Another Tamiya Mossie

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sun May 03, 2015 9:16 pm

Quite by coincidence this Mosquito was going to be my next build, and then I saw this SIG appear and decided I'd join in, this is my first time doing a build thread I'll try my best to keep it updated and interesting.

So I'm going to be building Tamiya's 1/48 Mosquito FB Mk VI

I'm planing on doing option B which is the Coastal Command varient.

Let the fun begin

das84 · Post by **das84** » Fri May 08, 2015 7:55 pm

Ok, so I've made a start by deciding to ignore the instructions which would have you start by building the wheel wells and instead skipped ahead to start on the cockpit and bomb bay.

The cockpit is fairly well detailed out of the box plus dry fitting the fuselage has given me the impression that you wont be able to see a great deal of it anyway once its all built certainly around the instrument panel anyway, one area that you can see quite clearly is the seats so decided to jazz these up a bit, the seatbelt decals provided look awful and my last attempt at using PE seatbelts resulted in language that would put a sailor to shame and gave me a headache for the rest of the day. Being fairly new at this modelling malarkey I try and incorporate at least one new technique or material in to each of my builds so this time I decided to replace the kit seats using resin seats from quickboost.

Here they are still attached to there casting blocks

And here they are cleaned up along with the cockpit section with the original seats removed.

And finally attached to the kit parts, they look great now I wonder if they will look as good when I've been let loose at them with a paintbrush.

Hawkins6685 · Post by **Hawkins6685** » Fri May 08, 2015 11:52 pm

Looking good will follow your progress. Can't wait till mine arrives in about 2 months lol

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Sat May 09, 2015 8:27 am

Of to a great start mate.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sun May 10, 2015 3:54 pm

Parts have been primed and then sprayed interior green using XF71

Detail painting and drybrushing on some of the cockpit parts

And on the wheel wells

Just the seats and the bomb bay left to paint now.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sun May 10, 2015 8:25 pm

nice detail painting

rgds
John(shortCummins)

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sun May 10, 2015 9:51 pm

Thanks, those were the easy bits I think painting the seats and belts has sent me cross eyed

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sun May 17, 2015 8:16 pm

Ok, have finished painting and weathering the cockpit, bomb bay and wheel wells. Another new technique tried here in the form of oil washes, yellowy brown around the aluminium parts and a dark dirty brown everywhere else. Just need to matte coat everything in the morning and hopefully can make a start on getting the fuselage joined up

Cockpit parts

Close up of the seats, don't think I made too much of a hash at painting them

Bomb Bay

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Mon May 18, 2015 7:42 pm

you've done a first rate job on those seats

how did you find working with resin for the first? time

rgds
John(shortCummins)

peppie · Post by **peppie** » Mon May 18, 2015 9:31 pm

Some great painting Sir.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Tue May 19, 2015 9:44 am

how did you find working with resin for the first? time

Much easier than I thought it would be, certainly much easier than fiddling with tiny pieces of PE. Its a bit daunting though when you start chopping off the original kits parts.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Wed May 20, 2015 6:46 pm

Have had a chance to get a bit more done in the last few days, firstly both propellers painted and assembled.

And the canopy masked up, normally I don't mind masking these with tape myself but decided to get the eduard mask set at the same time I was getting the resin seats and I'm certainly glad as trying to cut 23 individual masks would have sent me crazy.

Also found a fairly handy way of getting the masks into the right place without sticking to the first piece of plastic they come across, first lift the mask off of the backing paper and then roll it around a cocktail stick leaving only a small part of the mask unstuck.

Get this stuck in the correct place and then slowly unroll the rest of the mask in to place. It should hopefully be nicely lined up.

Lastly I've managed to get the fuselage together, filled, sanded and polished.

martin57 · Post by **martin57** » Wed May 20, 2015 9:38 pm

nice work on the canopy good tip with the stick i will be giving that a try

wally · Post by **wally** » Thu May 21, 2015 9:19 am

Very nice work on the cockpit. I like the propeller to. Looking forward to see the next steps of your build. I have plan to add in my Mosie the resin seats so your paint work on them will help me to work on it. Keep up good work.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Fri May 22, 2015 4:43 pm

Thanks for all the positive comments so far.

