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Milán Restár
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DeHavilland Mosquito NF Mk.XVII. Tamiya 1/72

March 9, 2015 · in Aviation · · 25 · 2.7K

here is my DeHavilland NF Mk.XVII in , made by 's great kit...now with a painted canopy, fully finished. as i already said, it's far from perfect but i'm somehow proud about it:)

it was generally an out from the box build, i've made only a few scratchbuild additions in the canopy section and on the gearlegs etc., but only minor ones.

i've used mostly tamiya acrylics and humbrol enamels, for weathering a home-mixed oilwash and various pastels was used.

i didn't become a fan of tamiya's decals after this build, definately decals are the weakest points of this kit. but anyways it was a real fun to build, there are so many techniques i've never ever used before...hope you like it too...

Reader reactions:
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9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


25 responses

  1. Nice Milan, Tamiya do great kits but their decals tend to be a bit naff.
    Well done sir.

    • Funny you should mention that...I've started a 48th scale Tamiya Beaufighter (the first build of that particular aircraft for me), but when I went to apply the seat belts decal, they disintegrated! I can only assume all the rest of 'em will react accordingly. Now I'll have to raid the decal stash and look to see if I have some appropriate replacements.

      • Or make some nice ones from foil...

        • While no one comes close to Tamiya in styrene, their decals are thick as beer mats. I don't know why they keep on doing them that way.

        • regarding kit's decal seatbelts, i fixed them onto a thin piece of foil then cut them around...by that way it's easier to handle them for me and they become more "fabric-like"...

          • i think some kits from their sports car series has cartograf decals instead of tamiya's own decals...just imagine that in case of their aviation kits...

          • Fortunately recently they "outsourcing" their aeroplane decals also: I bought the superlative 1:48 Corsair (birdcage) kit and to my sweet surprise I found Scalemaster/Cartograph decals in it (with also a Tamiya logo!). I hope they follow this practice in the future.

  2. Very nice looking mosquito!

  3. Nice work, Milan...especially in that scale!

  4. Good looking Mosquito, Milan. The canopy looks fine, as does the entire aircraft.

  5. Thanks Milan, nice work. I have one of these in my stash, its was nice that you included some build up pics

  6. Very nice. 🙂

  7. Nice modeling Milan. I also like it better with the canopy. Looks great!
    California Steve

  8. Great Mossie, love it.

  9. You have all reason to be proud of it, Milan.

  10. thanks for all the comments... i'm really glad you like my Mosquito!

  11. Superb Mosquito, Milan ! Your paint job and the weathering is really nice.
    If you are searching for some replacement decals for your Mossie. Barracuda is doing stencils in 1/72 for this kit.
    Well done 🙂

    • Bernd - thanks for the tip on the decals. I have this same kit in my stash and haven't built many Tamiya kits (... can't think of any yet), so didn't know that might be an issue.

    • thanks Bernd! and also thanks for the suggest, i'm sure, i want to build more from this kit later, it's good to know there are other aftermarket solutions...mostly for the stencils, because all the kit's decals was way below the kit's standards, but working with decals was the most awful when did the decaling.

  12. Very nicely done. I particularly appreciated the shading work on the black bottom - those can become very monochromatic without addressing, and you did it nicely!

    • thanks Greg! i tried to make this overall black bottom a bit more interest by some post-shading and weathering...which i could say, looks quite okayish from a distance. the flash i was using when i took these photos made it a little stronger than in real anyways.

  13. I just finished this kit as well and found it an easy straight forward build (Took about a week to finish). I had no trouble with the decals.
    I've always liked Tamiya anyway no matter what scale.
    Seeing your kit will give me something to compare it to.
    Nice job on the finished kit.
    Weathering is something I need to work on.

    • thanks Gregg!
      it's possible i was simply unlucky with decals or even i did something wrong...i don't know. anyways you've right, i really like Tamiya kits too. i need to learn a lot about weathering also, it is mostly still a hidden art for me...:)

  14. Very nice build! And I like Your weathering on the black areas!

    • thanks! I tried to find the right balance about the fair amount of post-shading and weathering and avoid to made it too strong and unreal. honestly I need to learn a lot about yet...btw seems stronger than in reality because of the flash.

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