The Wooksta's Mosquito Blog: Plan V3.0

[The Wooksta!]

"By the looks of it, you failed them all."

The 618 research has hit a wall, largely because I think I've got most of everything available. At least, I looked in all the usual places.

But the references themselves can be wrong. The Sharp/Bowyer the on the type lists all of the aircraft converted for Highball, although it doesn't list DK290. However, I'm not sure if that aircraft carried the full kit and not just mock ups for aerodynamic tests.  This list threw up an oddity. DZ582 isn't listed as one of the original aircraft modified but I have a photo of it with Highball but before the Oxtail mods - indeed, I did it years back with the Tamiya kit and the original Paragon conversion as one of the Operation Servant Tirpitz raiders - so the list is clearly wrong. Or is it the photo caption? The serial isn't clear enough in the photo to be sure.

Another airframe that's missed off the list is DZ493, listed in many sources online as being written off when the undercarriage collapsed after the aircraft swung in take off and hit something. The location? Weybridge. Pilot? Someone called Hutchinson and DZ493 is listed as being allocated only to 618 Sqn. Weybridge is the Vickers facility that did the Highball conversion and Hutchinson was the CO.

Finally, someone on a Highball thread on the Key Aero forum has had confirmation that the Oxtail aircraft had a bulletproof bulkhead in front of the controls that sealed off access to the nose from the cockpit. That's never been mentioned in any of the references. Too late for the Oxtail one I have ready to prime, but I do know that the fighter bulkhead will fit the bomber nose in the Tamiya kits, so an easy fix for the future.

You know where the comments go.

[The Wooksta!]

"Ah hah! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha! Driving instructor my bottom! You're a vampire and there's no denying it!"

Still trying to track down Highball related stuff and have unearthed several areas of further research.  I knew that post war, the Navy were trialling the weapon under the codename "Card" but the tests seem to have been carried out by the Maritime Armament Experimental Establishment.  They were based at various places, Spilsbury and Conningsby seem to be two of them.  They had four Highball aircraft, a BVI, DZ579, which had received all the Oxtail mods but 618 didn't take it for their Australian tour and it ended up crashing into the sea, killing the crew, after splashback from a drop ripped off the tailplane.  Another of the Oxtail modified aircraft that 618 left behind may have been used by the unit (although the production list says it was with the AAEE) but it ended up as an instructional machine. 

Of the two Sea Mosquitoes used by MAEE, we have the serials - TW228 and TW230 - although I've yet to find a photo of either aircraft, but I do have several of aircraft close to them in the production run, TW227, TW229 and TW232.  Being in the first block, they don't have the Lockheed undercarriage nor the folding wing, so building them just got easier and they're that shade more colourful too, as the other aircraft in the block are in EDSG/Dark Slate Grey over Sky with Type C markings.

The other Highball aircraft used by MAEE was PZ281, an FB.6, and apparently the remark was made that "Highball and guns are a potent combination".  Ironically, several aircraft built on the line at the same time went to 618 in '44 as continuation trainers. PZ281 ended it's days as an instructional machine, having only been used by De Havilland and then Vickers for Highball/Card development.

Several photos of members of the MAEE in front of a glazed nose single stage Merlin Mosquito have surfaced on another site, although it's hard to tell if it's a Highball modified aircraft.  Personally, I think it's either a B.XX or B.XXV, two of the latter serving with the AAEE.

So, a Highball Sea Mosquito and a Highball FB.6 now get added into the build mix.

Not a Mosquito but 618 related.  I've got the wings on for the Beaufighter II whilst the Spitfire VIII is at a similar stage.  I just want to know what filter it had underneath - short or long and the rudder style.  Normally, I'd be quite happy to just make it up, but I've done the research to do it properly, so I may as well continue.

Edit: I've found a photo of PZ281!  Google search found it and apparently it was taken at Wisley.  Now I *think* that was a Vickers facility and the photo isn't particularly large but it does appear that the underside aft of the cannonbay has had some modifications.  And the eagle eyed amongst whoever is following this thread may spot another Mosquito in the hangar in the background that would appear to have four blade props.  The resolution/size is too low to make out the Highball mods for sure, but that, I am confident, is DZ579 or one of the Highball Sea Mosquitoes.



The photo does clarify several things about that production batch, namely paddle props and night fighter camouflage. Interestingly, it appears to have bomb racks under the wings.