Have had my first problems with the build, managed to snap off the gunsight whilst dry fitting the canopy, unfortunately once the fuselage halves are together its impossible to see where its supposed to sit on the instrument panel so ended up super gluing it into roughly the right place, its probably sticking out of an instrument dial or something. And then I managed to loose what I assume is a pitot tube which should fit into the tail section, not a huge problem as it was replaced by a short length of thick fuse wire.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Fri May 22, 2015 5:02 pm

Great work so far mate.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sun May 24, 2015 11:17 am

She looks excellent!
Nice trick with the masking tape. That's one I'll be using next time for sure.
Thanks for that.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Mon May 25, 2015 9:02 am

Nice trick with the masking tape. That's one I'll be using next time for sure.

Was just and idea that popped into my head whilst trying to line up the tiny pieces of masking tape into the correct place, much easier than struggling with two pairs of tweezers.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Tue May 26, 2015 3:43 pm

Didn't have a chance to do any more over the weekend as I was working nights, but now I'm fully recovered the wings have been built and added to the fuselage, the undercarriage and wheels are done as well. All that is left to do is build the rocket rails and probably put a smear of filler along the wing roots and then the assembly is all done.

Also whilst looking around the internet found a picture of the aircraft represented in the kit

And also this colour picture of a Coastal Command Mosquito being loaded with rockets, cant tell which aircraft it is though as the loaders are standing infront of the serial number.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Tue May 26, 2015 5:39 pm

Looking great mate. So fab photos too

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Tue May 26, 2015 8:38 pm

das84 wrote:

that would make a nice 'simple' dio'

rgds
John(shortCummins)

das84 · Post by **das84** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:23 pm

Over the weekend I've managed to prime, preshade and paint the lower surfaces. The colour callout in the instructions is for xf55 which is deck tan something about this didn't seem right, so after a quick search around on the internet I discover that coastal mosquito's undersides were actually painted sky, not sure where tamyias suggestion of light brown came from.

Sprayed XF21 sky

Have also got the wheels and the undercarriage painted, used mr metal for the aluminium, first time using this does it always rub off onto everything quite so easily, had to apply the gloss coat rather quickly to prevent the metal colour ending up everywhere.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:09 am

They did the same I'm my kit bud.
Not so much on the exterior colours, but they fuel tanks and some of the interior call outs were off.
I love the look of that underbelly though. Nicely done.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Thu Jun 04, 2015 10:00 pm

And today the top has been masked up and sprayed extra dark sea grey. Have just noticed a couple of spots that need a little touching up so will hopefully get that done over the weekend and then am trying to decide whether to try some post shading. Its a technique I've always skipped as I am always worried that I will completely wreck my paintwork in the process, so I've sprayed a spare wing in grey to practice on first.

Have also got all eight rockets painted, they just need a wash once I've finished painting and glossing eveything.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:46 pm

Great work mate

das84 · Post by **das84** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:52 pm

Not much progress with this recently, my attempts at post shading with the airbrush have been less than successful so will need to find some other way to break up the vast expanse of grey.

The first gloss coat has gone horribly wrong though and I now have a surface rougher than what I started with, as I understand it this is down to the gloss drying before it reaches the surface (serves me right for trying to spray in a conservatory i guess). Whats the best way to correct this is it a case of spraying more gloss to even out the surface or does the rough surface meed to be polished out?

The only real progress is on the undercarriage which has had all of its washes applied. Think I may have gone a bit heavy with the rusty colours but oh well live and learn.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Wed Jun 24, 2015 2:58 pm

Yesterday turned into a bit of a decaling disaster, having smoothed out the rather rough gloss coat I set about putting down the decals. I've decided that tamyia decals and me don't mix, on my spitfire build they wouldn't snug down to the surface no matter how much setting solution i used and these ones just decided to tear whenever I went near them, the yellow N split into three parts but i managed to move all the bits into place without too much trouble. Unfortunately one of the serial numbers and one of the red boxes for over the air intakes tore and curled up so badly that I couldn't salvage them, I don't suppose anyone who is building the tamyia kit would be able to send me there unused serial number decals would they?

