Mosquito

In preparation for finishing this fast WWII fighter/bomber, I decided to watch a 1969 film called “Mosquito Squadron”. It was only an hour and 30 minutes long including the credits; and was suitably badly acted and historically inaccurate for “war films” of the times. From the opening scene with the nuclear power plant cooling towers in 1940’s London, to the leading RAF pilot growing up in England, but wearing a dress uniform with a Canada patch on his left shoulder! It was worth the terrible film to see some of those twin-engined de Havilland’s in early war camouflage!

At any rate, here are a few in process pictures, and this is mostly just the painting, as the whole the plane had already been built! I did end up just mixing my own shades of grey to simulate the Ocean Grey and Medium Sea Grey for the early war RAF coastal defense!

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In the beginning I figured this build could just be a way to practice various skills, and I always struggle with canopies. I’ve tried free-hand, white glue masks, purchased masks and hand-cut masking. In the end, I think the hand-cut mask give me the best results, even if they still look horrid up close. Any, they say practice makes perfect, so I might get a few of the spare clear canopies out of the old Bitz-Box^tm and just work on taping, cutting and painting! Still not my best canopy, and the bugger didn’t fit the cockpit tightly! (could be the kit is just too old or the the build itself just wasn’t sure from the start)

(After painting, but before cleaning up the under tape seepage)

By the way, this putty from AK-interactive is the bomb when it comes to airbrush masking! Goes on easy and comes off with out doing any damage to paint nor the plastic underneath! This stuff may even find it’s way into my 1/35 scale figure painting!

Since 99% of the build was completed before I even saw the kit, I decided on a very basic decal and weathering scheme. I’m not even opting for a diorama base, this one will be a “shelf sitter” until I need more space. Funnily enough, I used to think of Tamiya as quality and Airfix as rubbish, I might just have those two right around backwards, with Airfix issuing newly tooled kits, not reboxings of 1970’s stuff. (Note the overly thick decals and canopy fit)

Still working out lighting and getting better photos, but anyway, here is the rescued warbird:

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