A search for a better quality copy of the photo proved useless - it was in a 2014 ebay auction and thus long gone - but the search DID turn up the serials for three Avengers that were at Wisley as part of the Highball trials, the serials being FN766, FN795 and JZ317. 

So, more pieces of the puzzle are turning up.  A victory of sorts after all.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Do not stick you head out of the window. I wonder why not?"

Basically a bump so TsrJoe can grab the limited info within.

However, having seen a photo of a proposed Centaurus version - and I thought my abandoned one was original -  I'm gathering the bits to have another go. A Tamiya one plus a set of Brigand nacelles could be a good start.

And sod the warning - it's my bloody thread anyway!

[The Wooksta!]

"You took your time, you b*******!"

Having had cause to look inside an Airfix late Mosquito again - a B16 with Colin's PR 34 conversion, I noticed that the canopy comes with the earlier blisters as optional drop in panels if the modellers wants to do an earlier B/PR.IX.  Except the canopy is specifically for a pressurised aircraft that would have the external framing.
Barracuda do a replacement but without the external framing.  I think he's cocked up.

Having found that the Airfix glazing fits the Tamiya, albeit with minor surgery, I'll need to do a swap to finish the NF.XV that's lurking in a box.  I do have the correct paint now and one of the aftermarket peeps do the relevant decals.  I do want to do the prototype NF.XV at some point, with the nose guns and have a plan in mind.

I'd like to do the prototype, W4050, at some stage with the two stage Merlins and the extended wingtips.  That means either swapping out the nacelles on the Tamiya or adding the wingtips to the Airfix and giving it a Tamiya canopy.  I'll go that route to give me a spare canopy for a Tamiya converted to a B35.  But no one does the decals for a black outlined P marking...

I've also cast a few more Highball bits for some planned recycling of older models, to do the 305 and 105 sqdn aircraft that were proposed initially before it was foisted on Coastal.

Which reminds me I have an NF.XIII that was going Coastal with underwing rockets.  A Tsetsefly in similar colours could be interesting, with the radar in the underwing pod.

I'm not looking to do any Mossies in the near future, what with doing a tour on Spitfires again, but it's always worth thinking about.

Link to comments thread upthread.

[The Wooksta!]

"That I don't know. But when the council come to demolish the house tomorrow, Michael, they're going to find it already demolished from within!"

The acquisition of... quite a few Mosquitoes recently, plus a BFO cannon conversion kit, has given me some cause for thought.  Specifically operations from carriers by 618 Sqn or other similarly equipped lunatics.  I say lunatics, but they were decidedly brave men.  Servant was a suicide mission, with the aircraft at the end of their range flying into the guns of a battleship and a cruiser at low level - and if they survived that, they had a steep climb over a sodding great mountain behind the ships, likely full of flak guns, and very little fuel to get back, so either a parachute and hope that the Norwegian resistance could get to them before the Gestapo or a ditching in a decidedly cold North Sea.  It makes 633 Sqn look like a walk in the park.

However, I digress.  A 32lb cannon aircraft onboard ship is perhaps not such a good idea, but a TseTsefly adapted in the same way could make more sense, as would your common or garden rocket equipped FB.VI, albeit with an ASH radar nose.  And rockets or BFO cannons might not raise objections from crass US admirals unwilling to let the Brits play in their sandpit.

The 32lb cannon is an interesting conversion, but I may well add a few extras.  Possibly four blade props, definitely tropical filters as most late war single stage Merlin aircraft seem to have received them on the production line, and definitely the armoured nose that the TseTseflies got.  As for colours?  Well, Pacific seems a bit obvious and I think it's been done so likely Coastal and operations against German shipping off Norway.  IIRC the TseTseflies were transferred to one of the Scottish strike wings but never got their better colour schemes, sticking with the same night fighter scheme they always wore.

It's also the navalised PR.XVIs, as other than the three 618 Sqn got, there were three others post war.  Some more thought about those is in order.

Final thoughts lead back to 618 and what colours would they carry in their operational use?  The scheme they saw out their days at Narromine or perhaps something more akin to the Sea Mosquitoes?  BPF style markings are a given, whatever the colours underneath.


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[The Wooksta!]

"This should get things going!"

