Andrew's 1/72 Tamiya Mosquito Mk XIII

[scottie3158]

Andrew, cracking work on the office.

 

[adt70hk]

Andrew, cracking work on the office.

Thanks Scottie!! I'm pretty pleased with it myself. Wasn't sure I could pull off the could I knobs at 1/72.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Morning all

So with the cockpit almost finished - pics to follow hopefully later today - I have been plodding on with the pilot and navigator and have of course used the forum-famous 'Marlow Method'**.

These resin figures are by a Belgian company called PJ Productions (link HERE) that does a range of resin AM parts and kits. I used their German pilots in my 109 builds and to be honest I think they were better.

Maybe it was because the German flight uniforms were less complex but the sculpt/casting was much better defined than with these RAF crew. This made it hard to read in places and so I don't think they're my best work but all closed up you won't see much of the detail........at least that's my excuse!

I still have to attach the arms but I have deliberately left them off as I want to put the joystick in the hand of one of them.

My initial thought is to use the figure looking to his right as the pilot. His arm and especially hand look to be in a better position/shape for connecting with the joystick and if I'm right, it almost look like he's glancing over his shoulder at the navigator - maybe for one final check before the engines are started?

ACW as usual.

ATB

Andrew

** For those new the forum and not familiar with the 'Marlow Method', our very own @Tim Marlow did a brilliant small scale figure painting SBS four years ago (can't believe it was that long!!!) that helped get the figure painting monkey off my back - details HERE.

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A 'distance' shot....look ok.....







Close up scale shot....not quite so pretty.....

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work Andrew. They will be really happy in the cockpit of your mossy. By the way, the SBS was slightly less than two years ago…..December 2020 if I recall correctly Flattered by the comments though.

 

[adt70hk]

Nice work Andrew. They will be really happy in the cockpit of your mossy. By the way, the SBS was slightly less than two years ago…..December 2020 if I recall correctly Flattered by the comments though.

Thanks Tim.... Glad you like them!

You're right about the date but I checked two or three times this morning before I posted and it definitely said April 2018......or at least I'm sure it did..... Which I should have clocked as being wrong because I only joined in Autumn 2020......

Just checked and it did say April 2018.... At least against the date you joined!!! DOH!!!!

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Good evening all

And so, in near record time for me , I have manged to finish not only the pilots but also the office.....other than a subtle pin wash to make it look slightly less clean.

On the whole it went well and I've made a couple of additions to the kit. The points from the build are:

• Either I've built it wrong or Tamiya got the joystick length too long....it hits the gunsight and based on some pictures I think it's too long;
• Tamiya decal instrument panel is too big (but they often seem to be regardless of manufacturer), plus the decal didn't sit down well - even my AZ Model 109 decals were better. I have heard many times that Tamiya decals aren't the best and so far this hasn't helped their reputation.....but at least a lot will be hidden by the pilot!
• I added some cabling details having been inspired by Mick's (aka @Mickc1440) Mossie build.

As I said I'll do a subtle pin wash and then stick the crew in before buttoning it up!

Although it doesn't have the level of detail that the bigger kits or PE do, I'm pretty pleased with it.

ACW as usual

Andrew


Mick - thanks again for the inspiration and for letting me use you picture, it is appreciated.


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Mick's detail inspiration followed my 'homage'!!

The straight cable was done using black thread. The bent ones using nylon brush bristle from a domestic broom - just bend as desired and glue in place. In reality it's almost impossible to tell that the brush bristles aren't something that is one piece that was split at the end.










The final 'walk around'....

 

[adt70hk]

Afternoon all

And so we have the crew at their stations!!

Final upates::

• Subtle pin wash and general very light mucky wash.
• Forgot to 'sit' the pilot on his parachute (or at least something) so, he's too low in his seat.....I'll just have to pretend he's very short!
• It proved impossible to get his hand on the joystick due to the length of his arm, so it's on his lap.
• I am pretty sure that Tamiya got the gunsight wrong, or else it was fitted on an extendable mount, as it was virtually touching his face. Plus all the shots I've found appear to show it mounted on the top of the IP***. I therefore shortened it accordingly.
• The gunsight appears to be too central, so it's not in line with the pilots seat....or the pilots seat location is out***. So when shortening it I also moved it further to the left.
• I should have removed the cushion for the navigator, as he sits too high even though I flattened his posterior a bit to sit him more naturally - the canopy does fit though!! I'll just have to pretend he is very tall!!
• I also had to cut and adjust the co-pilots legs to have them bent at 90 degrees and not 45 for the pilot position, as it looked a bit odd otherwise.
• The navigator is leaning in slightly, looking at an IP problem over the pilot's shoulder - at least that's the story - because otherwise, he's marginally too wide.....

So all in all not perfect but hopefully won't look too bad once buttoned up.....but at least I've learnt for next time!

ACW as usual and sorry for pics being slightly different.....one of the original shots was a bit blurry.....guess it's not been my day!!.......'interestingly' my phone camera classified one of the shots as a bouquet!!

ATB

Andrew

*** If I have done Tamiya a disservice, then please let me know!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looks pretty fine to me Andrew. Nice job

 

[Mickc1440]

Nice to be an inspiration Andrew but I had the luxury of a larger model
You’ve done a great job on it, looks really good in Braille scale

 

[adt70hk]

Looks pretty fine to me Andrew. Nice job

Nice to be an inspiration Andrew but I had the luxury of a larger model
You’ve done a great job on it, looks really good in Braille scale

Thanks guys! Glad you're liking it!

