418 Squadron Bomber Support Mosquito

418 Squadron Bomber
Support Mosquito FBVI

Thanks to Dave Wadman and Tom Cleaver; without their kind assistance this kit would still be in the closet.

Getting Started

The Aircraft

I had originally planned to build the Mossie straight from the box as an NF.II, but Ian Day's article in Quarter Scale Modeller gave me a better idea. Ian converted the Airfix FB.VI to represent a "Serrate" equipped aircraft used to support Bomber Command in late 1944. Looking at all the marvelous parts included with the Tamiya kit, I realized I could do something similar.

RAF Bomber Command's 100 Group had at least 19 organic or attached Mosquito squadrons operating in support of the night bombing campaign. Many of the aircraft were equipped with A/I (Air Intercept) sets. A number were further outfitted with other specialized electronics such as "Serrate", which was designed to "home in" on the FuG 202/212/220 radars used by the Luftwaffe night fighters. I quickly found that the best reference for these aircraft is the now out-of-print "Aircraft of 100 Group" by Martin Streetly (ISBN 0-7090-1043-5 if you're interested). Just as quickly I found that particular book was nearly impossible to acquire.

Thank heaven for the Internet! Several queries on r.m.s. and a short e-mail exchange later, I had narrowed my choices to two aircraft: 141 Sqdn's TW-Z, an F.II used in "Serrate" operations, and 418 Sqdn's TH-M, one of the very few FB.VI equipped with AI Mk.IV radar. I went with TH-M, but it wasn't an easy decision. I wanted to model the aircraft in flight and show as much detail as necessary. With the F.B.VI, I could open the bomb bay up, which doesn't make much sense for an N.F.II. After the pace of bomber support missions picked back up in late 1944, many FB.VI aircraft carried bombs, enabling them to contribute to the cause even if no Luftwaffe night fighters came up, so I could depict the aircraft with a bomb load.

Decision made, I collected as much info on the particular aircraft as I could. I then decided how I would pose the aircraft and what I would modify. With the aid of the excellent photographs in the Squadron/Signal Walkaround book, I determined to:

add fuel lines and control cables to the bomb bay

rebuild and detail the cannon breeches and mountings

add detail to the cockpit

replace the cheesy kit crew members with figures actually doing something

The aircraft would be depicted with bomb bay doors open, caught in the act of releasing its load. To add a bit of drama to the scene, pilot and AI operator would be shown shielding their eyes from the glare of a searchlight that had fixed on them at just that moment. (I'm not 100% sure that ever actually happened, by the way, but it could have I suppose ... and that's good enough for me). To "highlight" this, I planned to put a super-bright white LED in the base, aimed directly up at the front of the aircraft.

Armed with this plan I opened the box and got down to business.

Construction

The Tamiya Mosquito has to be one of the best engineered and best fitting kits I've ever built. It's a joy to put together, especially after the amount of work involved in taking banging together some limited run Eastern European model. The level of detail in the kit parts is more than enough to satisfy out of the box builder. That's not to say it couldn't be improved - and with a kit that's this good adding details is not a chore.

I generally followed the instruction sequence and started with the wings. My aircraft had exhaust shrouds, so after painting the exhausts Burnt Iron I installed them and the kit shrouds. The inside surfaces of the shrouds should be British interior green-grey, but as these tended to get really dirty really quickly, I painted them black - along with areas they covered. I decided the kit's ice guards (the screens fitted in front of the carburetor inlets, parts E13) would look better if I removed the molded grill and replaced it with wire mesh stolen from an armor PE set. I should probably have used nylon from panty hose, since the mesh is finer, but the PE is stronger and looks just fine to my eye. I hollowed out the pieces and superglued them to the screen then cut out around them and filed the edges smooth. There are also two thin ribs inside the guards - but making those from tiny bits of wire proved too frustrating, so I left them off.

I painted the areas around the radiator grilles black and the grills themselves aluminum. I then drilled out the holes in the wings for the drop tanks and radar aerials. The clear landing light parts were painted aluminum on their backs, with the depression for the bulb painted chrome silver, before they were popped into place. The wings were glued together then, as were the wingtips. I used the single light tips for scheme's A & B, assuming my FB.VI would not have had them replaced.

Landing gear doors and wingtips were then fitted to the wing assemblies. These two areas turned out to be the only real fit problems on the kit. As with everyone else I know who has built this kit, I had trouble getting the darn things to align properly without a step. The gear doors also proved troublesome, with large gaps all around. Putty and patience solved both problems.