Done a little bit of work on an FB6 that's going to get the BFO cannon conversion.  Cleaned up the tropical intakes, removed the lower flaps as the armoured ones are in the kit and located some more resin bits to use, including a couple of blanking plates that really should be for the Highball conversion but are ideal to block off the gaps under the cannon bulge.  Also dug out a TseTsefly nosecone.  Which made me think about my possible navalised one, so obviously I had to dig the rest of the bits for that too. 

One of the things I was planning to do with the Airfix PR16 was a PR32 with the extended wingtips, but the bits I'd...er, cloned for personal use (truthfully, your Honour) were all intended for the Tamiya kit, and I have some two stage Merlin nacelles of my own concoction that I've been wanting to try out for four years which also fit to the aforementioned Tamiya kit, so it looks like one of those will be getting used instead.  I just need to steal an Airfix PR.XVI canopy, which I know does fit the Tamiya kit.  The Tamiya will fit on the Airfix, so I get to do a PR.IX that way.

Whilst I was digging in the resin bits box, I discovered a cloned Tamiya floor from the B.IV.  One of the things I really dislike about the Airfix 16 is that the cockpit interior is in part somewhat clunky.  The seat certainly is, ditto the stick and the floor decidedly basic.  The Tamiya Mosquito is a good twenty years older but has far more finesse than the newer Airfix.  Anyhoo, the floor fits quite snugly.  I did find some resin seats too, although missing the arms, and these may get pressed into service too.


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[The Wooksta!]

"I laughed and laughed and laughed!"

Having looked through the Mosquito stash in the loft, I discovered a part started FB6 that had some of the conversion work started to turn it into an FB.XVIII TseTsefly, I just can't remember what I'd intended to do with it.  I already have one assembled that was going to be a 618 detachment aircraft flown by Des Curtis, so what was the second going to be?  I'll have to look through the references.  Anyway, having one part done means that I have a head start on the Oxtail one, and most of the resin bits are to hand.  I just need to find some four blade props.  And a cockpit floor.  I seem to have either mislaid it or stolen it for something else, possibly for use as a basis for the T3 cockpit interior.

It was whilst I was thinking about T-3s, I considered that they'd need some sort of trainer for deck landings so a two stick Sea Mosquito might not be too much of a stretch.  The Navy did get Mosquito T-birds anyway.  File that away for future use.

One of the others dug out is largely there in terms of sub assembly work.  I mean the undercarriages are all done, as are the props.  I've a feeling, and a label on the box confirms, that I'd intended it as a 14 Sqn aircraft in the Coastal strike scheme, but I may well use it as a shortcut to one of the post war High Ball test aircraft, FB6 PZ281.

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I've posted this up thread, but it's since vanished.  Photographed at Wisley at some point after April 1945 - and that is a Highball B.IV in the hangar behind - and at some point during the conversion to Highball.  Wonder what colours this spinners are, because they're darker than Med Sea Grey.  Hmmm, no, can't, because it has underwing bomb racks and I didn't set the wing for those.  Back into the loft...

Having been looking through my Highball folder for the above photo, I was intrigued by a clip I'd downloaded a while back, with a Highball attack against a railway tunnel (I mean, Mosquito Squadron had to have some basis in reality).  Anyway, whilst trying to ID the particular aircraft (you failed, Mr Fibuli, you failed!), I noticed two curious things.  Firstly, it had underwing tanks and secondly, 6 stack exhausts outboard.  TBH, those were the only ones I could see and on the starboard outer, but some UK based aircraft did have them.  DK290/G certainly did, prior to becoming the Highball aerodynamic trials aircraft, and all Australian production Mosquitos did.
The second bit of footage is of Mosquitos dropping Highballs at Astley Walk range and one definitely has four blade props.  Again, no serial, but the code letter is quite prominent, so it's possible both of these aircraft could be tracked down.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Who can tell?"

Interesting article found whilst trawling for photos of various Mosquitoes used by 618 Sqn.

https://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Article_hooked_Mosquito.htm

Whoever those Mosquitoes in the article belonged to, they were categorically not 618 Sqn.  Theirs were all tucked away in Australia, and the other aircraft modified for Oxtail are accounted for.



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[The Wooksta!]

"Ah hah! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha! Driving instructor my bottom! You're a vampire and there's no denying it!"


What does this look like to you?

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Yes, and it looks the same to me too. It does look like some random junk pulled out of the back of a shed. 

Except that this shed was in Australia. In particular somewhere near Narromine.  Which if you recall was the last resting place for 618's Highball Mosquitoes.  And this random collection of junk are some bits out of a Highball Mosquito.

