Tamiya's Masterpiece - Their 1/32 scale Mosquito

[colin m]

Just having a catch up Barry. All looking great. My only worry is, whatever you build next, you might just be a little - let down by the kit ?

[Jim R]

My only worry is, whatever you build next, you might just be a little - let down by the kit ?

Not if it's the new 1/24 Airfix Hellcat!
Jim

[Peter Gillson]

Excellent craftmanship. Great model

[BarryW]

Not if it's the new 1/24 Airfix Hellcat!
Jim

That Hellcat looks a nice kit and I may well be tempted but my concern is that like the Typhoon in that scale while the engineering will be superb the manufacturing will let it down. That awful soft poor quality plastic Airfix uses is a real problem. With the Tiffy you spend as much time cleaning the mould lines, sink holes and filling gaps where the plastic clearly shrunk, as you do assembling the parts.

[BarryW]

Well I have joined the fuselage to the wing. Once again while a complex mix of shapes to bring together the fit can only be described as perfect.

A screw gives a really good strong join, supplemented by liquid cement brushed along the seams.
[ATTACH]340225[/ATTACH]

Take a look at that cockpit, not to mention those joins....
[ATTACH]340224[/ATTACH]

The underside fit
[ATTACH]340226[/ATTACH]

An overview.
[ATTACH]340227[/ATTACH]

[scottie3158]

Barry,

Great work as always. You are not wrong for your praise for this kit the fit looks superb.

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
That last set of photos show what a great kit this is and what a superb job you are doing with it. The detail is stunning.
Jim

[stillp]

Looks very good from here!

Pete

[Guest]

An amazing level of detail in the kit, brought together and finished superbly.

[BarryW]

I have started to pull together the front cannon assembly

Note the p.e. jigs to ensure that the barrels have the right spacing. These will be removed before the next stage of the assembly, more thoughtful Tamiya engineering.

I will not be leaving this area open to view but I will have the bomb bay open.

[BarryW]

I am having the bomb bay section open and gun bay closed or on other words ‘half open’ as per the Tamiya description.

The bomb bay doors come as a single piece so some cutting is required.

I used tape to provide a guide to the cross cut.
[ATTACH]340640[/ATTACH]

I then used my finest razor saw to cut, working slowly and letting the saw do the work.

Here it is after cutting needing only a swipe of a sanding sponge
[ATTACH]340641[/ATTACH]

I then did the same to separate the two bomb bay doors.
[ATTACH]340642[/ATTACH]

Her is a view of the next lot of sub assemblies ready to paint except for the two bombs as I have some sanding to do having treated the seams with Mr DIssolved Putty

[ATTACH]340643[/ATTACH]

[boatman]

Fantastic build Barry whats happenin on her now ?
chris

[BarryW]

Progress seems rather slow this week

Here are some bomb bay parts painted, weathered and ready to install

[ATTACH]341537[/ATTACH]

Between waiting for parts to dry I have been pulling together various sub assemblies.
[ATTACH]341536[/ATTACH]

[Steven000]

Looking good Barry :thumb2:
Cheers, Steven

[AlanG]

Seriously excellent build Barry. Wish i could afford one of these beauties