1/48 Tamiya Mosquito B Mk IV in captured markings

[kahunaminor]

Hello all,

I have been unmotivated of late with my 1/32 Spitfire XVI, so as I was moving it to the shelf of procrastination, I spied this sitting there and decided to bring it up to speed. It has sat there, partially started for about 12 months:

 

 

As a bit of a gee up for one of my club mates, I am going to finish it in the markings of a captured aircraft used by the Luftwaffe's "Zirkus Rosarius":

 

 

Eduard PE, Ultracast seats, mudguards, exhausts and wheels will be used:

 

 

When I left it the cockpit area had been started and was at a base coat position. The nacelles and wings had also been commenced. I basically went to work on installing the remainder of the cockpit:

 

 

The bomber version had both an inner and outer door in the lower half of the fuselage for the crew to enter and exit. The navigator/bomb aimer's legs would lay across the inner door when he was engaged in bomb aimer duties. Tamiya supplied the door on their sprues (F4 I think) but it is not mentioned in the instructions. I had PE for the outer door (which I gave to the carpet monster) so whilst scratching that piece, I did some for the inner door mechanism. The cover was drilled out for the window and Micro Krystal Kleer would be added to make the window:

 

 

Here you can see the door in the sealed up cockpit:

 

 

Ultracast seats were painted, washed and flat coated. The armour warning marking was masked and sprayed on the rear of the pilot's seat:

 

 

Airscale instrument dials and placards were added as appropriate into the cockpit area along with the Eduard PE and then it was all sealed up:

 

 

The port fuselage side was carefully attached, trapping the cockpit and bomb bay sections:

 

 

The wings were added. I had to sand down the round locating pins on the spar to get them to fit inside the wings and enlarge them to allow the two wing panels to fit. This leaves me a slight gap on the wing/fuselage join but nothing a small amount of Perfect Plastic Putty will not fix. The glasshouse nose was masked and added without problem as was one of the fuselage windows. The port one cracked in half as I was applying it. I have affixed it and will try to remove the crack  or I may not:

 

 

I will prepare the canopy pieces for spraying the interior framing and once that is done, add the pilot's seat and close the canopy prior to tackling the seams. That way I hope to keep most of the dust out.

 

Regards,

[BevanBrooks]

Killer scheme choice there, looking forward to paint.

 

Bevan

[caughtinthemiddle]

The bomber version had both an inner and outer door in the lower half of the fuselage for the crew to enter and exit. The navigator/bomb aimer's legs would lay across the inner door when he was engaged in bomb aimer duties. Tamiya supplied the door on their sprues (F4 I think) but it is not mentioned in the instructions. I had PE for the outer door (which I gave to the carpet monster) so whilst scratching that piece, I did some for the inner door mechanism. The cover was drilled out for the window and Micro Krystal Kleer would be added to make the window:

 

 

 

I think that Tamiya did this on purpose. The inner doors appear to be added in the Mossies with pressurized cabin, in order to help sealing the cockpit interior.

 

BTW, the 'T9+XB' was most likely never flown by the Germans, with their markings added only for the purpose of static display during a presentation of captured Allied aircraft at Rechlin, on September 3rd, 1943. It is believed that this aircraft was a PR.IV, DZ466, of No. 540 Sqn., which failed to return from a recon sortie on February 20th, 1943. 

[kahunaminor]

I think that Tamiya did this on purpose. The inner doors appear to be added in the Mossies with pressurized cabin, in order to help sealing the cockpit interior.

BTW, the 'T9+XB' was most likely never flown by the Germans, with their markings added only for the purpose of static display during a presentation of captured Allied aircraft at Rechlin, on September 3rd, 1943. It is believed that this aircraft was a PR.IV, DZ466, of No. 540 Sqn., which failed to return from a recon sortie on February 20th, 1943.

 

Thanks for checking in and providing the info. I believe you are correct in saying it was never flown. It does mean the weathering will be absolutely minimal .

 

Regards,

[caughtinthemiddle]

http://abload.de/img/moz3sfrk9.jpg
http://abload.de/img/moz24tocy.jpg
http://abload.de/img/moz12mqyl.jpg

Source: Jet & Prop 6/2000.

[kahunaminor]

Onwards!

