A tale of two Mosquito's. One a De-Havilland plane, the other a Moskito, the not so famous cousin.

Started by Louis Gardner · 111 ≡ · ↻ 2 years ago
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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Louis (@lgardner), I think you are spot-on in thinking the shadow part on the b/w picture is the deciding one for the guy developing the picture, and the areas in bright sun appears white. The sun is quite low as seen fron the lines on the plane, but also by the fact that the shadow on the ground from the wingtip is under the tail.
    And regarding Eric (@eb801)'s note on the tape used to cover the seam is very likely - the 109's did quite often have a strip of tape at the wingtip, and this was indeed a common thing in many planes.

    The shape of the letters lend themselves well to the tape-and-no11 trick.

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    @lgardner Louis, After zooming the photo I agree with your opinion (and Erik @airbum) about the effect of direct sunlight with a bit of over exposure while revealing the photo caused that part to become so bright that creates this impression of a recently painted area. I have seen areas that break camouflage due to repairs, which was the only plausible explanation should that be in fact result of paint, but then the shape made it a bit unlikely to be so.

    As for Eric, the area you mention was not the area of my question obviously, but I had noticed the one you mention also, and share the same opinion as you. Some of the materials used on construction affect the paint shade directly, and given the construction method and materials used on Kurt Tank Moskito, there can be other areas elsewhere on the airframe where this effect would be noticed.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Spiros, @fiveten
    You have more will power than I... For I would have pulled the trigger a while ago on the Bucker 131 at your local hobby store. I have almost finished mine up, and I can say it is a wonderful building model. I have enjoyed this one so much, that I recently ordered a matching ICM "early" version from Sprue Brothers.

    Last night I made a little progress with the German "Moskito", and I do have plans to get cranking out the remaining Japanese builds I have started on here very soon. This will include the mutual Ki-45 kits, so please stay tuned.

    I want to thank you for the kind words about the masking. I have painted the Bucker 131 and removed the masking from it. I am very pleased with the results. Here is a little snap shot of the Bucker, to show you how I "hope" the masked letters will turn out on the Focke Wulf 154.


    I also have enjoyed the conversation we have had about the various colors and how the picture was affected by the over exposure and sunlight effects. I hope there will be more of this in the future.

    Thanks again my friend, and please stay tuned for another update... It is right around the corner.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Erik, @airbum
    Thank you for stopping by. I agree with you whole heartedly about how the effects of the sunlight have altered the appearance of the V7 plane in the picture I posted. Now I am digging to locate pictures of this same plane so that I can accurately paint the Starboard side. I have a good picture of the Port side, and an overhead view, so I can piece together what it should look like. I have plans to lightly draw out the pattern with a pencil, and then fill in the outlines using the Harder and Steenbeck air brush.

    As far as the tape strips, I didn't know about this. So again I have learned something. Thank you. Yes these letters are fairly easy to replicate since they all have straight edges.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Pedro, @holzhamer
    Thanks for stopping by ! Likewise, I think we are on to something here about the effects of the sunlight and over exposure with the picture I posted of V7. Now I am looking for a decent picture of the Starboard side of the same plane. I can "kind of" fill in the blanks using the overhead view of V7 I have, since the camouflage "spots" didn't go down very far on the sides of the fuselage.

    If you or anyone else has a picture showing the opposite side it would greatly help. Also, soon I will be putting the air brush you recommended to good use... for I plan on using the Harder and Steenbeck on this plane. I will lightly draw on the paint pattern using a very fine pencil, and fill in the spots using the H&S.

    So please stay tuned.

    Thanks gents for your comments and feedback. Please stay tuned for another installment.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    I sprayed on some gray primer to see how the fit was between the engine nacelles and the lower wing surfaces. Here are the results. No filler has been used.

    I also sprayed over the black paint that was on the fuselage and under the wings at the same time. This should help later, when it comes time to cover this area with RLM 76.


    I will be giving the complete plane a good coat of RLM 76 first, followed by the RLM 75 spots, once I determine the correct placement using the photos I mentioned in previous postings.

    I am very pleased with the overall fit on this build so far. I have temporarily held the fuselage halves together, and it looks as if the fit is very acceptable there too.

    Now I have to get the cockpit tub built and painted. Then it will be time to join these two halves together permanently.

    As always, comments are encouraged. Thanks for stopping by.

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    Eric Berg said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Louis @lgardner: Looking really good. i like the lettering and cross techniques you're using. Interesting that you are building the two fuselage and wing halves separately but I can see it seems to work pretty well.

    I should be getting that Valiant book by this weekend or Monday at the latest. If there are any photos of the right side of V7 I will scan and email to you ASAP.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    Looking really nice, my friend @lgardner!
    Great to see that no filler was needed at the nacelle/wing joint!
    The Bücker looks AMAZING!
    Looking forward to the Moskito!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 9 months ago:

    After all the troubles the fit looks spot on! Nice save on this build Louis @lgardner!

