realworkingsailor

Thanks for the "likes" everyone! The next phase when rather quickly. Wing assembly was reasonably straight forward, as was the assembly of the engine nacelles. I usually leave the exhaust pipes off until after painting, but Airfix has to make things more complicated, don't they! Following the wings, the external fuel tanks are added, as well as the bomb, er, camera bay cover. I've held off adding the lease for the aftermost camera (if i'm not mistaken it was for the second lens of a stereoscopic camera setup). After this it was time to tackle the glasswork. Airfix includes two different canopy options, one with a flat panel above the observer's seat, the other with a rather wart like looking bubble. I managed to track down a prototype photo of MM307 to figure out which option I should be using. Unfortunately the photo isn't clear enough to determine which canopy to use. Looking at photos of other Mosquitos (and lots of pictures of mosquito repellant systems, thanks google), it's still 50/50 whether or not MM307 had a bubble top. What clinched it for me was on inspecting the Airfix casting, there were noticeable, I want to say, stress fractures (?) in the casting. Probably due to uneven heating or cooling of the plastic or the mould. They looked like fine little scratches in the interior of the plastic. The flat canopy was fine, so I opted to use that one. Easier to mask without the bubble anyway. The side window inserts were "fun" to do! Finally the last thing I did was to drill out the carburetor intakes on the lower engine nacelles. I think this gives a much better look from the front. It better matches with the open intercooler intakes just below where the prop spinners will be. I will be ordering a masking set for the Mosquito soon, so it will be a bit before I get on to painting and finishing. But I think it's overall a testament to the quality of the kit that it does assemble as easily as it does. Not perfect by any means, but nothing felt like it had to be forced or excessively sanded in order to be fitted to the model. Andy

Thanks to everyone for all the "likes" and kind comments! I've been making some progress over the last week or so. I've had the odd interruption here and there. Starting off with finishing off the cockpit, after dry brushing some silver to add some wear to the moulded details, I then added a black acrylic wash of my own to bring out the details. It worked really well on the cabling and other small recessed areas, I'm very happy with the overall effect. When the wash was finally dry, it was time to get assembling! Overall the fit was excellent! A far cry from the effort I needed to get that Bolingbroke/Blenheim to co-operate! One thing I've found is that things happen in a slightly different order with this kit, than I'm used to. After assembling the fuselage, it was on to the tail fittings and rudder. No issues here. Next, on to the landing gear! (?) I guess in order to get everything assembled correctly, the landing gear has to be assembled now, using the underside of the wings as a jig to keep everything in alignment. Must be that when the engine nacelle is assembled that leaves too small of an area to work in. Anyway, after assembly, I painted the landing gear legs in black, followed by a coat of aluminium. Once finally assembled, I'll give them a coating of the black wash to grime things up a bit. That brings everything up to date for the time being, wings, I think, are next. I should have this airplane looking like a proper Mosquito soon! Thanks again, everyone, Andy

That’s an easy one, those are simply handrails! 😀 Andy

Thanks everyone, for all your patience! Finally, some progress worth reporting! Construction, of course, begins in the cockpit. Assembly was pretty straight forward, for the most part this build will be OOB, with one or two little enhancements here or there. I used AK Real Colour RAF cockpit grey green for the interior colour, and Vallejo USAF dark green for the "leather" seats. I dry brushed some Floquil Aged Silver to simulate a little wear and tear, and returned to the AK cockpit green to add some scuff marks to the seats. I think Airfix is on the right track by moulding the gauges and switches into the instrument panels supplying the instruments as a clear decal, rather than the old, and very cartoonish black and white decals from before. I'd seen this before on the Spitfire Mk Vc kit and it looks fairly well (considering how little is actually seen in the end). The seatbelts came from the Yahu models PE seatbelt set, about the only aftermarket so far. I may get some resin wheels for this bird. Airfix used the same fuselage mould for this kit as on the previously released bomber version, however a few holes had to be drilled in place to accommodate lights and the opening for the oblique camera. The position lights on the starboard fuselage half are drilled out using a jig, so no problem there. I did run into a slight difficulty with the camera opening as the angle of the hole isn't defined until you try to fit the clear lens piece. I'd filed the hole slightly too horizontal. I've been slowly filling up the slight gap with thin layers of canopy glue so as not to craze or mar the clear part. Hopefully things won't be too visible when it's all said and done. Once everything has had a chance to cure, I will give the interior a shot of Dullcote to seal everything, and then I may add a bit of a dark wash to enhance some of the finer details in the cockpit. Andy