Does this mean anything?  Well, not really, until you realise that the painted bit is part of the bomb cradle AND IT STILL HAS 1945 PAINT ON IT!  This confirms beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Highball Mosquitos were categorically not painted in PRU Blue underneath, and possibly not RAAF Sky Blue.  Fred could well correct me, I'm not too au fait with Australian colours, but I'm reasonably convinced that it's Azure Blue.  Ian Thirsk mentions in his Wingleader book on single stage Mosquito Bombers that the undersides were Azure Blue.  Who am I to disagree with him?  And having pored over the photographs in another of his weighty Mosquito tomes, I'm now of the mind that it was ONLY the undersurfaces that were repainted and the uppers retained their Ocean Grey/Dark Green scheme and the grey faded under the harsh sun to the point where it looks more like Medium Sea Grey.

And here's another nugget.

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An unidentified Highball Mosquito during deck landing training on HMS Implacable.  Nothing unusual there, there's the odd fitting seen under the wing when the external overload tanks visible, which is extra proof that the Highball modified aircraft were plumbed in for drop tanks (several of the aircraft during the drop trial films can be seen sporting the 45 gal ones), but then I notice that there's no tropical filters.  Now, as the deck landing trials were in UK waters, no need for them.  Reasonable enough, but having trawled through the available photos on the hard drive of the aircraft aboard Fencer & Striker, there's no clear shot of the engines to prove one way or another that they were fitted to the aircraft before they set sail (every single sodding one has the relevant section obscured...), I couldn't find confirmation that they had them at all, as in many photos, most aircraft either have their engines either covered or removed.  But then I do find one, they DID have them fitted at some point between the UK and Australia and that they had them at the point they were scrapped.

Again, why does this mean?  And again, not much.  It is giving me a clearer picture of what was happening and it does mean that any Oxtail converted aircraft finished in standard RAF European Day Bomber colours is unlikely to have tropical filters (which is limited to those used post war by AAEE/MAEE - of which photos are rare - or the deck landing aircraft, which are few) and the Oxtail aircraft in RAAF style markings have the filters and Azure blue undersides.

I've also got another code tie up too.  Which is nice.



Now back to trawling for photos.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Well! That is the first sensible thing you have said all day."


A 618 Sqn thread on Britmodeller has assisted in getting me a couple more serial/code tie ups, unfortunately not the Highball machines but I've got a positive ID on one of the PR aircraft left in Australia, NS732 YI.

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I cropped down a larger pic of the graveyard and played about with the levels. 

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Can't ID the other aircraft serials, the photo isn't of a high enough resolution to pull anything more out of it. But I can tell what the other aircraft are, which is a start.   There's another photo, but there's even less fine detail.

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Most of the aircraft have either their props or even engines removed, but the ones at the back with their 4 blade props are the Highball aircraft.  The two in the foreground are the surviving PR.XVIs, NS735 had an accident mid air and dived into the ground, killing the crew.  I've ID'd what aircraft I can.

So, a bit further forward, but not much.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Found it!"

Those reading the stash thread may recall that I'd nabbed a pair of part started Tamiya kits (B/PR.IV and FB.IV) from a seller on the Bay of E.  The cockpit of the FB.VI was salvaged, albeit sans radio gear and radar, so it's now going to be an F.II.  The Tamiya kit gives bits to do an NF.II but it's really an FB6 and for an F.II needs back dating.  Some of it is simply using the optional parts, but the F.II didn't have the reinforced spar caps necessary for the aircraft to carry external loads, such fun extras being bomb racks, extra go juice or whizz bang rockets.  So they were quickly removed with the swipe of a sanding stick.  But that's not the half of it.

If one were to also choose to do an NF.II in overall night or one of the 23 Sqn intruders based on Malta, you need to remember to remove the reinforcing strip above the starboard hatch (Mod 167, introduced from Dec 12th, 1942 on production aircraft, later kits sent to fix aircraft at the squadron level) and to replace the double contact Marstrand anti shimmy tailwheel with the earlier balloon type (I... err, cloned the SAM conversion parts, others may get an Alleycat replacement via Models for Sale on eBay).