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Eric, @eb801
    Thank you very much for sending me those pictures. Tonight they came in very handy, as I built the cockpit and installed it... so please stay tuned for another installment.

    Spiros, @fiveten
    Yes I was very lucky that no filler has been needed so far, and thanks for the compliments on the Bucker. You should see it now ! It's getting closer to the finish line...


    Erik, @airbum
    Thank you ! And tonight I cracked open the box on the 1/48 Tamiya Mosquito. I built and painted the tires for that one, and I made some great progress on the German cousin.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Tonight I was building up a lot of wheels and tires for various kits that I have underway, or for some upcoming projects.
    Here are the wheels for the Ta-154


    I also built the cockpit and painted it. This task was easier thanks to Eric who was kind enough to share some pictures with me.

    I still have not added any seat harness but I'm not sure how much will be seen once it's all completed. Here is the radar operators instrument panel.

    I sprayed RLM 66 on the sidewalls, then picked out the details like the O2 regulator and hoses.

    Not too much is present on the Port side of the cockpit, so it was rather easy to get done.

    The cockpit was slipped into positions and I didn't have to glue it. The fit was tight enough and with the style of locators made it simple to install.

    Having the cockpit installed allowed me to glue the fuselage halves together. The fit on the nose was tough... I had to use some brute force to get it to close up all the way. Some stout rubber bands saved the day. The fit everywhere else was spot on and no gaps.

    The underside was just as nice fit wise. I'm hoping that I can get by with minimal sanding. Time will tell. Here's how it looks flipped over upside down.

    Here in this last photo, you can see some of the sub assemblies I have done. I'm hoping to get this one painted in overall RLM 76 very soon.

    I did open the Tamiya Mossie, and I built and painted the tires and rims for it... I was in the zone and so tuned into what I was doing, that I failed to take pictures. If things go well tomorrow, I might have them posted up here.

    As always, comments are encouraged.
    Good night.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    What an amazing progress, my friend @lgardner!
    The Bucker looks great! The Moskito wheels, too, I love the tires color.
    Nicely done and very detailed cockpit, as well.
    Nose unwillingness to conform is noted, I will have it in mind upon my Moskito build (at the Luftwaffe GB?). Good looking subassemblies, too!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    As usual, the point of closing up the fuselage seems like a very major step. and with the Brit version box cracked open, this topic just gets more interesting each time - not that it wasn't already, but it is always great to see something new unfold.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Spiros, @fiveten
    Thank you for the compliments on the Bucker and the Ta-154 components. It is all done now, with the exception of adding the rigging. I will be posting some pictures of what happened with the Ta-154 next, so please stay tuned.
    There will be a Luftwaffe group build starting soon... Meanwhile I started collecting some more 109's. I'm sure that our friend Erik will approve. 😉

    Erik, @airbum
    Yes things were going on very well... until I discovered this plane needs some weight in the nose to keep it from being a "tail sitter". I usually build "tail dragger planes, so I wasn't even thinking about this one having a tricycle style landing gear... This is a great big oops moment !

    So I carefully cut both engines off, hoping that I would be able to pack enough lead weight inside to keep the nose down. Turns out it wasn't enough, so I had to remove the nose cone as well.



    I loaded these parts up with lead shotgun pellets. The lead shot was secured in place using modeling clay. This was done to both engines and the nose cone.

    I installed the landing gear to make sure it would sit properly.


    I am happy to report it sits as it should now.

    It has the nose high stance we see in pictures of the real plane.

    I used some Liquefied styrene filler to reattach the nose cone. The engines went back on smoothly, so no filler was needed there.



    The main landing gear doors were installed. I will mask off the area surrounding the landing gear openings and spray the landing gear RLM 02. Not much can be seen inside the gear well, so I will fog spray the inside at the same time.

    There is a small gap present on the horizontal stabilizer where it meets the fuselage. I used some LQS here to fill in the small void.

    Now my Kurt Tank Moskito sits as it should.

    This plane looks fast even when it is sitting still...

    Remember the other "Mosquito" ? This is the one I will be building next. An overall PRU Blue machine.


    Here is a picture proving the box has indeed been opened 😉

    I do plan on building it next. Here are the wheels after they were assembled and sprayed. RLM 66 works great as a tire color.

    The tail wheel has a rib on the outer section of the tread. It can be seen in this next photo very well.


    I'm headed out to the shop to get busy. Please stay tuned for updates. Thanks for looking.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Louis, a de Havilland 109 sounds great - only problem is it was never built, but was a Naval strike aircraft to Specification N.8/49. Ooohhh - not de Havilland - well, you can never have too many 109's 😀

    With the LqS hardening on the "Tank", it will be interesting to see the "PRU Blue" coming to life!

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