Yup, you guessed it, another Tamiya Mossie!

[alextheblue]

I've been lurking in the shadows admiring all of these builds for a while, wanting to join in, but being somewhat of a turret and tracks fiend, I couldn't quite pluck up the courage required. Then, whilst in my local hobby shop (which sells mainly Airfix), I noticed this kit balanced on the edge of a shelf. It must be fate, I should buy it immediately - well, that was the excuse that I gave the wife! Also, I've been a fan of Mr Wells work right from joining the forum and have admired all of his builds, so the least I could do is to have a bash - hope no one minds me joining in at this late stage.

I won't bore you with tons of pictures of endless sprues as I'm sure you are well aware of what's in this particular box of goodies.







Now this isn't quite my first "bash" at building a wingy-thing as I did start to build a Hobby Boss 1/48 Intruder A-6A (an ISM monthly give-away prize i hasten to add!! ) for the Vietnam GB at the end of last year, but I got distracted by a couple of other things and this is the state it's in..........



There's tons wrong with it, but in all honesty, I probably should have started with something a little more modest as my first foray in to the world of plane modelling. I will get it finished, but I'm hoping that I will have learned from some of my newbie mistakes on this one - knowing me, probably not!

I've noticed that a lot of people started off with the cockpit, but I thought I better follow the instructions. Plus, I have no idea what anything is or what anything does - big metal (well wooden) bird in sky!!




Most of this is only dry fitted so I can get in and paint it and that's pretty much where I'm at. Not sure I'll ever get used to the whole, build a bit, then paint a bit and repeat, but I am thoroughly enjoying this one so far.

Thanks for taking a look!

[wappynutter]

Yay!!... Another Tamiya Mossie!....
I am feeling all alone with the old Matchbox kit now...
..but on a plus I can poach detailing ideas to snazzy my cheap kit up a bit..
Hey I could even download a collection of pictures from all you Tamiya guys builds, start a new thread and pass them off as my build!... Who'd know??... Oh hang on...... Just told you all now! Damn.....
Good luck Alex, I'll be a regular viewer for sure..
All the best mate..
.. " munch...munch...munch..."

[Nige201980]

Alex it's really great to have you aboard buddy and your off to a flyer mate.

[alextheblue]

Andy, Nigel, thanks fellas!

I gotta say, I'm really quite enjoying this build and I might have to invest in a couple more of these strange machines of the sky. The fit is pretty flawless, but I'm guessing that is down to it being of the Tamiya flavour. I'm even starting to warm to the build and paint in instalments process. I'm still not a fan of putting glue anywhere near paint though, but it is forcing me to be extra careful with those little blobs of CA.

Progress is a little slow and I'm still following the instructions as I'm still not sure what most of the parts are, although I did instantly recognise the MG's!

Wings and things


Wheels, weathered with Ultimate light dirt


And the cockpit and apologies for all the mistakes with regards to colours etc. After doing a fair bit of research as well as drooling over all the build threads here, I decided to go with what I liked, rather than what is accurate!



The seatbelt a are from an Eduard PE set, but I opted to not use the instrumental panel as I prefer to paint this sort of stuff myself. Plus, I need the practice!

And a dry-fit to see where I'm at.


Thanks for taking a peek!

[Nige201980]

Looking execellent mate

[alextheblue]

Looking execellent mate

Thanks Nige, trying my best to keep up with you guys!

[alextheblue]

It feels a bit like wading through treacle at the moment as progress seems very slow. Although, I'm guessing once all the necessary parts are painted, gluing them together shouldn't take too long, so I'm probably further ahead than I think.

Props and other bits painted up - does this make my bomb look big!



Wheels finished



Check-out the undercarriage!! Oo-er missus!!



Fuselage and wings are now all fixed in position.




I've only ever masked one other canopy and whilst I'm guessing this one isn't the most trying looking at some other planes, I must say, not my most favourite job. Give me a set of Friul tracks to drill-out any day of the week!!



The canopy is actually painted now, just waiting for it to dry to see what kind of a mess I've made of it!

Thanks for taking a look!

[Joesdad]

And the cockpit and apologies for all the mistakes with regards to colours etc. After doing a fair bit of research as well as drooling over all the build threads here, I decided to go with what I liked, rather than what is accurate!



The seatbelt a are from an Eduard PE set, but I opted to not use the instrumental panel as I prefer to paint this sort of stuff myself. Plus, I need the practice!

Looking great buddy, great dashboard
I'm coming to think that PE is only any good when you can actually see it
Seat belts: Yes
Fiddly bits hidden inside a fuselage: Possibly not

[Nige201980]

She is looking damn fine buddy.