Now, I've long wanted to do a Malta aircraft, because my Dad knew a guy who'd been a Mosquito Navigator with 23 Sqn and, so he claimed, on the first half dozen aircraft to fly out there (the squadron Operational Record Book disagrees however, and I know what to believe). I have the decals for two aircraft, both sans tropical filters and with the exhaust shrouds, so a Malta aircraft this one will be.  Three seconds with a scalpel removed the strip, a swipe with a sander and it is no more.

The wings will be going together later.  Having had no end of issues getting the "keep off" box decals over the radiators on the recent tranche of completed Mosquitoes, despite repeated applications of MicroSol, I also took the opportunity to remove the rivets.  Hopefully, those sodding decals will sit better next time.
There's a later Malta based F.II that I'd like to do, of which I have a photo, and this does have the strip, twin contact tailwheel and the tropical filters.  That should follow later.

Others may recall that I was cleaning up and partially assembling a Tamiya B.IV on the Sunday morning at Telford, as well as an Airfix B.XVI.  At the time, I didn't really have a plan for the latter, but the former was going to be a Highball aircraft.  Except that this was going to be one of the squadron proposed for use in the Med, likely against the Italian fleet at Tarranto.  They surrendered before that could happen, but the idea of a Mosquito in the so called Malta scheme toting underwing tanks, tropical filters and Highballs has appealed to me ever since I learned about it.  I already had the nacelles with filters prebuilt (I did a whole slew during construction earlier this year), so that made things a bit quicker and the wings now assembled, sanded and ready to go on.  The cockpit internals are partly sprayed with an overall base coat of cockpit green, I just need to finish the rest tomorrow (I have some repainted radio gear) and I can get it closed up.
Any back story for this might have it sinking the Roma, rather than the beastly Hun with his new infernal Fritz-X or Hs 293.  Tarranto was well within range of a Mosquito flying from Malta, even without underwing overload tanks.

What of the latter, the B.XVI?  Well, I did sand off the target tug blisters on the closed bay door, but on reflection, I've decided it's going to be a TT.35 after all and stripped one of the newer boxing for the TT bits.  No, I'm not going to go with the kit option, because they *really* have to appeal to me for that, instead going for one of the far more colourful TT.35s with the dayglo stripes, to whit VP191.  Hopefully, the Meteor ones I have can be modified for use.  I'd like to do the 139 Sqn option, but it's really far too anonymous for my liking and I may well choose to use a second set of the underwing serials on the fuselage, as they're the right style.  I have one already painted, in that scheme, but it's getting the proper XD codes for 139 and the decals are already cut.  I just have to do a smidge of remedial work with the upper colours.

There's also a pair of just about finished Mosquitoes that just need a little more work.  The were abandoned for the very sensible reason that I couldn't get anything more into the permitted three boxes, but one just needs the internal canopy framing painted and it can go on, whilst the other needs similar but also an u/c unit and doors fitted.

I need to scratch that 618 sqn itch too, because whilst I've yet to decal the PR.XVI that is going to be one of the two that they had in 1944, I've started a second to be one of the three hooked aircraft they had for Operation Oxtail, their Antipodean holiday.  It's almost a straightforward build, apart from adding a reinforcement strip on the port side, an arrestor hook (I'll steal it from a Sea Hornet) and a set of four blade props.  I also have to delete the starboard hatch (not difficult as it's barely there on the kit) and add a hatch on the centreline, for which I have a template.  Which of the three I want to do is yet to be determined, as one of the three is conjectural - this one crashed after exploding mid air and the code is uncertain, although as the two surviving PR.XVIs were coded XI and YI (I presume the pilot was a Geordie...), I've surmised it was coded ZI.  It certainly left the UK in overall PRU Blue - in one of the photos of 618 en-route aboard Fencer and Striker there's a fin with a small fin flash that *must* be one of the three PR.XVIs - but whether it remained in that scheme or was repainted overall Aluminium dope is unknown.  If I do go with that one, I may just go with the PRU Blue and keep the standard RAF markings, leaving any future conversions to the ones I have concrete evidence for.  There are no known photos of either of the two PR.XVIs used in the UK, nor the UK based FB.VI continuation trainers, for which I have the serials and the relevant Form 78 movement cards.  Curiously, the Form 78s for the FB.VIs issued in Australia don't mention 618 Sqn, they remain with De Havilland Australia. I've already done one of those, as I had the decals.  That was on the Tyneside stand.

