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capt. R
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De Havilland Mosquito FB.VI, 1 squadron RAAF Borneo, Tamiya 1:72

March 5, 2023 · in Aviation · · 30 · 1.4K

This time, this project is nothing out of the ordinary. Just a Tamiya model from over 20 years ago. However, it was a real return to childhood. Do you remember those moments when in your youth you came back with the desired model, with trembling hands, spending everything from your pocket that you managed to get from your grandma or aunt? This was the case with the old Mosquito Airfix model, which was also offered in RAAF painting. Now, after more than thirty years, I am happy to return to this model. The FB.VI version is only available from Tamiya. The model is decent, but it needs to be puttyed and the wings joined, which can be considered a rare (and unpleasant) case of this brand. In this project, I used MR Color Aluminum paint for the first time. It gave a beautiful surface, however, you could wipe it off with your finger, which was extremely discouraging because I had a million paint corrections. As you have probably noticed, I am a lover of Australia (since childhood), so the choice of RAAF paint from the DK-Decals set was natural. And necessarily painting with the image of a mosquito on the fuselage. The model has been aged using Tamiya kits and coated with a semi-gloss varnish. To enhance the final effect, I used a set of RAAF pilots from CMK and made the airfield apron made of artistic cardboard, painted in various shades of gray and corrected with dry pastel. I hope you enjoyed my project as well as the slideshow. Lieutenant Fox will be back soon with another surprising project.

Reader reactions:
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30 responses

  1. I'm impressed by the looks of this Mosquito, Bernard @lis
    It looks perfect in this scheme.
    Excellent work done on all, detailing, painting, the base, the crew members.
    It was a pleasure to follow you building this aircraft.

  2. Nice looking model ! The figures are painted very well.

  3. Fantastic result, ditto video and an excellent build thread, my friend @lis!
    Congratulations!

  4. Good work and a nice result @lis.

  5. Very nice model, congratulations!

    I know, I won't be popular after telling this story but I have to. 🙂

    I had the opportunity to get to Australia for a few months and once I was strolling in the local aeroclub's hangar, exploring all the stuff inside and I found a very familiar trash. It took me a second to realise, it was a Mossie's main gear leg. I have asked the locals and I've been told, that the airport hosted a Mossie squadron after the war, but when those planes were retired, they were sold to local farmers. Those men bought them only because the fuel left in the aircrafts, and once drained, scrapped them all. A very sad ending for such a good plane. But to put a happy ending to my story, I visited NZ as well, where I met the guy, who was restoring a Mossie in flying condition. Since then as far as I'm concerned, he succeeded.

    All the best from Hungary.

  6. Nice Mosquito, Lis. Looks great in silver.

  7. Very nice Mosquito, Bernard @lis. It is nice to see one in Pacific Theater colors. Looks like you got a very smooth finish on the silver you used.

  8. Looks like another successful build and presentation. Painting a kit in a monotone color and using silver is the death knell for some modelers. Its like looking for a Polar Bear stuck in a snow storm. Things can get boring real fast Bernard @lis. You've manage to navigate around this conundrum by paying attention to the details. The canopy is sharply done, the prop nose cones and prop blades are not over done. The navigation lights are well done and the over all finish lends its self to be interesting with the ground crew and the tarmac.

    Two thumbs up, looking forward to your next adventure in modeling Bernard.

    • The silver finish is slowly getting into my blood. The MR Metall Aluminum paint was as perfect in appearance as it was infuriating in terms of durability. I hope she still gets it. I hope You will enjoy my nex build.

  9. Absolutely lovely metal finish! Very clean build, beautiful!

  10. Another great posting from you, Bernard, you do a great job positioning the figures in such realistic poses. I built an original Airfix 1/72 scale Mosquito more years ago than I can remember, it certainly wouldn’t have been comparable to your superb model.

  11. Great scheme on the Mossie! Looks good.

  12. Lis, your Mossie is a beauty! The silver scheme on the Mosquito makes this aircraft look amazing. Great work on your build.

  13. Lis (@lis)
    Bernard,
    You did a magnificent job with your Mosquito. It's hard to get a silver finish to look as nice as yours does. I'm equally impressed with your figure painting skills.

    Well done !

  14. @lis - very cool build!

  15. That's a great looking Aussie Mossie! Tamiya rocks!

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