[alextheblue]

Thanks Nige! I'm really getting a liking for this old bird and I can see why it's one of your favourites.

I'm gingerly making progress and there's a lot of praying, crossing of fingers, not to mention closing of eyes before peeling back masking tape, but it seems to be coming together. Managed to get the canopy sprayed and whilst its not great, I'll take that for my first one - if you step back and squint, some of those lines look quite sharp!



With that done, it's onto getting some paint down on the underside. As I don't have the first clue as what are the correct colours, I decided to go with the Tamiya colour call-out options. AS9, AS10....what the.....!! If it don't start with XF or X, I aint got it, so after a bit of research I managed to track down some equivalent colours. Now, I'm sure I'm trying to teach my Grandma to suck eggs as you guys all seem to be very knowledgeable on this subject, but just in case there's any one else as green as me reading this, I worked out the following. The underside equates to XF19 + XF54 in a ratio of 3:5, which gives the following -





For the base colour of the topside, it requires XF18 + XF21 + XF24 in a ratio of 1:2:2. Unfortunately I don't have enough XF24, so I decided to improvise and use XF53 instead and darken it down with some XF1. Seemed to do the job, but what do I know!





Before all of this, it was primed using Vallejo grey surface primer, with black primer for the pre-shading. I think I may have covered this up a little too much, but I'm very conscious of making this look a hella of a lot "cleaner" than I usually do with my tanks. I'll wait until the paint has fully cured and make a decision then as to how much post-shading and lightening that I'll do.

Hopefully, I'll get the second camo colour down later on and with any luck it might be a little cooler than yesterday - spaying in 37 degree heat had it's challenges!!

Thanks for taking a look!

[Nige201980]

Alex the canopy is looking sharp mate. and yeah i hare tamiya using the AS numbers in there instructions why they do it ive now idea. Your paint job looks cracking buddy.

[alextheblue]

Thanks Nige, I'm going to go and ruin it now by adding the camo!! Loving your Panther by the way, you're doing a cracking job of it!

Time to add the second colour for the camouflage and I sat for a while debating whether to freehand it or use a mask. I remember Mike saying that the paper masks that come with the kit are a nightmare, so I ruled these out of the equation. In the end I opted to go with a white-tac mask, as opposed to doing it freehand. Paul did an excellent job with his, but alas, I don't possess his AB skills and mine wouldn't come out that sharp. I'm a bit nervous as all the cam schemes I've painted on AFV's I done freehand and I'm not quite sure what to expect using white-tac.





Second colour on, white-tac removed and a couple of coats of Klear applied. This is another first for me as I never use a clear coat when build armour - I know, I know, the decals and pin-wash apply better and what if you make a mistake. Well, as far as mistakes go I'm pretty much used to those now, so I know a few mends and make-do's!

I must say, I'm getting to quite like the glossy finish now I'm getting used to it and it will be a shame to put a matte coat over it. Time to chuck a few bits on and it's almost looking like a mossie - well, a bit!





Decals next and being an armour builder (have I mentioned that I usually build tanks! ) any more than three to put on and it might as well be 300!!

Thanks for taking a look!

[Nige201980]

WOW great paint job mate you've done a cracking job Alex

[Avgas]

Looking great, love the cockpit.

[alextheblue]

WOW great paint job mate you've done a cracking job Alex

Thanks Nige, just trying to learn from all you experts!

Looking great, love the cockpit.

Thanks Avgas! Even with hands like bunches of bananas and eyesight that would make Mr Magoo look like a fighter pilot, I really enjoyed painting the cockpit.

[alextheblue]

Time for the decals and I must say, these put up a bit of a fight. I've built a few Tamiya tanks and the like and not really had any problems with the decals, although you don't generally have more than 3 to put on! I'm not sure if it is just me, but these seemed a little thicker than I'm used to, but maybe that's more to do with the size of some of them. The "T" on one side broke into three places, but this was mainly down to user error, but I managed to patch it up - almost!





And this is the side with the T that I managed to rip to pieces!


Not sure what these are, but they're not sitting at all well and I'm going to have to soak them in 2 or 3 more bottles of Micro Sol methinks!


Quick shot of the underside as the wheels and flaps are all attached now.


I'm ready for my close-up now Mr DeMille!


Nige mate, I'm not quite sure what you've done to me, but as a dyed-in-the-wool armour building tred-head, I'm already planning what my next be-winged kit is qoing to be - and for that, I thank you Sir!

Thanks for taking a look!

[Coen]

Freaking awesome work!!!