Andrew's 1/72 Tamiya Mosquito Mk XIII

[The Smythe Meister]

Had a good catch up with this Andrew,
A very interesting read it is too :thumb2: ,that`s some process you went through,and it`s evidently given a great result.
Gotta say,i love the mottling you`ve already achieved........ a shame to cover any of it up!!:tears-of-joy:
Great stuff,keep it up!!:tongue-out:

[Mini Me]

Very Niiiiice!

[adt70hk]

Looking good Andrew.

Thanks Tim!

Had a good catch up with this Andrew,
A very interesting read it is too :thumb2: ,that`s some process you went through,and it`s evidently given a great result.
Gotta say,i love the mottling you`ve already achieved........ a shame to cover any of it up!!:tears-of-joy:
Great stuff,keep it up!!:tongue-out:

Thanks Andy. I'm please with how the masks turned out and it was actually a pretty simple and strangely therapeutic! As for the mottling, I know what you mean but Tony's reference to German night fighter camo has given me a really good idea!

Very Niiiiice!

Thanks Rick!!! Much appreciated!!


Thanks as always chaps!

ATB

Andrew

[Geoffers]

Great stuff Andrew, thanks for explaining the process too :thumb2:

It’s tricky modelling an actual aircraft when there are limited photos. I think your approach is a good way to do it.

Geoff.

[Jim R]

Very careful, skilled and thoughtful work. Mottled base is good. I agree that when a multicoloured top coat is used the second colour can so easily wreck the mottling. Your solution is first rate. It takes time but I'll bet the end result is worth it.
Are the masks made from multiple strips of tape or did you use a sheet of masking?
Really interesting stuff Andrew.

[adt70hk]

Great stuff Andrew, thanks for explaining the process too :thumb2:

It’s tricky modelling an actual aircraft when there are limited photos. I think your approach is a good way to do it.

Geoff.

Thanks Geoff and you're welcome for the explanation. Hopefully it helps someone. It is a shame I couldn't find more full shots of the aircraft.....that said, short of someone having the full range of pics, no one can actually say it's wrong!

Very careful, skilled and thoughtful work. Mottled base is good. I agree that when a multicoloured top coat is used the second colour can so easily wreck the mottling. Your solution is first rate. It takes time but I'll bet the end result is worth it.
Are the masks made from multiple strips of tape or did you use a sheet of masking?
Really interesting stuff Andrew.

Jim

"Very careful, skilled and thoughtful work"....."Really interesting stuff Andrew.".....coming from someone of your ability I'll take that as a real compliment!! As for taking the time I agree, although it actually took about 90 minutes in total and a large chunk of that was getting the nose and mask of the middle right.

The masking was just some strips of tape. It did make it trickier to cut in a a few places and I also had to think about the order I lifted it off on. I think a full sheet would have made it tricky but I do need to invest in some slightly wider DIY tape.


Thanks again chaps!

ATB

Andrew

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So, the big reveal......the underside saw Medium Sea Grey last night, with the topside getting the same treatment this morning.............and then I pulled the topside masks off this afternoon.

All in all I'm very pleased with it, although I didn't quite get the feather edge I was looking for. It'll be a couple of days before I get to have a crack at the Dark Green but that will give the MSG plenty of time to dry.

As an aside I've given the port stabiliser on the tailplane a slightly more solid coat that the rest of the plane. It was damaged by flak in Feb '45 and so I can pretend the plane is from sometime after that and so the stabiliser has obviously had a fresh coat of paint.

ACW as usual.

ATB

Andrew


Prior to the aforementioned repair






MSG down!!

[Tim Marlow]

Looking very good Andrew. The underpaint has given a lot of interest to the top coat. Hope the green turns out as well.

[adt70hk]

Looking very good Andrew. The underpaint has given a lot of interest to the top coat. Hope the green turns out as well.

Thanks very much indeed Tim.

I've pretty pleased with how it's turned out all in all. I'm planning to use some of that magic putty to mask of the grey for the green camo patterns - start with thin sausages for the edges and then fill in the gaps with lumps - but knowing how it flows if left too long I'll have to be fairly quick.

Thanks again.

ATB.

Andrew

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks very much indeed Tim.

I've pretty pleased with how it's turned out all in all. I'm planning to use some of that magic putty to mask of the grey for the green camo patterns - start with thin sausages for the edges and then fill in the gaps with lumps - but knowing how it flows if left too long I'll have to be fairly quick.

Thanks again.

ATB.

Andrew

Put it on quite thin Andrew. It doesn’t flow so much then. Shouldn’t be much of an issue on a 1/72 bird anyway……not so much to cover.

[adt70hk]

Put it on quite thin Andrew. It doesn’t flow so much then. Shouldn’t be much of an issue on a 1/72 bird anyway……not so much to cover.

Interesting to know but sort of logical if you think about it....less of it to move around. And as you at 1/72 not too much to cover at this scale.....although a big four engined bomber might be a different matter! :smiling5:

[adt70hk]

Hi all

So I have been plodding on very slowly with this build.

The spinners and props are assembled and are a great fit - classic Tamiya (albeit the masking for the yellow tips was a bit out!). You can see from the photos that LPs spinners are lighter than Medium Sea Grey and so I did 50/50 of Medium and Ocean Sea Grey. LP also clearly has some dark tips on the spinners, which the build I have been following says were red, so I've followed that.

The undercarriage is nearly ready to assemble, I dust need to finish off the nacelle oil tanks.

Thanks again to Jim R and Tim Marlow for their thoughts on Vallejo's Metal Colour Paints. It has the reputation of being a very good - possibly the best - water based metallic acrylic paint (lacquers are not an option for me). I have to say the first go I had (Dark Aluminium to be precise) went VERY well. Sprayed beautifully through a 0.2mm needle, no dry drip, a surprisingly clean AB cup afterwards and great coverage. I have seen it sprayed in a variety of ways, in my case I went for the ratio I use Model Air 2:1 paint to thinner/flow aid. Will definitely be using it again!

ATB.

Andrew








These are very close up shots of the antenna for the air interception radar, as you can see it looks pretty good to my eye - even allowing for dreaded digital zoom, so you can imagine what they look like with a Mark I Eyeball! So Jim, Tim thanks again - although my credit card might have other thoughts on the topic!! :smiling5:

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Andrew……must admit, I’ve only used them with a brush myself. Looking like I should find a silver bird to build and spray away though.
Word to the wise…..don’t bother with the gold and copper colours, everything the silver colours are the gold and copper colours are not.
For good copper, bronze, brass and gold shades explore Darkstar molten metals :thumb2:

[adt70hk]

Looking good Andrew……must admit, I’ve only used them with a brush myself. Looking like I should find a silver bird to build and spray away though.
Word to the wise…..don’t bother with the gold and copper colours, everything the silver colours are the gold and copper colours are not.
For good copper, bronze, brass and gold shades explore Darkstar molten metals :thumb2:

Thanks Tim. Duly noted!

I too have thought about doing a silver bird just to do some more 'testing' with it.

[AlanG]

I have a 'silver bird' on the SOD from a past GB. I really need to get it off there and finish it. I used Vallejo Metal Colors and found them to be fantastic to spray.

The Mossie is looking great btw