De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI
487 Sqn

This was built with the Eduard PE set, HGW seatbelts and Master gun barrels and pitot tube. I also had a resin wheels but I realised during the build that they were not the correct type. It was also the first build where I used lead wire in the cockpit and the wheel bays to represent wires. This was quite easy and did add detail to the cockpit, but I think I may see if I can use styrene rods next time

This was a long build, not least because I was having issues with the seam along the fuselage halves, I think I may finally have cracked that nut now though and hopefully with my future builds that will no longer be an issue. The wheels and bombs on this were much better

The big issue I have with the finished model is the canopy, but that is solely down to me as dust got on the inside. I am reluctant to take it off as there is a bit of filler around there and don't want to ruin that, but it does mean all of the detail in the cockpit can't really be seen.

The kit was excellent and any issues were well and truly mine. There were quite a lot of ejector pin marks around though, including some in the wheel bays, which were really hard to reach and ended in me having to restore a lot of the detail with strip styrene.

For the painting I used the same method of marbling onto a black base but leaving panel line black by only marbling within the panels. Tamiya paints were used along with Mr Levelling Thinner. I also tried using a liquid masking pen for the camouflage, which didn't work very well at all - I will not be trying that again!

For weathering I used a dark dirt panel line wash, initially I used it over a gloss coat and them wiped away with a damp clothing but subsequently I needed to repaint some areas so to bring the weathering in those areas in line with the rest of the plane I applied the wash over a satin coat and sanded the wash away. I then added streaks with Abteilung oils and found this much easier than the Mig Enamel products. I also added so pigments for the exhaust staining and guns, I may need more practice with pigment though (maybe adding them to a matt rather than satin coat next time).

Overall I am reasonably happy with the finish, but its not quite as good as I think it could have been and feel like a step back in comparison with the Stuka. I would like to build one of these again (perhaps convert it to a Sea Hurricane). I have also decided that have three builds on the go is too much so have decided to reduce it to one (which is why there have been no updated to my Warhawk and He-111 thread for months!