Danstream

Dear all,

a short update with nothing exciting, but I needed to complete some necessary activities in preparation for closing the fuselage halves. One very tedious task was to address the many ejector pin marks on the fuselage inner sides. Then, the interior was furnished and some 'fantasy' cabling was added:

The two halves are now ready to receive some black paint before the interior green. Meanwhile, I finished to weather the bomb bay with the application of some black and brown Tamiya panel liner:

It turned out quite OK when inside the fuselage, although I must say that little of it will be seen because it will be covered by the structures that will held the bombs and half of it will be hidden by the doors of the cannons bay:

In the nose, I am replacing the Browning machine guns muzzles with the very nice Master brass additions:

I will glue them in place later on, probably after the application of the camouflage. I am not going to detail the gun bay and probably I will close this compartment after having glued the muzzle definitively in place. Finally, I am posting a picture of the completed cockpit tested inside the fuselage to show how much of it will be visible:

That is all for now, thanks for following,

Dan

@mtaylor, @Old Collingwood, I also have interpreted the plate where the backrest of the navigator is located as an armored plate. I even made some chipping on the edge of it. However, even assuming so, the head of the navigator was not protected. But I have seen such an arrangement also when I built the interior of the Beaufighter where the pilot seat backrest stopped at the shoulders height.

Cheers,

Dan

Your propellers look terrific too! The overall composition with the rest of the airframe is just spectacular.

Cheers,

Dan

That's a terrific model and diorama. There is a lot to look at. My favorite picture is the one where you can peek inside.

Congrats,

Dan

Good work on the propeller. If I may, this is my take with normal pastels over a layer of Tamiya paint, followed by Tamiya clear orange.

Cheers,

Dan

Great build, Chris. I like the 'curvy' lines of this old fighter.

Well done,

Dan

4 hours ago, king derelict said:

The cockpit details look great.

Thanks Alan! Glad that you like it.

3 hours ago, realworkingsailor said:

Looks great Dan! I’m glad the Yahu IP worked for you!

Thanks Andy! Yes, the Yahu IP was a great addition. After you mentioned it, I got a light bulb switched on.

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

Lovely work,  the  cockpit area  was my fave  part  when I built the  Revell  version  some years back.

Thanks OC. I also liked this one, with few additions I easily busied it up. However, the Mosquito has a closed canopy, but I am confident that something will be anyway visible.

Cheers,

Dan

Hi,

I went on with the cockpit parts. I eventually received the super nice Yahu replacement for the instrument panel which is shown here glued to the other kit parts:

I have added three prominent control levers in the center of the panel made of thin aluminum foil to complete the appearance of the IP. These are the cockpit parts that are now basically completed:

Differently from the instrument panel which was a disappointment, the Eduard seat belts worked fine and added a nice level of details to the kit seats. These are the same parts seen from another angle:

This time, I am going to depict a used aircraft, so I added some grime and dirt by brushing on some pastel powder. Now the parts are basically ready to be assembled, but before I will spray a mist of matt clear to uniform the finishes and mute the glint of metallic parts. On the underside of the cockpit, we have the ceiling of the bomb bay which I also started to color. I first sprayed a black primer followed by a light coat of colors that let the black to be seen through (although not very visible in the picture):

I will finish the bay by adding some more weathering effects to it. Presently, I am preparing the fuselage halves that need to have some of their annoying extractor pin marks to be addressed.

That is all for now, thanks for following,

Dan

Canopy turned out excellent. About the spinner and the blades, I should not feel compelled to paint them with the exact same color. They were painted with different paints (propeller blades have usually a special paint) and wear under different conditions.

Cheers,

Dan

5 minutes ago, realworkingsailor said:

If you just want to replace the IP, try Yahu models.

Thanks, just found it here in the Netherlands (1/48 scale) at less than 5 euro. I just ordered it, together with an 'in action' publication about the Mosquito (you know, just to achieve an amount worthy of the order).

Cheers,

Dan

Hi, thanks for your feedback! Unfortunately, the progress with my build is quite slow, so I am updating my WIP just to show that it is still going on. I started with the parts for the interior of the cockpit.

Actually, there are quite a number of parts and the best way to proceed is to take the necessary time for each of them. For the seat belts, I also bought the Eduard P.E. fret shown above and that contains them. With the seat belts, there are also a number of other details that are a welcome addition, including a plate with the name of the aircraft. However, when I tackled the instrument panel, I realized that this is colored with a blue tint instead of the usual black.

