Great project George, I remember the movie quite well. As a teenager I was the projectionist for a local movie theater and actually ran this picture several times. Always wondered where in god's name they were able to acquire those Mosquito's. The movie has some great flight scenes in it and I recently bought the 633 DVD at Walmart for $5. I'll be watching your progress.

George, the "frankenpanel" turned out great after you have spend some cozy time with your favourite hobby; detailpainting. . . (was a real pleasure to ping-pong details on the panel with you in PM form)

That replacement part for the tailwheel looks right at home - well done on that and of course the overall build @gblair!

Thanks Erik (@airbum) and Spiros (@fiveten). My favorite occupation is now behind me and I closed up the fuselage today. Ditto for me on the discussion, Erik.

That is looking good. The Mosquito is one of the few British planes I would and have built. Those props look very good.

Things seemed to be rolling along fairly well, but Tom's (@tcinla) post that I might expect some problems had been lurking in the back of my head. Sure enough, the problems rose up yesterday and today. I first encountered problems when I added the wings to the fuselage. There were huge slots in the fuselage, so I anticipated an easy join of the wings and the fuselage. When I dry-fit the wings to their slots, I found that the wings didn't fit. Not only were the wings too thick to fit in the slots, but they were also too long to fit in position. It took a great deal of cutting and sanding to create a rudimentary join. I eventually got to the point where continued work to get a better fit was actually increasing the gap in various parts of the join, so I stopped trying to refine the join and resorted to some large clamps to hold the wing in place while the glue dried. A lot of liquid cement, judicious use of clamps, and a frustrating afternoon finally got the wings in place.

After that, I figured the worst was past, but I probably jinxed myself. The only things remaining before jumping into final sanding and painting was to install the top of the two nacelles. The nacelles on my model are slightly longer due to the use of a 2-stage Merlin engine. The kit allows you to build either a single stage or 2-stage Merlin, so I cut the upper nacelle panels for the longer engine and prepared to add them to the nacelles. When I dry-fit the pieces, I discovered that they were about an eighth of an inch too short.

I really don't mind parts that need a little adjustment, but this gap was like the Grand Canyon. My first thought was to start cramming putty into the slot, but I walked away for a while and calmed down. My next thought was to cut some plastic to fill the gap. It was at this point that I realized I could cut down the shorter nacelle pieces for the single stage engine, and I would instantly have a piece that would perfectly match the curvature of the nacelle. A little measuring, followed by some work with my hobby saw, and I had two pieces that fit the bill. So, the nacelles are closed up and the filler is drying. A little sanding and I will be back on track.

I took a last look at the model before I shut down for the day, and I found the inlets at the wing roots don't look quite right. I decided to let the model sit overnight and I will tackle the next problems tomorrow. Cheers.

@gblair - yep, those are the problems associated with this kit. Looks like "some modeling skill required" has them dealt with. Once you have the inlets dealt with, it should be clear sailing from there.

Tom (@tcinla), your warnings were right on. The problems came in places I didn't expect. Erik (@airbum), thanks for the kind words, but right now I am just hoping I can fix the issues that keep popping up on this kit.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). Tom Cleaver (@tcinla) had told me he had some problems building the same kit, but I wasn't ready for these problems. The wings are on and the nacelles are now fixed, but I am still fixing the last wing problem I encountered. The long, rectangular openings in the wings that stretch from the fuselage to the nacelles weren't rectangles. They tapered noticeably toward the nacelle, and they the wings were already firmly glued to the fuselage. I am gradually scraping the extra plastic away with the edge of my hobby knife, and they are now just about right. I don't have much left to do before I start painting, so hopefully the worst is behind me.