Apparently! Looking at the Airfix instructions (via Scalemates), the last landing of a biplane on a British aircraft carrier occurred July 1st 1965, on HMS Eagle. Andy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(locomotive)#/media/File%3ACP_steam_loco.jpg Quite confident. I know the structure that you are referring to, but I’m fairly certain that was introduced later as a method of keeping the steam from circulating in front of the cab. And no doubt the “can” on top of the dome is the whistle. Very standard practice for the day. Jupiter was built at the height of the brass age when railways wanted to show off their industrial advances in the finest style of the times. Lots of excessive and highly polished metal. Very different from locomotives that would be built less than twenty years later. Andy

You’re too kind! 😀 Most of my knowledge has been acquired through years of self-study. I’ve been fascinated with steam locomotives for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been driven to understand every facet of how they and all their various components work. Andy

The fitting on the boiler is a check valve. The device in front of the wheels is actually an early form of injector pump. As a steam locomotive builds pressure, water needs to be introduced at a greater pressure, otherwise it would blow out backwards into the tender. Before the development of more modern Venturi type injectors, injection water pressure was increased by the use of a pump. These pumps were usually driven via a linkage from the valve gear, (hence its location in front of the first driver wheel), so would only operate when the locomotive was moving. Andy

For a somewhat complicated looking model aircraft, that sure went together well. Fantastic job! Andy

42:06 Rgds, Andy

That’s the steam dome, steam collects in there. Inside is a bit of pipe work that leads to the cylinders, the opening of which is controlled by the throttle valve. If you look back at your cab construction, the grey angled leaver is the throttle leaver. To the right, the vertical leaver is the “Johnson Bar” which controls the valve settings, as well as the locomotive direction (Fwd or Rev). Andy

Thanks Brad! We’re about fifteen minutes to the southwest of CFB Borden. By my estimation, the main part of the house is over 100 years old. It occasionally makes making even small improvements challenging (Building code? What building code?). I’m not planning on permanently mounting the exhaust outlet in the window, I’ll have to see how things go. I had a slider in the cellar that was almost perfectly sized for the vent outlet. I suppose I could use the pedestal fan to create an extra exhaust flow along the outside of the vent, hopefully preventing any fumes from getting back in. For the most part I am using acrylics, and although the risk isn’t entirely zero, I think should be able to keep things under some form of control. I hope! 🤞 Andy

That’s a sand dome. It contained dried, sifted sand to aid in traction when starting or when climbing grades. The engineer would open a valve from in the cab and sand would run out along a pipe just ahead of the driving wheels. The top of the dome was removable so that sand could be refilled as needed. Andy

Thanks for all the support guys! So I’ve decided I am not going to wait for the water to recede. We had more rain last night, and given the ground saturation, the water had only one place to go. Time for me to take action! The only other useable space in the house was the attic, unfortunately it really lacked in the electrical department; one meagre light and no outlets. After a trip to the hardware store, I had secured all the fittings and wire that I would need to improve the situation. I then spent a good part of yesterday afternoon adding two ceiling light fixtures as well as a power outlet. Things began to look up! As of this morning, all my equipment and supplies have been rescued from their watery purgatory and are now ready for use in my new space! Hooray! There’s a nice window for light, and ventilation (and a place to run the exhaust pipe from the spray booth extraction fan). The wooden cabinet has been repurposed to hold paints, supplies and other sundries. If needed I have a space heater for colder days (the attic isn’t heated, but it doesn’t typically freeze up there), now that I have power, that should make for a comfortable place to work. My Mosquito build should be commencing shortly! 😀 Andy

Thanks Alan! Really it’s just a matter of waiting it out. It’s an annual occurrence, but hopefully soon the weather will begin to warm up, and the water table can recede a bit. The topography and soil has a lot to do with it too. Sand over clay. The melt water from last winter’s snow permeates down through the sand until it hits the clay, then flows along the top of the clay until it hits the low ground (aka my pond), or it emerges through the porous walls of my cellar. Andy