Using the Eduard masks, I masked the interior of the canopy frame work in preference to the decals that Tamiya give you. I had to do some minor modifications or additions but they came up pretty good:

 

 

 

You may note that some of them look a bit dodgy and incomplete. I went back over a couple but hopefully once I apply the masks to the exterior, it should all come together. A couple of small PE pieces were added to the canopy and then it was secured to the airframe:

 

 

In doing so, I managed to get a glue print on the port upper canopy. Thankfully all the paint is inside so a judicious application of graded sand paper followed by some more Future remedied that one! 

 

A fellow modeller posted some photos of this aircraft which revealed the spinners and props were not attached as the aircraft was only a display and never flown. This meant (a) cutting off the props and attaching the spinners anyway or ( some work on the exposed oil cooler faces in each engine. I chose route ( . Using my Olfa circle cutter, I cut a circle just smaller than the face of the engine nacelles from .005 card, punched a hole in the centre and affixed them to the faces. I will have to add some small gizmology to dress it up but I am happy with the result thus far:

 

 

The photos also appeared to confirm the decal sheet reference in that this aircraft had only single wing navigation lights, so the relevant wingtips were added as well as the rear stabilisers:

 

 

Masking the canopy exterior, I was careful to completely enclose the areas where there should only be internal framing, which meant covering some areas totally. I will use some liquid mask to ensure a seal:

 

 

Next up seams and priming, thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

[RalphSarc]

Looking pretty sweet! I justed started my Tamiya 1/48 De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.Vl/NF Mk.ll build. It's a beautiful kit with perfect fit!!

[kahunaminor]

Moving forward,

 

I continued to prep the aircraft for priming. I filled the forward ID light just aft of the bomb bay and made a new one just forward of the other two:

 

 

The engine front plates were painted aluminium, then masked and BIG sprayed around the fronts.The canopy also had some liquid masking to ensure a seal and the BIG was sprayed on the exteriors:

 

 

Some area received some Perfect Plastic Putty to eliminate seams. The wingtip lights were installed and  liquid masking agent applied. The first coat of Tamiya Extra Fine Primer was laid down:

 

 

I let that cure for about 24 hours and I was happy with the majority of the coverage. Some areas were shown to need a little more work (forward of the canopy, rear engine nacelles, lower window insert and some others): so I sanded these back:

 

 

 

 

Happy with the results, I will re-prime to check but the majority of the aircraft is smooth.

 

More to follow.....

 

Regards,

[kahunaminor]

Thanks to a fellow modeller, I obtained these three photos of the aircraft I was building:

 

Jennings' informative piece on HS concerning assymetrical exhausts fitted to some Mosquito B Mk IV. A couple of PM's and I had a set of two stage nacelles and an extra set of six exhaust pipes on the way. This would mean some minor surgery to turn the outer exhaust openings into the longer, squared off version. The small intakes just below the outlets would need to be removed and longer ones made. I would also need to fill the offset square panel on each outer nacelle:

 

 

Not pretty at the moment but with the arrival of the parts from Jason last night, I have used 2mm rod to fill the outer exhaust openings. This will be sanded back and filled to allow the more squared off opening. Hopefully, all being well, I may see some paint on by the weekend.

 

Regards,

[RalphSarc]

Great progress!

[kahunaminor]

Thanks for the positive comments guys, I appreciate them.

 

Some post surgery pictures of the exhaust openings:

 

 

 

 

I have test fitted them and it should look okay once the exhausts are inserted. The new inlets are 1mm plastic rod with the ends bored out. I will shape and fair them to hopefully resemble the original. 

 

Regards,

[kahunaminor]

Welcome back,

After an enforced hiatus due to some C6/7 surgery, I am back at the bench. Most of the work has been on tidying up the new cut outs for the six stack exhausts, the new intakes and replacing lost detail. Here the inserts have been fared in and a coat of primer shows a bit of work to go:

 

​

 

​

 

​

 

A view from the topside shows the intakes:

 

​

 

​

 

A front on view shows how proud of the fairing the outlets sit in accordance with Jennings' references:

 

​

 

More to follow.....