Now it was time for the interior. Unlike my usual practice, I used black washes throughout the interior to simulate the sharp shadows that would be thrown by a bright light at night. I built up the cockpit as for scheme "C", with AI Mk.IV. Looking back on it, I am not sure the aircraft was fitted with ASH, so I may not have wanted to install part G10 as I did. Ah, well. Parts were painted following the instructions, as these reflected what I saw in the Walkaround photos. Instrument panels, throttle, and various trim wheels were painted and drybrushed in the usual manner. Using the color photos in the Walkaround book as a guide, I picked out the throttle and prop control knobs, fire extinguisher buttons, and landing gear selector knob with red paint. I assembled and painted the radio transmitter and receiver per instructions as well, but added power cables to both. I also made supports for the receiver from stretched sprue. I did not have good photos of any of this, so in the end I just attached the cables (made from speaker wire and painted black) to a bottom corner of each box, and ran them across the cockpit decking in what looked like a logical fashion. I then cleaned up the mold seam in the center of the gunsight (part F7), hid it under a coat of Future acrylic polish, and painted the appropriate parts. I set it aside until after positioning the pilot.... and ended up forgetting to install the darn thing! D'oh! Before moving on to the pilots I hollowed out the barrels for all the guns and fit them in their places.

Creating the Crew

Next came the pilot and radar operator figures. I modified the kit pilot by cutting off and repositioning his head. I then ground off his left arm and replaced it with one made of Milliput. The arm was carefully shaped with files and sandpaper and placed as if he was trying to shield his eyes from the searchlight glare. I also filled in the huge hole in his back, and shaped it to look like the harness for his parachute. I junked the other kit figure - I didn't want the guy sitting all prim and proper with his hands in his lap. I used the pilot from an old Monogram P-51 kit, repositioned so that the figure is leaning forward. looking into his radar's hood. Both figures were painted per the instructions using a combination of Testors Model Master enamels and Polly Scale acrylics. I brought out the crew's facial features and folds in clothing with dark washes, followed by drybrushing to highlight high spots. Then I set them aside while I worked on their seats.

The radar operator's seat only required belts. These I made from an Eduard brass set of RAF seat belts and buckles. I draped the shoulder belts across the seat back, as if they had been removed so the guy could get to his radarscope. The pilot's seat required more modification. I added seat cushions made from Milliput and painted semi-gloss black, using photos in the Walkaround book for reference. I used the thinnest craft wire I could find to make the triangular metal bracket that attached the shoulder belt to the seat, and more Milliput for the head rest cushion that sat right above that. Shoulder belts were made from thin strips of masking tape. I slid the pilot into position (having to amputate his legs below the knees to get him to fit!), glued him in place, and glued the shoulder belts in place. Before adding the radar operator I made a "Gee" indicator box (which I'm now not sure was carried with this aircraft - not that it matters, since it's hidden by the radar operator. Ah, well) from scrap styrene, painted it black, and added instrument dials cut from the panel decal. To cover the seam between parts A24 and H2, I ran a power cable and placed the radar operator's clipboard (made from scrap styrene) over it. I also made a flashlight from a piece of scrap rod, which was placed by the radar operator's seat. Finally, I slipped him into position and glued him in place.

Bomb Bay Details

Now it was time for the bomb bay. The whole area was sprayed British Interior Grey-Green. Then the fuel tanks were painted Insignia Red. The Walkaround book has a clear color picture of this area showing the red "Linatex" fabric used to make the tanks self sealing. Fuel lines were made from sewing thread, stiffened with white glue and painted black. These were added to the areas around the fuel tanks and to the starboard side of the fuselage interior. Control cables made from craft wire were added to the port side. All the rest of the parts were assembled and painted following the directions, except for the cannon breeches. Tamiya simplified this part considerably. I cut the center two off and used the outer two shapes from the same part (from a different kit) to replace them. These were attached to a block of styrene and positioned so they were properly spaced forward of the outer pair. I cut small disks from styrene rod to replicate the "pips" at the back of each weapon's receiver and the adjustment knobs on the trunnions. I then replicated the pneumatic charging system. I fashioned an air manifold from a strip of square styrene, attached it to the bulkhead above the breeches, and ran more sewing thread from it to each of the breeches. I used a thicker piece of thread to depict the hose that brought warm air from the engines to the cannons to prevent them from freezing up at altitude.

Final Construction

Whew! Construction speeded up considerably when all this was done. I painted the tailwheel and placed it in its retracted position before closing up the fuselage. Because of all the details I had added, fitting the cockpit assembly was a bit dicey, but eventually I managed. There were a few small gaps that had to be filled with putty, but nothing major. I fitted the bomb bay doors (open) and the clear piece behind the bomb bay (part F2). My references indicated this was not present on my aircraft - or at least was painted over - so I sanded it smooth and puttied up the seam line.