On the subject of Highball, I've also a pair part built, both being modified for Operation Oxtail, but I'll be leaving off the tropical filters and completing them in the standard RAF bomber scheme.  One is going to be one of the aircraft during deck landing training on HMS Implacable, likely DZ537 VY, with the second being DZ579, which was used post war for Highball trials, codenamed Card, until it was lost after splash back from a drop tore off the starboard tailplane and it spun in, killing both crew.  The fuselages for both are assembled, but both need the arrestor hooks, hatches relocated and the port strips adding. 

The last Highball one I want to do is a partially unidentified one ie I don't know the serial, but I do know the squadron letter was L, as it's from a video clip online of the trials using Highball against rail tunnels in October 1943.  Try as I might, I cannot find the serial for this - I have the relevant dates, I know the names of the crews from the 618 Sqn ORB, I know where the tunnel is and where they flew from for the strikes (a based coded Angle, which Des Curtis in A Most Secret Squadron says was RAF Valley), but not the sodding serial!  The second aircraft for the trials was DZ582 U, which was one of the aircraft intended for the suicide mission that would have been Operation Servant, the attack on the Tirpitz, and I also had that on the Tyneside stand at Telford.  It's the second time I've done DZ582, the first time used the original Paragon Highball conversion, intended for ye olde Matchbox kit.  Why he did it for that kit, I really don't know, considering he did a bomber nose for the then superior Airfix FB.VI, which would have made for a better model. I fitted it to the Tamiya.  That older model is now slated for stripping and reworking.

"L" interests me more because it's one of the few UK aircraft with the six stack exhausts on the outboard cowling and that is a lot more involved than just lengthening the exhaust section, the whole cowling panel is different, being closer to that of a two stage Merlin cowling, complete with intakes and whatnot.  I'm convinced that DH used that setup for the two stage Merlin - I mean, why reinvent the wheel?  I have a workaround, but it involves serious surgery and transplanting a spare Special Hobby engine panel.  The rough test I did a few months back proves it will work.

So, lots of work going on but all real world, albeit some conjectural.  Much of the stuff I've finished recently has been aircraft I'd long wanted to do but never got round to.  It's been very satisfying and the tour on Mosquitoes is set to continue for some time.  Not as long as that on the Spitfire perhaps, but certainly for the foreseeable. 

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[The Wooksta!]

"What's my prize?"

There's a few other things I'd forgotten to add for backdating the Tamiya FB.VI to an F.II.  The weapon bay doors need to have the split filled as the F.II had long continuous doors, whereas the FB.VI had them split due to the rear bomb bay.  You also need to do a modicum of scribing to indicate it.

There's a raised rounded panel on the u/c doors which is a cast panel as a stiffener and something to do with the u/c retraction.  It's a March 1944 modification and needs to come off for ALL Mosquitoes prior to that date.  Even then, not all Mosquitoes got it as I've photos of aircraft later in 1944 that were not retrofitted.  Check your photos.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Well, why can't we have a real pair of binocoliers for a change?"

The F.II now has the wings assembled.  All the filling and sanding is done.  I've also cleaned up the u/c for this and the Highball one ready to assemble and spray.  Having assembled these more times than I care to admit, I can do it in my sleep.  Anyone who says they are fiddly simply hasn't done them often enough.  I've also primed the internals as well as a few other bits, so a visit to a cold and drafty shed in the morning to spray the internals is next.  I've a few other bits that need priming to, but the weather needs to dry up a bit first.

I'll do all the detail painting at some point later in the week for this and the others mentioned upthread.  I find it easier to work on several rather than just the one.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Listen, Michael, there's no need to worry! I've got a plan with which to thwart them!"

You'd think that, with a backlog of 30+ Mosquitoes painted and ready to decal, in some cases, they just need adding a few final components and they're done, I'd have enough to do.  But you'd be wrong.  That's never how I roll and I refuse to conform to expectations.  The building is what I really enjoy and I'm at my happiest snipping bits of sprues, gluing, filling and sanding.

I started cleaning up the second of the two part started Mosquitoes that arrived last week, the bomber nose B/PR.IV.  Like the fighter, the exhausts were glued in place, the nacelles glued and fixed to the lower wing, so I started looking for something appropriate.  I did think originally of doing DZ383, late in her career when she was with the Film Production Unit, recording stuff like Operation Jericho, but before she got the BFO glazed panels on the nose (July '44, someone on Large Scale Planes has claimed).  I could do it, as I have a vac form nose section, but the detail inside the nose is beyond my capabilities.  You failed, Mr Fibuli, you failed!

