1:48 scale DH Mosquito T.III RR299

[jamieduff1981]

Hi folks.

I used to be an avid modeller as a boy/teenager but stopped when I left home due mainly to lack of anywhere suitable/comfortable to spray paint.

I'm trying to get back in to model making again now although I'm usually distracted from my own projects on to simpler ones within 10 minutes as my keen-as-mustard 4 year old daughter appears wanting to join in... not that I'm complaining of course!

I started this simple conversion of a Tamiya FB.IV a while ago, bought some resin bits and collected some photographs and picked it up again over the weekend. I'm modelling G-ASKH, the BAe operated Mosquito formerly registered as RR299 in RAF service and wearing the ficticious squadron codes HT-E from its time in the terrible film "Mosquito Squadron".

I've done an approximation of the cockpit. From my references, RR299 appeared to have a black painted cockpit and flew with the instructor's control column removed to aid access.

















I've changed the carburrettor intakes for the tropical filter type.





General pics





Since the house move everything hobby-related has been dumped outside in my big barn/shed thing. Last night I started moving some 1/48 kits indoors. There's still more to sort through plus other scale stuff.



Should keep me busy for a while!

[Eric Mc]

Welcome back to the hobby. You can take the man away from modelling - but you can never take the modelling out of the man.

Looks like you are making good progress.

[Red Firecracker]

Great start, looking forward to seeing it progress.

Did you consider using something other than the decals for the seatbelts?

[jamieduff1981]

Hi chaps.

I used to use brass for seatbelts but to be honest I used to over-egg the detail accessories and lose interest in the closing stages of my last period in the hobby. I agree they look a bit naff though so I may paint over them and use paper instead

[Eric Mc]

That is the problem with over attention to detail. Momentum can be lost and the project not finished.

I have decided that the key ingredient is "completion". Skip the teeny, tiny detail - especially if it mostly can't be seen - and get the model finished.

[jamieduff1981]

That's my problem in a nutshell Eric.

I've decided 1/48 is the worst possible scale. It's big enough to see everything but too small to do anything about it in most cases. Still, I'm heavily invested in 1/48 so will stick with it! I just need to stop beating myself up and finish stuff - nobody else cares a jot anyway!

[Eric Mc]

Even though my eyesight is not great (and getting worse with age), I have decided to stick with 1/72 as you can omit far more in that scale and still produce an acceptable model.

[dr_gn]

Very good progress so far, although as others have said I'd repaint the seat and use real belts. Eduard do 1:48 fabric belts which will transform the look of the cockpit for very little effort:



I think the use of aftermarket parts can make a huge difference, although you have to be careful of substituting perfectly good kit parts for time consuming, expensive, but inferior resin or etched versions...it pays to be selective particularly with photo etch.

I've now decided that rather than building one kit at a time, I start several under the assumption that the more I start the more I finish...Currently building a 1:72 Revell Tornado, 1:72 Airfix Hurricane, 1:32 Revell ASK 21 Glider and a paper fishing boat. Plus a long term rebuild of a 1:12 F1 car. AS you say, aftermarket eats modelling time, so the Hurricane is OOB (apart from the Eduard pre-painted harness of course).

[Eric Mc]

That is my philosophy too - I'm usually looking at around six unfinished projects at any one time.

In the end, most get finished, eventually.

[Mutley]

dr_gn said:

Very good progress so far, although as others have said I'd repaint the seat and use real belts. Eduard do 1:48 fabric belts which will transform the look of the cockpit for very little effort:

...
I think the use of aftermarket parts can make a huge difference, although you have to be careful of substituting perfectly good kit parts for time consuming, expensive, but inferior resin or etched versions...it pays to be selective particularly with photo etch.
...

Without wanting to derail this thread, I have a few models to start, and having (finally) been introduced to and using aftermarket parts this year, I definately go for the balance between enjoying what you are dong and fulfilling the desire of getting it as 'right' as possible. Less can be more, seat belts and grills, perhaps machine guns on the Lanc to be built. For me it's about trying and gaining the confidence that I'm not going to mess it all up.

