Awesome work, doing a really nice job building the Mossie.

Chris

Details look amazing. Mosquito is a big project. Will follow ur work!

Thanks for the comments guys.

Got some more done on the build. Pic 1 shows the inner left side of the cockpit fuselage (before paint touch up) and Pic 2 shows the mid bulkhead assembly and tail bulkhead. All the parts for the assembly of the fuselage are shown in Pic 3.

Pic 4 shows the bulkheads and cockpit fitted to the right half of the fuselage, while pics 5 & 6 show the completed fuselage. The upper gun cover and nose piece are just taped on to protect the delicate gun assembly.

Next was the assembly of the tail stabiliser and elevators. Pic 7 shows the stabiliser assembled with the elevators and Pic 8 shows them glued in place on the fuselage.

The fit of parts on this kit is excellent, even by Tamiya standards, as can be seen in Pic 9 of the stabiliser/fuselage root - no filler required.

That's it for now, just the tail wheel to add before moving on to the engines.

Graeme

Nice work Graeme. Looking good. I got this one to build at some point, it's a big kit with many parts.

Chris

Nice work Graeme taking shape now and such great fitting parts.

Al

Thanks for the comments.

Now to start on the engines. One notable omission from the kit is any attempt to reproduce the HT harness for the spark plugs. The Eduard exterior PE set has harnesses but theylook very 2D, Pic 45, so I decided to try and make my own.

After looking at pics of the real Merlin engine, the harness consists of the plug leads contained in a heat protective tube, the individual leads having braided steel protection between the tube and spark plugs. The bundle of leads leaving the tube and going to the magneto are also protected by steel braiding. For the tube I used 1mm OD brass tubing, for the individual leads I used 0.35mm tinned copper wire and for the bundle going to the magnetoI used 0.8mm solder. 0.35mm holes would be drilled into the tube to receive the wires. The brass tube was cut to length, a thin strip of masking tape added along its length and the plug lead positions marked onto it (the tape would also help in preventing the drill bit from slipping), Pics 46 & 47.

To hold the tube still while drilling I made up a jig consisting of a wooden base and three lengths of brass angle. Two lengths of the angle were positioned on the base next to each other, angle side up to create a ‘V’ channel, and held in place with wood strips glued to the base, Pic 48. The third piece of angle would then sit in the channel, the bits of wood at each end preventing the angle sliding in the channel, Pic 49. The marked length of tube was then super glued into the ‘V’ of the upper length of angle, Pic 50 and the holes drilled using a mini drill in a drill press. The tube was then released using Acetone to dissolve the superglue. There was still some tendency for the bit to try and slide off the tube but the end result was still acceptable (to me anyway), Pic 51. As can be seen, five holes were drilled into the tube, the sixth lead would emerge from the end.

I decided to solder the end wire into place by inserting a length of wire, applying a little solder paste and then heating with a soldering iron, pics 52 – 54. The wire was then masked and the tube sprayed black, Pic 55. Lengths of the 0.35mm wire were superglued into the five holes, Pic 56. All wires would be cut to length later. Four of these harnesses were made, two for each engine.

The engines were assembled as per the instructions, the only exception being that the spark plug positions were drilled out to accept the plug leads. Magnets are glued into the rocker covers, Pic 57, to hold the removable upper engine covers in place later. Pic 58 shows one part of the head with all the holes drilled out. The rear part of the engine was then assembled, Pic 59. Two captive nuts are incorporated into this to enable the engine to be bolted onto its bulkhead. The various engine sub-assemblies were then painted, Pic 60.
The HT harnesses were then fitted to the engine, Pic 61, prior to the cylinder heads being glued to the block. Jigs are provided to hold the heads at the correct angle while the glue dries, Pic 62. The rest of the engine was then completed. Short lengths of 0.8mm solder were glued into the ends of the harness tubes and then glued to the magnetos. Pic 63 shows a completed engine.

That’s it for now, next will be the assembly of the engine mountings.

Graeme

The engine detail looks superb Graeme!

Regards,
Phil W.

That`s some great addition to the engine detail WTG.



Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

A very impressive and clever piece of work there Graeme, very well done....Looks fab....

Regards

Alan

Firstly a belated thanks for the comments.

It’s been a while since my last update. I have been chipping away at this build between other projects so here’s the latest.

I assembled the engine mountings. Pic 64 shows one of the completed assemblies. The engines were then fixed to the mountings using screws which went through the bulkhead and into the captive nuts on the rear of the engine, Pics 65 & 66. The piece of tape is to distinguish between the right and left assemblies as there are slight differences.

The nacelles were then assembled, etched ribs being fitted to the inside of each nacelle half, Pic 67. The nacelle halves and rear bulkhead were then sprayed, Pic 67, prior to the halves and bulkhead being glued together, Pic 69.

Finally the engines were fitted to their respective nacelles, Pics 70 & 71.
That’s it for now. Next I start on assembling the wings.

Graeme