Space & SciFi
Space & SciFi
Back to Paul's page
HK Models 1/32 Mosquito Mk.IV Series II
by Paul Wilsford
Build Log December 22, 2016
I have been wanting to build this kit ever since I saw a build review from Gary Wickham on his blog page. http://www.scalespot.com/
He built a test shot and it really came out nicely, much more so than I can even hope to achieve. Most of the issues that he had with the kit have been rectified by the manufacturer such as the seat cushions (which I am really thankful for).
Small Heading
A couple of features about this kit that I am most eager to get to are the one piece fuselage halves and the single piece flying surfaces.
The single piece flying and control surfaces include the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, rudder and elevators.
So far, all I have done is start the fuselage. The instruments in the IP all have cleanly registered individual dial faces and to my eye they actually look the part.
My ability to assemble the PE seat belts makes my efforts resemble a handful of corned beef hash. They came out passable to my eye but on camera they really show how awful they are.
I can see where my mistakes were made and without pulling everything apart and really getting frustrated, I will find a solution to make it look better.
By the way, some of the references come from the Kermit Weeks Mossie that is located at the E.A.A. museum in Oshkosh.
More later.
Build Log December 28, 2016
After finishing up the assembly of the cockpit I took the opportunity to paint the bombardier's position according to the instructions. I them went to the tail planes and got those done. On a note here, the control surfaces are designed to be movable with this model kit but in the assembly of the elevators there is no indication that this is the case and finding out much later makes for some interesting fit issues. One of the other fit issues that I had was with the side glass panels, where I discovered I had a small gap after I glued it in, even though I didn't have that issue when I dry fit the parts.
So far I am very pleased with this kit but I think just a few items need to be addressed, one being the radios that go into the cockpit. There are no instructions that pertain to this step and it (as always found out in later assembly steps) may need to be installed after the canopy goes on (but if you are really observant (which I am not) you may be able to get it installed earlier).
A real good feature is that the seams are along actual assembly joins and are pretty well hidden after every thing goes together.
Here is an oops moment with a gluey finger print. This also shows the join area between the front and rear fuse parts and how close the tolerances are in this part of the assembly.
So far everything that is glued to the fuselage is pretty much gap free, However, the wing assembly itself may be another matter. There are a lot of things going on with the wing assembly -- landing gear, engines and their nacelles and the under wing stores. In order to attach the drop tanks or bombs you must measure out the hole locations and drill two holes at each station.
More on that later when I get to those steps.
Build Log February 20, 2016
Continuing on, then. I have the cookie cutter bomb done, both halves and painted black with Vallejo acrylic poly surface primer, as well as the props. This kit comes with the two types of props but only has the nacelle that denotes the Merlin with the single stage supercharger.
I struggled a bit with the gear doors and the bulged bomb bay doors (poor eye sight) but I managed to get them secured.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
Being that there is probably another variant coming out (the fighter) there are extra parts that you must be aware of and steps in the assembly that will get you in the end if you don't really pay attention to what steps you are on and what parts go with what variant. I found out the hard way. I missed the step to put the radio equipment in and put on the wrong wing tips. I didn't find out about my mistakes until I was well into the build. C'est la vie. I went ahead and shot the entire air frame in black because I am painting it as a night bomber variant.
I would like to build another one of these and since I am aware of the issues that require attentive care I figure that I can do a much better job at the build. I am going to wait for the primer coats to cure for a few days before I tackle the upper surface colors.
And now, finally completed...
