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John vd Biggelaar
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Tamiya 1/72 DeHavilland Mosquito Mk.XX, Guy Gibson / Jim Warwick, AZ-E KB267

After my completion of the Dam Buster Lancaster with the aircraft codes of Commanding Officer Guy Gibson, I read that after his Dam Buster adventure he flew the De Havilland Mosquito in which he unfortunately crashed near Steenbergen, the Netherlands, on September 19th 1944. After visiting this crash location and his grave in Steenbergen, he is buried there together with his navigator Jim Warwick, I decided to built their Mosquito as a follow up of the Lancaster build.

In my search for a nice Mosquito kit, I was able to purchase one from Harm (@hptiggelaar). It is the Tamiya 1/72 kit 60753. Thanks a lot for allowing me to buy this kit from you, Harm.

The aircraft flown by Guy Gibson was a Mk.XX, but is a Canadian built of the Mk.IV so the Tamiya kit could be used for this subject. The aircraft codes, AZ-E with registration number KB267, were not present and the ones created by ADS decals were not available anymore during my search online. Therefore I decided to create those myself, although I never used this technique before, it turned out to be a quite simple process. I might use this approach more often to create some unique schemes.

Like in most cases with Tamiya, also this build was almost trouble free. The only issue I had, likely caused by myself, were the fuselage windows near the front on the nose. For some reason I was not able to get them in nicely. The interior is nicely detailed, especially for a 1/72 scale.

Paints used are Ocean Grey (Vallejo 71.273) and Dark Green (Vallejo 71.324) for the upper surface and Medium Sea Grey (Vallejo 71.307) for the lower surface.

Thanks a lot for all who followed the building process in the following thread,
https://imodeler.com/groups/work-in-progress-aircraft/forum/topic/tamiya-1-72-de-haviland-mosquito-guy-gibson-and-jim-warwick/

Reader reactions:
18  Awesome 2  1 

19 additional images. Click to enlarge.


37 responses

  1. What a great accomplishment this build is @Johnb. I enjoyed following the progress in the group. The final result is wonderfull. So nice to build this historical Mosquito. I’m curious about your next project!

  2. @johnb
    Building a model that has an historical background as powerful as this one must be a very satisfying experience. I think you made a splendid model and homage combined

  3. Dear John @johnb, she looks fantastic! Absolutely beautiful paintjob, love the subtle changes in hues and the weathered look! The history is both interesting and moving. All these men that died so young.

  4. Very nice Mosquito, John. Your paintwork made me think thus was a larger model.

  5. It was fun to follow along on this model, John (@johnb). The decals you created look perfect. Camo looks really nice.

    • @gblair, thank you, George. The quality of the decals turned out better than I expected from self printed ones. They are very thin and the colors are quite nicely presented. It was a pleasure to have you following the thread.

  6. Beautiful paintwork on this one John (@johnb). The Mosquito is such an attractive aircraft. I have one on my short list of upcoming build projects. Hopefully I can get to it next year. Being able to print your own decals or create masks to paint them is a great technique to learn which opens up many possibilities. Learning all this is one of the best parts of model building. Thanks for sharing your build.

  7. Excellent result, John! Your Mosquito looks wonderful and I enjoyed following your build thread! Your decals really rock!
    Congratulations!

  8. Very impressive work on this Mosquito, John @johnb ! It looks very nice.

  9. Wow, great article and model, John @johnb! 🤩 What a wonderful result! 👏

  10. Good looking Mosquito, John @johnb.

  11. What a beautiful Mosquito and respectful tribute to those men who gave their lives for our freedom.
    Like the custom made decals. How does this work actually?

    • @alfred, thank you, Alfred. Printing those decals is as easy as regular printing. You can buy blank A4 size printing paper, watch out because inkjet and laser printers use different kind of paper. There is paper with a white background and with a transparant background, I used the last variant. Basically the entire A4 is one big decal, so you will have to cut out your printed part as nice as possible. For the rest it works exactly as a regular decal, put it in water and when it comes loose, slide it onto the model.

  12. I've never met a Mosquito I didn't like John. A great build and back round story with photos of Gibson's final resting placing and memorial. The model serves as a good reminder of Gibson's contributions to the war. His mosquito history is often over looked.

  13. Really nice work on this John @johnb.

  14. Excellent result - your self-made decals turned out well.

  15. Beautiful Mossie - especially for 1/72! As much as I love the Mosquito I have yet to build one, but think I may have this same kit in my stash, and it looks like it builds up beautifully, so I should pull it out and get cranking!

  16. Nice plane, nicely finished model, and very nice presentation.
    I like it a lot
    Regards Djordje

  17. Great job, John. Nice tribute.

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