Turns out though I owe Tamiya an apology.....the gun sight was the correct length as it fits under a lip in the cockpit..... So I'll have to go without it....DOH!!! That said the build I'm following also goofed on their gunfight!

However, I still can't quite get over the feeling that the cockpit proportions are very slightly out. Even allowing for the pilot being a bit higher in his seat, the gun sight would still have been virtually on the the tip of his nose.

Thanks as always for the support.

ATB.

Andrew.

 

[Jim R]

Gets a big thumbs up from me Andrew. Cockpit is great and the figures will look fine under the canopy.

 

[Geoffers]

Looks very nice Andrew

You are a bit further along with your build so I will look out for the pitfalls you’ve highlighted. I’ll be very pleased if mine turns out as well as yours

Geoff.

 

[adt70hk]

Looks very nice Andrew

You are a bit further along with your build so I will look out for the pitfalls you’ve highlighted. I’ll be very pleased if mine turns out as well as yours

Geoff.

Gets a big thumbs up from me Andrew. Cockpit is great and the figures will look fine under the canopy.

Jim, Geoff

Thanks for the support, it really is appreciated.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So I've buttoned up the fuselage. A couple of minor fit issues but entirely my fault. Bottom half of the engine nacelles and wing tips also fitted.

The horizontal stabilisers have not been attached and the wings are only dry fitted because I have to work on the nose. I'm almost certainly going to have to scratch it and so they will just get in the way or worse get damaged.

Very impressed with the fit - the fit of the wings is almost snap-fit tight! The crew also look fairly at home - they're in the middle of a conversation about the missing gunsight!!

ACW as usual.

All the best.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi all

So I've buttoned up the fuselage. A couple of minor fit issues but entirely my fault. Bottom half of the engine nacelles and wing tips also fitted.

The horizontal stabilisers have not been attached and the wings are only dry fitted because I have to work on the nose. I'm almost certainly going to scratch it and so they will just get in the way or worse get damaged.

Very impressed with the fit - the fit of the wings is almost snap-fit tight! The crew also look fairly at home - they're in the middle of a conversation about the missing gunsight!!

ACW as usual.

All the best.

Andrew

Going well Andrew. That’s the next stage for mine as well

 

[adt70hk]

Going well Andrew. That’s the next stage for mine as well

Thanks Tim! It's nice to get it joined up, just got to work out how to do the nose, ideas to follow shortly.

Thanks as always for stopping by!!

ATB

Andrew

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So next up the nose.....this could be tricky, as the kit does not supply the correct 'thimble nose' for Lonesome Polecat.

I've worked out a number of possible ways on how to do it but would welcome your thoughts and ideas, in case I've missed something blindly obvious.

So here are the options I've considered:

1. Use an AM plastic part by a company called Airframe but it's long out of production (see HERE);
2. Use an AM resin Quickboost Mk XII nose and moulding block as the basis, and shape accordingly - but wrecking a very nice piece in the process;
3. Obtain a rod of balsa or harder wood of the appropriate diameter and shape accordingly. I have a local model store that will hopefully have something in stock;
4. Use a smaller diameter rod of wood as a frame/base and apply modelling putty of some sort e.g. Milliput and/or Green Stuff, and fashion the rest of the shape from that;
5. Use the inside of an appropriately shaped/sized thimble as a basic mould and finish appropriately - trouble is the diameter of the smallest I can find is about 3mm too big;
6. Somehow use styrene rods/strips/blocks to create one but I'm struggling to see that in my head at the moment, given the curved nature of the surfaces I have to create.......but as I type this I think have an idea......

At the moment and short of someone on here have the AM part gathering dust in their stash or finding a thimble of the right size, I'm leaning towards either a wooden nose - which actually would be kind of appropriate given the Mosquito's construction - or stryene somehow.

As I said any ideas on how to approach this would be more than welcome as I can progress no further with the build until I get this sorted. Below are a some pictures for information and inspiration.

All the best.

Andrew

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The real Lonesome Polecat nose


Sources: Mosquito Fighter/Fighter-Bomber Units of World War Two” by Martin Bowman & “Mosquito Menacing the Reich” by Martin Bowman




The build I'm using for using for some inspiration, using the aforementioned AM plastic nose:






Source: Hyperscale.com https://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/mosquitogm_1.htm




Using the AM Quickboost Mk XII nose
As you'll see below, the nose as it's supposed to be fitted is too short and the wrong shape. But could I use the moulding block to extend it and then shape accordingly?

It does though seem a shame to essentially wreck such a beautifully cast and fitting piece....







A very rough shot of how it might work....



https://www.flickr.com/gp/139640818@N02/3HYEM3Ar

 

[Tim Marlow]

Not easy Andrew. How far out is the original? It would still allow you to use the quick boost replacement if that goes wrong. Not sure the wood will work, the surface finish will be different and may show under paint. You would have to skim the surface with filler to get the surface right. You could use a wooden former to cast a replacement, but that’s a whole new field to investigate. Personally, for a one off like this I would start with a stack of plasticard formers, and smooth it out with a filler like milliput. You will need a drawing to work to though. It should work very much like a wooden ship hull or balsa wood aircraft fuselage.

 

[colin m]

Interesting Andrew, esp the bit about Digby. Spent a few years there when I was around 10 then again when about 14 . It's was an aerial school then and radio relay station, beautiful grass in front of the hangers , and no runways .

That sounds quite idyllic Mr Race.

 

[colin m]

Great work on your build Andrew. And your in-depth research puts my efforts with Google to shame.