I checked several reference photos and I never found that tint. It looks to me quite odd that Eduard opted for such a strange color. At any rate, I don't like it and I prefer not to use it. The problem is that I already sanded down the instrument details in the original kit part so I cannot use it anymore. I need to shop around for a suitable replacement. Meanwhile, I started to add few details to the kit parts. It isn't my intention to superdetail the cockpit, but I am adding just few things that might be visible through the Mosquito closed canopy. For example, this is the addition to the radio compartment:

Here with some colors and the radio boxes:

Not much, but this is all for now.

Cheers,

Dan

@Gregory, thank you for giving advices. In principle, as you said, I wouldn't need to taper too carefully the strakes for the first layer, but I do it because I want to practice the work of the second layer.

Cheers,

Dan

Hi all,

I started with planking the hull by laying the first five strakes down and I would like to show some preliminary results.

I tried to follow the Chuck Passaro indications, i.e. tried to shape each strake by bending it within its plane. I had to make many trials per each piece, however I obtained what I think is a reasonable layout at the bow.

At the same time, the overall result is far from perfect and each plank had an issue of alignment with the others. Probably, I failed to bend the planks to the right amount or to bevel them correctly. In addition, I had to 'beef up' the first two frames (no. 2 and 3) because otherwise there was no way I couldn't go around them correctly.

I hope to be able to smooth down the various obvious defects later by careful sanding and filling.

This is the way went around the stern so far:

I am now continuing with another band of four strikes trying to keep them parallel as much as possible. Following also other builds, I will have also to see how to stop them at the bearding line on the dead wood.

That is all for now, thanks for following,

Dan

Thanks for your information about photography. I also like to take pictures of my models once finished (during the construction I find more practical and quick to use my iphone), but my equipment is much more rudimentary than yours and I don't have a macro lens. However, I need to use a tripod because with the low power lamps that I have and small apertures that I mostly use to increase the depth of field, I end up with long exposures that I cannot handle without.

Cheers,

Dan

The close-up pictures are impressive Rob.

Cheers,

Dan

I will follow your build of this nice lady. Never seen this kit before.

Good luck,

Dan

Hi all,

I eventually committed to glue the walnut prow and keel to the false keel of the hull. To obtain a strong joint I used epoxy glue. For added strength, I inserted two brass pins 1.5 mm dia. after having drilled holes through the joined parts.

In the next picture, the pins are glued and inserted their full length into the keel. The bulwarks were also glued with withe glue around the deck perimeter, spot glued to the frame extensions and clamped until the glue cures.

The final results after removing the pegs:

The bulwarks went on quite precisely and the overall symmetry looks satisfactory. Now I am ready to start with the first layer of planking.

Thanks for following,

best regards,

Dan

By the way, I noted that Chris Watton is following this build (thanks!), hence I feel I am in good hands, should I need some advices about this build 🙂.

Cheers,

Dan

22 minutes ago, Gregory said:

A lot of builders put a layer of painters tape on stem etc..  It can save a lot of grief..

Thanks Gregory! I was thinking about something like that. Indeed, I am going to try to protect the parts with thin aluminum tape.

Cheers,

Dan

Hi,

a little progress in building the hull of my model, approximately following the steps of the instructions of the kit. I glued on the four extensions that support the stern (stern counter frames). The two inner ones need to be aligned with the vertical (i.e. they are not perpendicular to the deck) while the external ones follow the local contour of the hull. Being mostly overhanging outboard, to improve their strength, I glued them with epoxy obtaining seemingly a strong joint.

Then, I was required to bend in shape the bulwarks that are made of thin plywood 1 mm thick. To bend them in shape I soaked them in water and let them dry against a shaped plywood board as shown above. Once dried, I refined their curvature by an electric bender obtaining regular nicely curved parts which match quite well the deck and the exposed extensions of the frames.

Before gluing them on, I need to glue the walnut prow and keel, hoping that they will not get spoiled by the planking. Meanwhile, I boxed the receptacle for the foot of the mast to provide the mast with some lateral support.

That's all for now,

best regards,

Dan

Hi all,

here I would like to start and share with you my new build of the wooden wonder De Havilland Mosquito 1:48 scale. The kit is the old, but still very nice Tamiya of the FB Mk VI (Fighter-Bomber).

Since long time, I wanted to build a model of this aircraft because of its fame and because of its remarkable design. For me, this is the first Mosquito build as a grown up modeler if I exclude the ancient Revell 1/32 kit that I built when I was a kid. 

