The Wooksta!: Not a Spitfire Blog - comments thread.

[The Wooksta!]

They're far down the build queue, the real world Mosquitoes and perhaps a few more Hornets are further up the list, the latter being because they're assembled and getting them done clears a box or three.  There's also the Magna MB3 - I forgot to prime it earlier today - which would be a nice table companion to those that Gondor is building.  I'm presuming he'll have them done by Telford?

But Accidental Loggie did one of the ones I was toying with - a 2TAF one - and it was on the SIG table at Telford.  Mike would definitely have approved of it, bless him, as he had a soft spot for 2TAF stuff.  I may yet do one, but not for some time.

[NARSES2]

Must admit I like 2TAF subjects as well. Almost as much as SEAC and BPF 

[Gondor]

They're far down the build queue, the real world Mosquitoes and perhaps a few more Hornets are further up the list, the latter being because they're assembled and getting them done clears a box or three.  There's also the Magna MB3 - I forgot to prime it earlier today - which would be a nice table companion to those that Gondor is building.  I'm presuming he'll have them done by Telford?

But Accidental Loggie did one of the ones I was toying with - a 2TAF one - and it was on the SIG table at Telford.  Mike would definitely have approved of it, bless him, as he had a soft spot for 2TAF stuff.  I may yet do one, but not for some time.

I am hoping that I will have them finished for Perth.

[kitbasher]

I did manage to get some paint on the two RAF Hornet nightfighters that were assembled, although the Magna one is going darker than perhaps it should be.  I'm planning on colours similar to that worn by 85 Sqn's Meteor night fighters - Dark Green, Dark Sea Grey over Med Sea Grey (I think...need to check that) - as the final colours 85's Hornets wore before they were re-equipped.  The Skybirds one is going in the standard night fighter colours of Med Sea Grey and Dark Green and definitely 23 Sqn as the user.  I have a back story for it somewhere.  In the most recent trip into the loft I found the parts for it, so everything's gravy.

Depends on which mark of Meteor NF.

The Meteor NF11 was camouflaged Medium Sea Grey/Dark Green (ditto the 12 and 13) whereas the NF14 had Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green uppers + Medium Sea Grey undersides.  Some earlier Meteor NFs were IIRC repainted as per the 14 but only when they'd been relegated to secondary roles.

The Vampire NF10 and Venom NF3 camo schemes differed in the same way.

[The Wooksta!]

Pah!  Not respraying it now.  Easier to change the backstory.  85 Sqn kept it as a unit hack.  I'm planning on using some spare Freightdog decals.  Some years back, I did have a plan to do a small section of Hornets, all wearing Meteor markings.

[PR19_Kit]

Who did the kit for the Sturgeon then?

It's a formidable looking aeroplane for sure. 

[Gondor]

Who did the kit for the Sturgeon then?

It's a formidable looking aeroplane for sure. 

Contrail and Manga have both done kits, with Manga having produced two kits of different versions, A PR1 and a TT2/TT3 kit. The Contrail kit was of a TT2.

[The Wooksta!]

Contrail did the long nose TT3 in the mid/late 80s.  Decent kit and I got one together in 1993.  White metal props, injection undercarriage, decals.  It was a decent package.  Magna did the PR.2 (I have one but want to do it as a PR.2) and the TT3, but gave optional noses for the long nose and the later short nose.  They also did the later AS.6, with the revised fuselage and the AS Mamba engines.

I assembled the TT3 as a TF.1 in 2020 and it got some paint in 2024.  It's been dug out to try and get it finished this year, with a torpedo from the Airfix Beaufighter, largely to have a "standard" one next to the proposed Highball one.  I am not looking forward to assembling the props.

In other news, having had to venture back into the loft to strip a bullnose Mosquito of its black boxes to drop into rubber, I dragged out a Spearfish.  And I can fit a Highball fairing to it, although the latter will require some surgery...

[Gondor]

In other news, having had to venture back into the loft to strip a bullnose Mosquito of its black boxes to drop into rubber, I dragged out a Spearfish.  And I can fit a Highball fairing to it, although the latter will require some surgery...

WHich Mosquito's are the black boxes for Lee?

[The Wooksta!]

The Gee box and the one on the parcel shelf from the bullnose.  The latter needed cutting down.  They're for any FB6 after HJ873, most of the night fighters plus various late war bomber nose and PR types. If you see a whip aerial on the dorsal fuselage aft of the canopy, it's got a Gee fit, but it's not a given - as the Mosquito had a wooden airframe, aerials could be and were mounted internally.  Both of the FB6s in the Tamiya kit should have it (RS625 NE-D *definitely* has it - see below), but they just give you the early fit.  No one does them as aftermarket, despite a clear need for them. TBH, I'm not entirely sure the box just behind the pilot is the correct shape - I've deepened it with some plastic card - but it's a lot closer than what was there before ie nowt.

The drawings in the SAM book on the FB6 are somewhat confusing.  They give the Gee fit after HJ873 and then the R1155 fit (the replacement TR1143 unit is on a shelf above the rear bomb bay above the aft starboard hatch), which on aircraft prior to HJ873 is behind the pilot but afterwards moves to where the T1154 was centrally mounted on the parcel shelf.  Two separate diagrams but I've a feeling I need a Gee fit plus the R1155.  It's not an either/or.  I need to message Dave Swindell over on Britmodeller.

I do have some moulds for those bits, but need to alter both with every cast and it's just a pain, so new moulds have been intended since at least August last year.

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Late war shots of RS625.  By this stage it has the 100 gal tanks and double tier rockets, plus the strike camera in the nose and the Z lamp installation in the starboard wing leading edge.  If you look carefully, you can see the Gee aerial.  It's not always from the canopy, sometimes from where the usual aerial mast is.  Check photos.

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Strike camera fitted to Banff Mosquitoes of 143 Sqn.

It's only the last year where I've been obsessing about getting the cockpit black box fit right.  Really don't know why, because most wouldn't know and even fewer would care.

[Gondor]