Recommendations for a 1:72 DH Mosquito kit

[Ayahuasca]

https://worldwarwings.com/footage-of-rafs-mosquito...

Real life ‘633 Squadron’ stuff!

[Eric Mc]

As an aside - if you are interested in building a 1/72 Mosquito with the later Two Stage Supercharger Merlins, the old (and a bit dodgy) Matchbox kit is still the only one.

[tangerine_sedge]

Eric Mc said:

tangerine_sedge said:

The CURRENT Airfix kit. I'm hanging around rumourmonger on britmodeller hoping for some good news in January

P.s. I've got a soft spot for the current Airfix kit, lots of options, accurate and a very enjoyable build....

The CURRENT 1/72 Airfix kit IS ancient. It dates from 19721/73. So far Airfix has not issued a new tool 1/72 Mosquito - and at the moment there is no sign that they intend to. Having said all that, I actually like the Airfix 1/72 kit. I've made it a couple of times over the years and it is reasonably accurate in outline. The cockpit is spartan and the undercarriage is fiddly.

There was an even older Airfix 1/72 Mosquito which dated from the very early 1960s. This was the one that was superseded in 1972 by what was then a "New Tool".

Here's my Airfix one from a few years ago (actually, ten years ago when I see the date on the picture) -





Given the choice these days, I'd go with the Tamiya kit.

If you are feeling adventurous, Airfix do a new tool 1/24 Mosquito.

You misunderstand me. I know the current kit is from the early '70s, I'm holding out for a new one to be announced in January...

[Yertis]

Eric Mc said:

The CURRENT 1/72 Airfix kit IS ancient. It dates from 19721/73.

I still think of that as 'the new one'.

When I got mine (in 1974) it had a free tube of Airfix glue in the box, which I'd never seen before or since. The glue smelled strongly of tangerines. Ever since, whenever I smell tangerines, I think of that Airfix Mosquito. Funny how the brain works.

[dr_gn]

Yertis said:

Eric Mc said:

The CURRENT 1/72 Airfix kit IS ancient. It dates from 19721/73.

I still think of that as 'the new one'.

When I got mine (in 1974) it had a free tube of Airfix glue in the box, which I'd never seen before or since. The glue smelled strongly of tangerines. Ever since, whenever I smell tangerines, I think of that Airfix Mosquito. Funny how the brain works.

I've still go a Matchbox Mosquito nacelle half in the spares box. I used it only a couple of weeks ago as a test for silver finishes:



No idea where it came from - the Matchbox Mosquito was one of the best aircraft models I built for a long time - nice plastic to work with and no Titanic sized rivets moulded on. Of course it's quite an unusual aircraft for its time, being smooth-skinned with few panel lines.

[Eric Mc]

Yertis said:

I still think of that as 'the new one'.

Me too - obviously a sign of an aging modeller.

Here are some pictures of the original Mosquito kit which was issued in 1957.



And with later, Roy Cross, artwork -



FROG did one too -

[Eric Mc]

dr_gn said:

I've still go a Matchbox Mosquito nacelle half in the spares box. I used it only a couple of weeks ago as a test for silver finishes:



No idea where it came from - the Matchbox Mosquito was one of the best aircraft models I built for a long time - nice plastic to work with and no Titanic sized rivets moulded on. Of course it's quite an unusual aircraft for its time, being smooth-skinned with few panel lines.

Keep that nacelle - you never know when you might need it.

[silverfoxcc]

dr_gn

Thanks. i must have missed it

[Yertis]

Eric Mc said:

Until the Frog Kittyhawk 24hour/month work-in-progress I think that was the worst kit I've ever built. Shape is really only on nodding acquaintance with a Mosquito. I think it's referred to in one of the Arthur Ward books by Airfix themselves as "not good".

[Eric Mc]

The fact that Airfix replaced it as early as 1972 shows that they didn't think too much of it either.

[Yertis]

The Frog and Matchbox kits don't look so hot either.

[dr_gn]

Yertis said:

The Frog and Matchbox kits don't look so hot either.

The Matchbox one goes together nicely, and if it's painted well, could look really good. As with many Matchbox kits, I think they are still great kits for beginners. I picked these two classics up from Telford this year for peanuts:



Im particularly looking forward to the Heyford - never built one before.

[Yertis]

The Heyford was released just about the same time I ‘moved on’ from modelling. Struck me as a brave choice, a model aimed at the enthusiast.

[Eric Mc]

Matchbox had a nice line in 1930s biplanes such as the Heyford, Siskin, Fury, Stranraer, Seafox, Walrus, P-12 and Gladiator.

How well they sold from a commercial point of view I wouldn't know but they made nice little models.

[dr_gn]

...and a Swordfish, Helldiver plus a 1:32 Tiger Moth.

[Eric Mc]

Yes, all nice kits.

[Yertis]

As an aside I fairly recently spoke to the chap who did the Matchbox box art. He was still active, but unfortunately not doing commissions. However you could at that time still buy his original Matchbox box art (or derivatives thereof) for quite reasonable prices.

[dr_gn]

Yertis said:

As an aside I fairly recently spoke to the chap who did the Matchbox box art. He was still active, but unfortunately not doing commissions. However you could at that time still buy his original Matchbox box art (or derivatives thereof) for quite reasonable prices.

I think there were at least two artists - one did the early stuff, the other the much later kits. Some of the artwork on the later kits was a bit dodgy...

[Yertis]

Back in the office now – it was Roy Huxley.

[dr_gn]

Yertis said:

Back in the office now – it was Roy Huxley.

He did the early stuff - inspirational images that made you want to buy the kit. Even his work was eventually sanitised to remove any signs of swastikas, explosions or bullets (much like other kit manufacturers unfortunately).