1/72 Airfix DH Mosquito NF MkII

Started by Ferry Dierckxsens · 11 · 7 years ago · 1/72, 23 squadron, Airfix, Mosquito, night fighter, RAF
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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 6 months ago:

    So, I've started another project, this time again in 1/72 scale. My subject is the Mosquito NF MkII from Airfix. Despite boxed in their new red boxes, it still is an older tooling. Not bad and one can still build a nice Mosquito out of it with some TLC.

    The box gives three options OOB, and the all black night fighter is my choice.

    In the process I've tried to find more on the real plane with registration YP-R. DD-712.

    This Mosquito was a NF MkII (special) attached to nr.23 squadron based at RAF Bradwell Bay in Essex 1942. As the RAF didn't want to risk losing their Long Wave radar equipment in sorties over mainland Europe, this nightfighter had no radar antenna or equipment on board. For camouflage they used a matt black paint with a sandpaper like composition. This slowed the aircraft down with around 20 mph. Later nightfighters got the green over grey scheme and their speed back.

    YP-R started intruder missions over Europe in september 1942 and unfortunately did not last long in service.

    On 28 november 1942 the ORB from nr.23 squadron shows a "failed to return from a intruder mission" in the Cognac/Chateaubrunard area in France. No further data known.

    Flt Lt Bob Williamson and FO(obs) Norman Lavers unfortunately lost their lives during that mission.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 6 months ago:

    Since I've started building this Mosquito, I try to keep up with making Photographs along the way.

    All the parts in an overview. Now the first thing which is not OOB is scratch building a rear wall behind the pilot and navigator's seat, as the kit leaves it all empty. With help from some Evergreen I made a rear wall and place to put the radio equipment, which is visible through the canopy, once in place.

    I left the instrument panel as it came with the kit, since you will not see anything from it once the canopy is placed. The radio equipment is partly from the kit and partly from my left over parts box. Painted Humbrol interior green with Revell tar black for the panel and radio. Drybrushed very mildly with silver.

    8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Allan J Withers said 7 years, 6 months ago:

    Looking good so far Ferry.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years, 6 months ago:

    Nice work on the radio compartment Ferry. It adds some details for sure, and looks the part.
    I still have an old 1/48 scale Monogram NF Mosquito that I painted all black as a teenager. The decals on it have faded considerably, but overall it still looks somewhat decent. I have always had a liking for the Mosquito, especially the Photo Recon and Night Fighting versions.

    I will be watching for updates on this one ... You may even tempt me to pull out a 1/48 Tamiya "Mossie" from my stash sometime later this year...

    Great job my friend. It would be very cool to try and find out more information on the crew members.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 5 months ago:

    Thank you Allan, it's a nice project to work on.
    Thank you Louis, and yes I'm finding little bits of information about the crew members, but also about the, now long closed, RAF base they flew from. This was RAF Bradwell Bay in Essex. Not much left, but there is still a memorial in place at the former site.

    Building further on the "Mossie". The doors for the main landing gear had some nasty ejector pin marks, some putty and flush sanding took care of this.
    Before assembly of the wings I had to put the landing lights in first. To add some dept I've cut out small pieces of bare metal foil to act as reflector on the inside. For painting the wings later I will mask of the lenses.
    So, also worked on the main landing gear and the engine cowls. They are quite fiddely to built. But with a bit of patience it works out fine.
    Now the propshaft fits in an old fashioned way into the front of the engine cowling, to prevend this little axle from falling inside after closing the parts I've glued a little piece of angled Evergreen strip at the back of it, still leaving it free to rotate. After completing the landing gear it feels quite sturdy. So these parts are ready for final assembly, but first I have to get my crew painted and put in the cockpit. So...onwards to the next update. Tips, tricks and comments are allways welcome.

    11 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 5 months ago:

    Another small progress as I've been working to get my crewmembers painted. The Airfix Mosquito kit gives you two crewmembers. Unfortunately one of them is missing some parts of his legs. This is the pilot figure which otherwise would not fit in the front seat.

    After some consideration I took the left over crew from my Airfix Boulton-Paul Defiant from the spares box, and found out that one of them would fit on the pilot seat with his legs. In my collection of reference material I found that there where a lot of variations on the uniforms, specialy in the early war years. I decided to dress them in the all RAF blue battle dress, black leather flying boots, brown gloves and flying cap. Ah offcourse it is 1/72 scale, and I'm happy to say I've still got a steady hand. A first for me was the use of the new oilbrusher by MIg. Very tiny brush and it worked well with the painting of the faces. So, the crew is now in their "office". To be continued. Tips, tricks, questions and comments are allways welcome.

    10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Allan J Withers said 7 years, 5 months ago:

    Coming along nicely Ferry !

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 5 months ago:

    Only a small update on my Mosquito. First and second layer of black added. Masking of the canopy was challenging. But it starts to look like something now. Next step will be a thin layer of clear gloss before starting with the decals.

    5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 4 months ago:

    A small update on my Mosquito. Started with the decals. There are not too many to put on, but it is starting to look like something now. The decals react very good to Microscale set and sol. From the picture the clear gloss looks much worse than in real life, however I'm looking forward to the matt finish layer to add.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 4 months ago:

    More work done on the Mosquito. All decals, well there are only a few, added. I left it drying for another 24 hours before finishing with a transparant matt layer overall.

    I had to make some adjustment to the nosecone before placing the guns inside of it. The original aircraft was a nightfighter allright, but not fitted with a radarsystem and missing the typical areals. I closed the gap in front with a liitle Evergreen rod, sanded in shape. Also the opening for the gunsight camera received a window. On the inside I placed a little square of transparant foil left over from the packaging of the canopy. Glued in place with a drop of PVA glue.

    After the matt varnish had dried I made the navigation lights by putting a small strip of Bare Metal foil in place which I painted with Tamiya clear green and clear red respectively. The engravings showing the fuelcaps where make dirty using a little wash form Vallejo, whiped with a cotton stab. Exhaust staines under the wings and discolouring of the exhaust shields was done using pastel powders applied with a small stiff brush. Using light brown and light grey as basic colours.

    Now some radio antenna wires have to be put in place, and a dispersal made to put the model on. So allmost there...

    9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 7 years, 3 months ago:

    And finaly I got hold of the very fine rigging wire issued by Ushi van der Rosten. This is useful for rigging bi-plane wings, rudder cables and radio aerial wires. I got the superfine size which is 0,1 mm. Amazingly strong and welds in place very easy with a tiny drop of CA glue. With this the Mosquito got it's antenna wires in place. I've started to make a base for the model, and have to finish this as the last job on this build. After that I will make some proper photos.

    6 attached images. Click to enlarge.