Anyway here is how everything looks at the minute.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:18 pm

She is looking great mate. PM me your address and the decals you need and I'll send you some out. I've got a few different sets of mossie decals so should be able to sort something for you.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Thu Jun 25, 2015 12:45 am

It's the nature of tamiya's decals I've found. They make great kits but man! Their decals stink!

Love the paint job bud!mshe looks awesome

das84 · Post by **das84** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:14 pm

First off, thanks to Nige for supplying replacements for the various decals that I managed to screw up the first time round.

With all the markings on where they should be another gloss coat was added ready for the washes. Ultimate dark dirt was liberally applied all over and left to dry.

Come to wipe it off and my rough gloss coat starts causing problems again, I had polished the areas the decals were going smooth but not the whole model, resulting a a very patchy finish to the varnish, super smooth in some places but almost matt in others. The wash was stuck fast in the matt areas and trying to wipe it off had left fibres from the paper towel stuck everywhere, ended up scrubbing majority of the wash off with a tooth brush and then touching up the underside by pin washing the dark dirt in, the wash thats stuck in the matt areas has actually left quite a nice discoloration to the paint work so its not all bad.

I also decided to use an oil wash on the upper surfaces, once dry the dark dirt just didn't look right to me against the EDSG so Paynes grey was pin washed in and left to dry, unfortunately once dry paynes grey is basically the same colour as EDSG so the wash was basically non existant. Will have to darken it up a bit with some black and then try again.

Avgas · Post by **Avgas** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 8:51 pm

Looking good to me. Love the cocktail stick tip, will certainly try that on my next build.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:36 am

Glad I could help mate.

The mossie is looking sweet mate think I'll have to get another to do this scheme I really like it.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:19 pm

I've had the exact same thing happen to me on more than one build.
I feel your pain bud.
Still... It looks pretty good dude.

jackielinz · Post by **jackielinz** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:10 am

Nice work, cant wait to see the finished product

das84 · Post by **das84** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:05 pm

Once again thanks for all the positive comments, hopefully I'm on the home straight now.

The panel lines were washed again this time with a slightly darker grey so that they would actually show up

And once the oil had been give a few days to dry all the odd and ends where added and then everything has been coated in winsor and newton professional matt varnish.

Except for the wheel bay doors which I have just realised I completely forgot to paint.

I really liked the look of the dot filter that Coen used on his mossie so I think that will be the next thing to try, then it should just be a case of weathering the exhausts and adding exhaust stains.

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:16 pm

Dot filters are one of my favourite weathering effects. It's that little bit of magic that adds so much.
If done right it can make all the difference
That's a super looking build bud. The dot filter will certainly knock the hell out of it

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:16 pm

That's cracking work with the dot filter mate really brings her to life.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:20 pm

Coen wrote:Dot filters are one of my favourite weathering effects. It's that little bit of magic that adds so much.
If done right it can make all the difference
That's a super looking build bud. The dot filter will certainly knock the hell out of it

I hope so, have just been looking at the pics of the dot filtering on your mosquito and was just wondering do you only filter the top surfaces or do you do the whole aircraft (in the photos it only looks like the upper parts)

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 5:07 pm

I do the entire thing.

das84 · Post by **das84** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 3:29 pm

Hopefully this will be the last build update for this mosquito and the next time you see her will be in the reveals section.

First off the dot filter was applied

And here is the wing after it was wiped off, not sure if you can actually see the results in the photo

Exhaust stacks painted and weathered

Exhaust staining added

Coen · Post by **Coen** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:55 pm

Wow!! That worked!

Well done!

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:10 pm

Brilliant work with the dot filter mate really gives her a used look.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Jul 31, 2015 7:17 pm

das84 wrote:
First off the dot filter was applied

is that roundel a decal? either way awesome job

rgds
John(shortCummins)

das84 · Post by **das84** » Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:15 am

Yes the roundel is a decal, even more impressive is its a tamyia decal which has actually done what its supposed to do.

Its been faded a little by drybrushing it with oil paint so that it hopefully matches up with the rest of the worn, sea battered look.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:47 pm

das84 wrote:Yes the roundel is a decal, even more impressive is its a tamyia decal which has actually done what its supposed to do.

Its been faded a little by drybrushing it with oil paint so that it hopefully matches up with the rest of the worn, sea battered look.

that's a fantastic effect, I'm going to try that myself