To start my build, I followed to the letter the Tamiya instructions which called the engine nacelles as a first step:

For added 3-D effects, I just thickened the frames of the nacelles and added few interior details. The white panel shown on the inside walls is an artistic license of mine having used a piece of thin styrene to hide annoying ejection pin marks which I didn't want to fill and sand. In the following, the nacelles are shown completed:

They are test fitted with the wings and with the main undercarriage struts to check that no interferences with the new added parts are present:

I was a bit puzzled by the way the main undercarriage is supposed to be assembled. If I follow the Tamiya steps, I am going to get the large wheels in the way when I will have to finish off and paint the truss structure. Actually, it is desirable to be able to install the wheels only after everything is assembled and painted. To resolve this issue, I removed altogether the molded plastic wheel axles and replaced them with a brass tube 1.6 mm dia. that can slid in and out as shown in the picture.

Once trimmed in length, the new axles could be slid in place to install the wheels at the most convenient moment. Without the wheels in the way, I could assemble and finish the undercarriage structure properly and fit the brake lines made of lead wires. I also drilled lightening holes in the supports of the mud fenders to add a little, but nice detail. Here the completed undercarriages are posed within their locations on the lower wing halves which have been painted interior green.

I read that to improve commonality of parts, the real undercarriages were not handed, but I left them as they are intended in the kit because their modification it would have been a complication for me. Finally, the nacelles were glued in place and the half wings were completed. The undercarriages are now ready to be painted.

Not much, but that's all for now, thanks for having you following,

best regards,

Dan

Hi Chris,

it is a rectractable step that was unblocked by operating the lid of the hand handle. Closing the lid, the step would retract by the action of springs. So, step down with hand lid open and vice versa.

Dan

Dear all,
I am starting a new model and I would like to share it here to get advices and comments. I momentarily put on hold my previous long standing model of the Mayflower by A.L. because I got a bit tired of it and I wanted to start a smaller model that I could build and progress quicker with and I chose the ‘Lady Nelson’ by Amati for that. I noticed that this is quite a popular model and I could find many several WIPs of this model here. Indeed, this is small a model and it should be rather quick to build.

The kit is quite well known and documented here, so I am not reporting any unboxing picture. The initial assembling of the hull structure is relatively obvious, so I proceeded without taking pictures and I am directly posting some pictures of the assembled keel with the bulkheads.

As others have noted, the various parts have a loose fit, hence I added balsa square strips to locate them better and provide some support. In addition, I added balsa gussets in addition to the MDF parts supplied by the kit to support the strakes at the bow and along the keel where the garboard will sit. I did that also in my previous build and it worked quite well.

I also filled with balsa the last bay at the stern. I used balsa plates 5 mm thick for that because when filed they provide sort of ‘waterlines’ that might be used as reference to check the shape and the symmetry during the sanding process. At the stern, after some sanding, I ended up with this configuration where the last frame was mostly filed down and its fillets were mostly removed when I tried to fair it with the rest of the hull. It seems that other modelers have left some of the fillets instead.

This is the complete hull after that most of fairing job was done. At this point, before finalizing the fairing, the instructions call for attaching the false deck.

This part is made of very thin plywood and it complied with the double curved shape without problems. Finally, this is the hull completed with its false deck.

Just to create a bit of a recess in correspondence of the deck hatches, I cut shallow notches into the false keel piece. Next, according to the instructions, the bulwarks pieces need to be formed and glued in place together with the keel extensions. In connection with that, I note that the instructions do not mention any need for implementing a rabbet and the details of how the strakes and the garboard strake join the keel are quite obscure.
That is all for now,

best regards,

Dan
 

12 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Dan, somehow I missed that you completed this one.  Another stellar build!  Well done!

Thanks for your assessment, Mike. I am glad that you like it.

I am thinking to the next build which will be a De Havilland Mosquito.

Cheers,

Dan

On 4/1/2024 at 6:18 PM, CDW said:

Can someone here please explain why this particular aircraft has those distinctive color striations at/near the afterburner? I've often wondered but never read an explanation of why they all seem to have this look.

This can happen when Titanium alloy is cladded with aluminum. In my working experience, testing a titanium foil with aluminum deposited on it at high temperature (around 450 C) we got such a discoloration. The phenomenon is due to the aluminum getting migrated into the titanium and forming a intermetallic compound that had such a discoloration. A more familiar but similar phenomenon was visible with exhaust tubes of old style motorbikes that had tubes made of steel coated with chrome. Also in this case, under the effect of high temperature, the chromium went dissolved into steel making the typical, and much nicer in this case, bluish discoloration.

I hope this help,

Dan