewf5mt.jpg

x6Vb004B.jpg

The latter is closer to reality, although the darker port wing is not really like that, I think it must be slightly in shadow.

The pale woodgrain needs deepening a bit to reduce the contrast of the preshading. In fact if it looked more like the first image in reality, I'd be happy with the effect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it possible to overspray a very light mist of flesh to tone down the colour?

Cees

 

TBH if anything, I'd like to richen the colour if possible, and make the grain pop out a bit more; more like the lower image. Not sure what effect the camera settings had, but if I can replicate it using a glaze (filter?) I'll be happy.

 

Any advice from the experts in woodgraining is welcome of course...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glynn Powell in New Zealand has been building new Mosquito airframes for several years now. He uses all the original materials and techniques. There are many pics of just the wooden construction on the web. The wood is actually very light of colour.

Perhaps this helps.

Cees

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glynn Powell in New Zealand has been building new Mosquito airframes for several years now. He uses all the original materials and techniques. There are many pics of just the wooden construction on the web. The wood is actually very light of colour.

Perhaps this helps.

Cees

 

Yes thanks, I've seen the website - I think there are two new-build airframes. I've gathered a loat of reference material, and that is how I arrived at the panel demarcations. Even so, there is a lot of interpretaton becasue even the main panels appear to be sub-divided into smaller panels of various orientations. The wing undersides of the two new Mosquitos have totally different panel patterns as far as I can see.

 

The wood skin colour (birch) can indeed be very light, but the fact is that without a bit of depth and contrast, the woodgrain on the decals doesn't show up well. I'm aiming for a finish that looks good rather than a 'true' colour. After all, due to the method of assembly and surface treatments, it would be pretty much impossible to ever see a Mosquito as I've modelled it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the wings weren't a total disaster, I went ahead and masked the fuselage:

sqzaDS2a.jpg

Plenty of hole punch action again.

Then sprayed Vallejo silver, preshaded and Tamiya Smoke, as per the wings. Couldn't resist putting the canopy in place:

puu191qK.jpg

tBOxrwgs.jpg

The hatch framings were a particular pain in the arse.

Now for the fabric rudder...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bit more progress tonight: I painted the fabric rudder in the same colour (Tamiya Deck Tan) than I used for the 'clear doped linen' parts of my SE.5a model. Then masked the solid parts:

Bx1lYN0Z.jpg

And sprayed a slightly darker mix to give the effect of a 'hollow' substucture. I also sprayed in a couple of aluminium inspection panels I missed first time around:

DGaTv8Qj.jpg

The tailcone is usually assumed to be aluminium judging by the other 'woodgrain' Mosquitos I've seen, but only the lower tailwheel shroud is metallic. I can't find references for the material of the two blisters on top of the cone (presumably fairings for control horns or linkages), but I'm going to assume they are aluminium, and I'll hand paint them. Because of the rather complex geometry, the rest of the tailcone will be finished with oil paint woodgrain. Otherwise, I think the fuselage asembly is now pretty much ready for decalling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...