So I needed another choice.  A look through the decal box gave me a Czech flown option, but that was a B.XXV, which means conversion work to the nacelles which is easier at the component stage, so that's out, although I will use the cockpit internals, of which more soon.  So it had to be a B.IV.  A look at the 100 Group sheet gives me one that could be rather more interesting, DZ410 of 192 Sqn.  Nose painted over, lots of interesting aerials so there's various black boxes inside the cockpit, plus a radar scanner which you'd never see on a B.IV.  Slam dunk?  Not quite.
I did a t'interweb search after looking through Streetly's "Aircraft of 100 Group", which has a profile.  No exhaust shrouds.  A thread on Britmodeller has Jennings Heilig asking for a photo, which he says he's seen.  Not much more info there either, but he says no exhaust shrouds.  So what do I do?  A look through the books later for a start, but anyway.... Well, the nacelles came off the wing - I had a spare set of assembled ones that were to have been chopped to get tropical intakes at a later date (I think they may have been from the B.IV I was pre assembling on Sunday at Telford).  The cockpit will be assembled, although I'll have to fill the holes on the parcel shelf for the kit radio gear, which falls into the spares box.  That gets replaced with a Gee set and receiver, whilst the radar gear from the NF.II gets fitted.  It may not be right, but who is going to prove me wrong? MFM!

And the kit's original cockpit internals?  Simples.  Build the B.XXV flown by the Czech crew.  I'd already done the conversion work on a set of nacelles snipped off a FB.IV (more later) There's a box with two part started bull nose fighters and a B.IV.  Except that was slated to be MP469, the prototype NF.XV, but in it's original guise with the machine guns in the nose.  I'd stalled with it on learning that the wingtips are different to the "production" NF.XV, whilst the two night fighters stalled on the reasonable grounds that I had far too much on the go at that point anyway (40+), although the base cockpits were assembled and painted, as were the fuselages and with some assembly/conversion work done on the wings. Again, we'll come back to these later.

Back to the B.IV.  The other snag with the kit intended for MP469 is that I'd taken off the Mod 167 reinforcement strip on the starboard side, as at the point I was building it, it had yet to receive it.  So, with another FB.VI to hand, I simply stole the fuselage - actually, the whole kit - and just took the bomber nose bits from the part started box.  Sounds like a waste and perhaps it could be, but I never waste anything and using one kit as a source of spares has never bothered me.  Kits are meant to be built.

Other than the nacelle conversion (fill a panel line and the trapezoidal panel, then scribe a new line - it really is *that/* simple), a B.XXV from the Tamiya B.VI is relatively straightforward - paddle blade rather than needle props, underwing tanks could be carried, solid wheel hubs either side, and the wingtip with the single leading edge light and the small RESIN lights on the trailing edge (although they were largely retrofitted to the majority of Mosquitoes from mid '43 anyway).  Looking at the profile, it looks to have the Gee set-up rather than the kit one, so out with the resin bits box.  I'll do a t'interweb search and see what I can find photo-wise.

The FB.VI.  I wanted to do a Far East one, preferably in colours rarely seen on a Mosquito.  Again, a search through the decals and I chose a 45 Sqn example in Dark Earth/Dark Green with Med Sea Grey undersides - there's claims that it should be Azure Blue, which I'd actually prefer to do, but both MSG and Azure Blue are the same tonally in a monochrome photo and what would hard pressed ground crews repaint the whole airframe when they really didn't have to and more to the point, half a world away from air ministry tossers shining their office chairs?  So, Med Sea Grey it is and other than the tropical filters (and a pre-assembled one helps here), it's straight from the box.  I'll look up some photos of 45 Sqn aircraft to see what props were used and the radio gear will need altering, as after a certain serial, the T1154 was taken out, being replaced by a T/R unit elsewhere in the airframe and the R1155 was moved from behind the pilot's seat to the centre of the parcel shelf where the T1154 had been.  Well, that was on aircraft in the UK, I'm not entirely sure of Far East ones.  I may have to take off the stiffener pads on the u/c doors, but I'll do some research on the serial of the aircraft I want to do and the date on the decal sheet.  It does have bomb racks under the wings and shrouded exhausts, according to the profile, so a search really is necessary.