Wings and stabilizers went on without a hitch, as did the various antennas. I left the props off (more on this later) for the moment and went to work on the canopy. My references showed some details on the canopy that Tamiya left off. After dipping it in Future, I added a dome light, signal flare socket, escape hatch handle and knock out panel (a circular frame in the escape hatch that rescuers could punch out to get at the emergency hatch handle). All were carefully shaped from rod and tube stock. The signal gun socket was painted black and the handle red; everything else was painted green-grey. The decal representing the interior framing is a nice touch. They're not exactly the same shade of green-grey as the TMM enamel I used, but I used them anyway. The rest of the framing was painted by hand (I can't mask to save my life it seems). After everything had dried I affixed the canopy with thinned white glue. I drilled a hole for the stand I would use and was ready for painting.

Painting and Markings

My aircraft wore Dark Green/Medium Sea Grey over Smooth Night undersurfaces. I also sported three white "invasion stripes" under the fuselage and a white "M" under the nose, right below the .303's. After cleaning and priming the model, I sprayed white in the appropriate areas. Then I sanded down all the runs and sprayed again, because the white I used was crap - runny and translucent. Ugh. The "M" was cut out of electrician's black tape (using a decal as a guide), which was used as a mask. I also masked off the three white stripes with masking tape. Then the upper surfaces were sprayed Medium Sea Grey. When this had dried I masked and sprayed the Dark Green areas. Then I masked the upper surfaces and sprayed the bottom black. I used Polly Scale "NATO Tri-Color Black", which turned out to be too flat and too black for my tastes, so after it had dried I misted it with TMM "Flat Aircraft Interior Black". This toned it down nicely. I let all this cure for another day before sealing it under a coat of Future.

Decals were a mixture of what was provided with the kit and spares (thanks again Tom!). Squadron codes were dull red; serials black. All went down without significant problems, aided with a little MicroSol. When they had dried, I gently wiped everything down to clean off any residues. Then I sealed the decals with a light coat of future, followed by several passes of Dullcote until I had the slight sheen I wanted.

I held weathering to a minimum. Metal areas received some chips of silver paint (dabbed on with a cosmetic sponge). I used grey pastels over the area behind the exhausts to simulate staining there, and added some flecks of mud around the gear doors.

Finishing

At this point I was nearing the finish line. I added the pitot tube which I had forgotten earlier and went to work on the props. The spinners were black, with the forward one-third painted white. I was at a loss on how to mask this until I spied a circle template on a corner of my workbench. I found the right diameter circle and slipped the template over the spinner so it was 1/3 the way down the spinner's length. I carefully aligned the spinner to get everything straight and taped it in place from behind. I then sprayed white over the front, using the template as a mask. I had better luck with the white this time, thankfully.

Propellers were a challenge. I could have used the kit parts stock (the broad chord ones in this case) but I wanted to try to impart a spinning effect. After several attempts at cutting clear disks, I decided to try something else. I cut about 1/3 of the blades' length off each prop. I then carefully sanded each blade as thin as I could without them curling or twisting. The resulting shapes were airbrushed with Tamiya Smoke, a clear black usually used for tinting clear parts. I sprayed just enough to make the blades black, while still remaining translucent. It's hard to describe, but in the light they look like paintings of spinning props. Not horribly accurate, and I'm not perfectly satisfied with the resulting effect ... but it does give the illusion of propellers in motion.

Last came the base. I found an unfinished pine plaque at the local craft store for $1, sanded it and stained it a dark walnut. I then drilled two 1/4" diameter holes in it, each about 1/4 of the way in from the edge. One of these was for a clear acrylic rod used as a stand. The other houses a superbright white LED (T1.75 with 30 degree cone). I flipped the base over and used a router to hollow out room for a 9V battery and wiring. Wiring was dead simple -- two small resistors (I'm not sure of their size - they're what I had in the parts bin) in series, connected to the LED so it won't get fried. LED, resistors and battery leads were wired in place, then soldered after I made sure I had the polarity right. The LED wasn't sitting right in its hole, so I slipped it inside an appropriately sized length of tubing to steady it.

Finally, the aircraft was mounted on the stand, the battery connected and the lights turned out. Voila! Looks right nice under those conditions.

Conclusion

If I had built the kit stock from the box it would have taken maybe two weeks of nights and weekends to finish. All the effort I put in to it ballooned the project to almost two months, but it was worth it to me. It won't win any contests ... but only because my skills don't quite match my imagination (yet!). It was a fun project and certainly different from the normal gear-down-sitting-on-a-shelf model.