I think you managed to capture in perfection the “heavy” stance of the Ta.154 undercarriage Louis. Looking forward for that mottling 😉

Erik, @airbum
You shouldn't have too much longer and the glue will be hardening on the PRU Mosquito... I am almost ready to start spraying our good friend, RLM 76. You are correct Sir, One can never have too many 109's. Stay tuned for the Luftwaffe group to start up soon. I'm thinking on May 1st I will pull the trigger on it.

Hello again Eric, @eb801
Yes the photos you sent me were perfect. Thanks a million ! I sincerely appreciate this.

Hey Pedro. @holzhamer
The stance of this plane is one of the things that I really like about it. It looks like it’s ready to leap into the sky. I’ll be masking the canopy off probably tomorrow. Then it will get a nice complete coat of RLM 76. The mottling will be right behind that. I’ll most likely take a pencil and lightly draw the outline of each mottled splotch using the pictures I have to check for accuracy. Stay tuned. I think it’s going to get to the fun part now.

Spiros @fiveten
Thanks for the compliments. This plane is so cool looking. It was definitely ahead of its time and had not the RAF knocked out the factory where the Tego film glue was manufactured, when they did, I have a feeling that this plane would have been right up there with the British Mosquito as far as the effectiveness. Look at how good the Heinkel He-219 performed... the Allies were fortunate that none of the advanced projects were built in numbers.

Stay tuned fellas. I have another update coming up next.

Great save, my friend @lgardner!
Your Moskito looks amazing!
Looking forward to your RLM76 application!

@lgardner

Louis, I don’t know if other people also made that bloop with clear parts, but I had the same problem (perhaps not so large in the affected area) using liquid glue in those clear parts. I thought that by having the window panes masked there would be no chance of damaging them. This was the lesson I learned that day - Yep, liquid glue goes under the mask tissue alright!

Unlike my efforts, you successfully avoid disaster there, good work mate

Last night I added all of the final remaining little parts on the Ta-154 Moskito. The canopy was masked off, and I sprayed on the initial coat of RLM 66 so it would look as if the inner frames were painted in the interior color. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of this. Instead I was busy painting numerous sets of wheels, using the same color. These are going to be used on some upcoming builds that I have planned.

After I had cleaned the air brush, it was time to spray on a coat of RLM 76. The entire airframe received a good coat using Model Master enamels. I started out by spraying the landing gear doors.

The rest of the airframe turned out looking magnificent in it's new coat of RLM 76.



I am running almost completely out of this color, so I will resort to either custom mixing some more using the basic colors that are still left in the product line, or I might start slowly switching over to either Mission Models Paint or MRP acrylic lacquers as needed. I picked up several bottles of RLM 76 paint in the MRP line from Sprue Brothers. They offered several variants of the color. I will need a lot of it, as my next project using this color is a Revell 1/32 scale He-219...

For now, this is how the Ta-154 looks.

Next steps will involve painting the landing gear and gear wells in RLM 02, followed by me taking some time to draw out the specific way the mottled splotches are located on the upper part of the exterior. I will be using the photos as a marking guide.

As always, comments are encouraged.

Spiros @fiveten
Thank you Sir ! I appreciate this compliment. I just went back ad added some information about the wheels I have painted. I'm gearing up for some "Iron Werke" style building for our Korean War group.

My Dad had a childhood friend named Mike Rebo who flew F-84's in Korea. Sadly Mike was shot down and killed by a Russian pilot who was flying a MiG-15 that was wearing North Korean markings. Mike was listed as MIA for well over 60 years until just recently when his family submitted a DNA sample, confirming the remains that were handed over at the DMZ in Korea were his. These remains were recovered from the crash site.

Mike was finally repatriated home, sadly my Dad didn't live to see this. I want to build up a model of the F-84E he was shot down in. I have everything needed except for a picture of the plane. I have found numerous photos from his unit, but so far that particular plane has eluded me.

F-84E, serial number 51-549 from the 49th Fighter Bomber Group, 9th Fighter Bomber Squadron on 10 November, 1951 It was flown by 1st LT Michael Rebo.

He was attacked and shot down by a MiG-15 of the 176th GIAP that was flown by a Russian pilot named Pavel S. Milaushkin.

I have found decals of the actual MiG he was flying, and it was built earlier as part of the MiG group build. Here's a link to the MiG. Sadly Mike is represented as a small red star on the side of the cockpit of this MiG.

MiG Group Build : 1/48 Tamiya MiG-15 bis, Captain Pavel Milauszkin, 176 IAP / 324th IAD, Korea 1952.

I would really like to have this tribute build completed by November 10th, so I can post it up in the headlines section. It will have happened exactly 70 years ago to the day.

Jeez, Louis. Nice save with that canopy!