 

Regards,

[kahunaminor]

It was then time to paint! Underside RLM04 from the Warbirds Enamel range:

 

​

 

​

 

The surrounds of the ID lights were rescribed:

 

​

 

The lost detail of the nacelles had been rescribed and the latches from 0.05 strip were relaced and sanded to scale (almost):

 

​

 

​

 

​

 

​

 

A few hours and a couple of light coats later, the packing was removed from the wheel and bomb bays:

 

​

 

And the MLG and tail wheel inserted so she stands on her own two feet:
 

​

 

​

 

Thanks for looking. The RLM74 will go on the topside in the next day or so and that will be basic painting completed.

 

Regards

[crazypoet]

Beautiful work on this!

[kahunaminor]

Masking for the RLM74 on the upper surfaces using Warbirds enamels:

 

 

 

The demarcations using Tamiya 2mm curved tape and others fore and aft of the wings are complete guesses:

 

 

Masking removed:

 

 

 

 

 

Gloss coat, half a dozen decals and some very light weathering are next on the agenda.

 

Regards,

 

​

[kahunaminor]

Thanks guys!

 

Not too much done over the holiday break. I wasn't really happy with the position of the RLM74 on the rear fuselage. The pictures and the CE Decal sheet showed it further aft. So a quick mask and respray saw me happier with this:

 

 

Rather than this:

 

 

And the redone other side:

 

 

Whilst I still had the RLM74 in the Grex, I added a drop of white to the cup, mixed and applied in the direction of airflow and various spots to break up the large, bland monotone colour:

 

 

Well that's it for 2015! Have a safe and Happy New Year and see you all in 2016.

 

Regards,

[Wingco57]

I like that livery very much. It seems to suit the Mossie.

Cees

[kahunaminor]

Thanks for the compliments.

 

Gloss coated with Testors Gloss Coat and decals applied. This is the first time I have used CE decals and they are very thin and somewhat fragile. This resulted in tearing the inner forward arm of the X on the underside. I will mask and touch up after another protective gloss coat:

 

 

The rest turned out fine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following and regards,

[kahunaminor]

The light and dark at the end of the tunnel! I over coated the decals with Testors gloss enamel topcoat (by mistake) and got a lovely shiny finish. I then mucked it up with Promodeller wash, dark dirt on the green (and engine nacelle sides) and light dirt on the yellow before removing it with a plethora of cotton buds (Q tips for our colonial readers) moistened with water:

 

 

The finished was Dullcoat lacquer through the back up Runway 13 airbrush and then collecting all the bits and bobs for final assembly. At this stage I was really wanting to tear the masking off but I walked away for a couple of hours:

 

 

 

 

Eduard have you remove the fore and aft bomb bay doors before adding the three PE hinges. Disregard their advice and leave them. Here I have replaced the plastic with some evergreen strips. This will allow me to attach the doors more securely and cover the little holes in the doors where the plastic Tamiya provides would fit:

 

 

Who was I kidding? After two agonising hours wait, I peeled off the canopy masks and attached the exhausts. I was disappointed to find a large thumb print on the glazing, which was thankfully on the exterior. So again judicious use of a cotton bud and some elbow grease removed most of that:

 

 

Despite my best efforts, some dust and yellow overspray got inside the fuselage. The dust was mainly on the cockpit roof glazing so I could actually remove that by carefully inserting a microbrush. Alas the yellow had migrated to the front starboard side of the bomb aimers glass. All attempts to reach it have proven unsuccessful so far:

 

 

 

The cracked window detracts but not much I can do:

 

 

 

There is still a fair bit of work to do on the underside, attaching bomb bay, gear doors and other bits of tiny PE. I also have some touch ups to do and maybe some more polishing of the canopies and some Future.

 

Regards,

[kahunaminor]

And that's a wrap!

Calling this one finished today. The wheel bay covers proved an absolute nightmare to fix using only the Eduard PE. I actually managed to drop two doors and lose all but one of the tiny PE hinges, so I have only affixed the four rear hinges...the front ones cannot be seen anyway. I have also included the retraction lines out of Ezi line. The bomb bay was comparatively simple and all the other lower fuselage parts went on without a hitch:

 

 

 

 

 

I will have to live with the dust in the interior as there was no getting it out:

 

 

I also managed to break the pitot so a small piece of staple was pressed into service:

 

 

Overall an enjoyable build, unusual for its scheme and one (of many) rescued from the Shelf of Procrastination:

 

 

Thanks for following along and the encouragement given along the way.

 

Regards,

[RalphSarc]

Really sweet build and I love the captured scheme. The colors are striking to say the least!!