Having done a quick search, I discovered this article, with a few photos I'd never seen before.  Plus an easy build, other than the filters, radio gear and likely a starboard petrol cooler from the Tamiya kit. RF947 KU-H of 47 Sqn. Best of all, no sodding theatre bands!
https://www.key.aero/article/raf-mosquitos-far-east-combat-after-world-war-two
That's annoying, as now I want to start it.  At least the paintwork is easy to do, weather permitting, outside with a can of Hicote Aluminium.

I also found this article, which had a photo of the nose of the aircraft I'll be doing HR402 OB-C of 45 Sqn, and thankfully it does have paddle blade props. There's also the crew.
https://making-history.ca/2020/06/17/two-weeks-in-january-1945/

And so we come to the night fighters.  I'd wanted some two stage Merlin ones, with one using a resin casting of the Tamiya nose, using a mould I was never happy with and a test cast I'd done this year to see if it would still provide something useful.  Despite a great deal of flash, the casts were more than good enough, especially if the aircraft involved had a night underside, so this will likely be an NF.XXX.  I've a set of wings assembled with the engines in place, using a set of complete nacelles I'd moulded and cast a few years back, although I'll have to get some Quickboost doors for it at some point.  The other one was a straight Tamiya NFXIII/XVII kit with a set of Paragon two stage Merlins.  Part of the conversion work is done, but I'll worry  about that one more once the fuselage is all buttoned up.  I do need to cut out the starboard leading edge glazing (not a landing light, but the location of the Z lamp infra red recognition gear).

The final update is that there's yet another Airfix PR.XVI on the go, another one to scratch the 618 Sqn itch.  Why?  I'd cocked up the wing for the TT.35 that's slowly getting somewhere, so I pulled out another.  This one is likely to be NS732 YI, so I'll have both PRU Blue ones done.

I've had to endure the cold in the shed over the past few days to spray the interiors of several Mosquitoes.  And it was absolutely Baltic. Thankfully, I only have one more interior to do and I can wait a few days for something milder.

Lots of progress, but I needed something to keep track.  I can spin a lot of plates, but a tracker is handy, a Plan if you will.  So I used the completed one as a template and drew it up, using the 2026 Bolton Show as a target date.  There's 8 in the Plan, and I can get five in a box, so something is likely to fall by the wayside.

Comments for those bored enough to follow the thread and can actually be arsed to reply go here:
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[The Wooksta!]

"You didn't know I was going to do that, did you?"

I've reluctantly sorted through the boxes of bits for the night fighters, separating them out into some boxes spare after all the recent completions.  MP469 is missing an u/c unit, but I bought a part start specifically to reduce for spares, so that shouldn't be a problem.  Oddly, I have two sprues left over, still sealed.  Most perplexing.

This is the 47 Sqn aircraft I alluded to earlier

You cannot view this attachment.

The rocket rails have yet to be attached and the fuselage roundel appears to have a yellow surround.  I have a spare decal sheet with a roundel I can use.  Well, I think I have.  If not, I'm sure I can cook something up.  Whether it will sit over the starboard reinforcement strip is another matter.  Looks to be a straightforward and easy build. The hardest bit, with the tropical filters, is already done.  I'd really rather not brave the cold, but the fuselage interior for this and the B.XXV will need spraying, so an afternoon in a cold draughty shed beckons.

Now to get this far I had to drag a B.IV out of the loft, to add the nose and a few extra bits to MP469, and because the wings had been drilled to accept an inboard fuselage tank and just the two outboard rockets, similar to what I'd done with the 36 Sqn example I had on the Tyneside stand at Telford.  I've considered finishing it as an RNZAF example that has long been on my list to do, but it's yet another Aluminium aircraft and there's an OTU aircraft, albeit in the MSG/Dark Green night fighter scheme that bores me to tears, which has just rocket stubs in the two outboard positions, the starboard leading edge glazing and some rather fetching yellow codes with black outlines.  So there's enough of interest there to tempt me.  Again, something else on my to do list, ever since I got the decal sheet a good fifteen years back.  There's a photo in Chaz Boyer's Mosquito Squadrons of the RAF.  No hurry though.

The engine nacelles have been affixed to the 45 sqn FB.VI wings and they just need some filler/sanding work and they're done.

All of this is typical - set a plan, and then add to it.  At least the 47 Sqn one is fairly easy...


Comments for those bored enough to follow the thread and can actually be arsed to reply go here:
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For more information, please reread.