[Brigand]

jamieduff1981 said:

As a lad (and still a bit now) I would see pictures like this and feel envy - I always wanted a big stack of kits somewhere, but I could never accrue more than two before having them all built! I can see how, as an adult it happens though, I had the Revell C-17 kit stashed away for over a year before getting round to building it. I should probably spend less on wine and more on kits, that way I might build up a similar pile!

As for your kit though, its looking good so far, it'll be interesting to see how it finally turns out.

[jamieduff1981]

Brigand said:

jamieduff1981 said:

As a lad (and still a bit now) I would see pictures like this and feel envy - I always wanted a big stack of kits somewhere, but I could never accrue more than two before having them all built! I can see how, as an adult it happens though, I had the Revell C-17 kit stashed away for over a year before getting round to building it. I should probably spend less on wine and more on kits, that way I might build up a similar pile!

As for your kit though, its looking good so far, it'll be interesting to see how it finally turns out.

Thank you

I used to be far more productive as a youngster. Then again, it was all about getting it finished. Quality was coincidental if any was apparent in the finished product and I could certainly spend much more time than I could money. That has reversed somewhat now of course. The main reason was that I never really stopped buying interesting stuff although I did slow the pace. I always wanted to get back in to it.

As others have said above, I like to have several on the go at once as my mood chops and changes a lot, both in terms of the subject and my enthusiasm for it and the physical nature of the task itself - e.g. sometimes I prefer gluing things together, other times I prefer painting. Sometimes I like to get busy with scalpels and razor saws! Having a few on the go keeps it interesting

Progress on the Mossie will slow up soon but shall resume in a few weeks...

[RacingPete]

Love the cockpit detailing on that - be good to see it finished.

[jamieduff1981]

Keen not to lose momentum and stall in this early phase of getting back in to modelling, I did a brief check on Hannants and decided to make new belts from some Bare Metal Foil I had lying around. They could be better - but I want to move on. The last thing I need is another potentially well detailed pile of bits in a box for years!



I've given the fuselage seams a sand and they need a light fill. I've also filled the gun ports. These were patched over on the T.III and still visible on the real thing.

[jamieduff1981]

I've done a tad more tonight. I've sanded the fuselage filler and needed a touch more for a couple of low spots. In between I've been pushing this Spitfire PR.X conversion along to get it ready to be sprayed pink. It's a Hasegawa Mk.IX kit I had and an Airwaves conversion I picked up for it a while ago.







Anyway, back to Mossies.

The Tamiya FB.VI kit has a windscreen wiper moulded on to the armoured windscreen thus:



RR299 did not appear to have the windscreen wiper fitted in any photographs I can find. It makes sense. It looks like it would get right in the way and when operated as G-ASKH on the airshow circuit it would have flown on a Permit to Fly and been restricted to VFR flying both legally and by the desire to preserve and protect the aircraft by BAe.



So, I sliced away the wiper with a scalpel. The windscreen was then sanded and polished back to an acceptable finish.

Scary:


Not so bad:

[dr_gn]

Scary, but nice. Are you going to dip it in Klear?

How are you going to tackle the internal canopy framing? I've got a 1:72 Tamiya FB Mk.VI and I can't decide how to do it.

[jamieduff1981]

Risky business for sure - but that wiper would have irritated me had it stayed!

I've built maybe 3 or 4 Tamiya Mossies previously and have used both the supplied decals for the canopy framing and painted it. Painting looked best on the last one I did. The first one I used decals and the middle one or two (I forget exactly how many) I also painted but struggled to mask it neatly inside, although I got there in the end and I learned the hard way that it needed several more coats of paint than I gave it. The middle one I can remember looked worse than the decals and it was a massive pain in the backside.

I applied the decals to this one tonight and have clearfixed it on!

80/20 rule in action!

[dr_gn]

A bit late, but how about scraping the internal framing off, and replacing it with plastic strip as a framework on the inside, not necessarily glued to the canopy, but secured somehow to the cockpit sides/ rear deck?

[jamieduff1981]

It would need a vac form replacement canopy I think. Polishing convex parts is fiddly enough. Scraping the inside would be a disaster I reckon. The frame should be doable but would be exactly the sort of fiddly scope creep I used to get sucked in to and bogged down with.

[dr_gn]

Fiddly scope creep hmmm. Welcome to my world.