Mossie FIGHTER

[John Howling Mouse]

Okay, so I was just looking for parts needed for one of my current in-progress builds and came across an otherwise unmarked Airfix Mosquito box.  I open it up and found an old Scale-O-Rama/Phoenix Group Build model in progress which I had forgotten all about.  I had put a great deal of time and effort into this concept so I'm not understanding how I could have so easily forgotten about it.

The build thread itself is actually from a prior incarnation of the What If site and can't be recovered so I'm starting that play-by-play description from scratch with reloads of my old photos, too.

All I remember is that there were several hurdles back then that I thought I could not overcome but that was then and this is "Whiffing Today."  Stay tuned...

[JayBee]

Ehm! Sorry but what?

JayBee

[Eddie M.]

I hope this is what I think it is......

[John Howling Mouse]

About two or three years ago, I was scavenging parts for one kitbash or another and, for some reason, looked at a 1:72 Airfix Mosquito and wondered what it would look like as a small 1:48 fighter instead.  I quickly threw some parts next to each other and snapped a few pics:





Intrigued, I wondered if I could move the cockpit position aft and enlarge it:



I hacked off the Mosquito's wing engine mounts and chopped up the wings of another 1:72 Matchbox Mosquito for tailplanes:

[John Howling Mouse]

I drew a possible tailfin on cardstock and got a Monogram Mustang canopy out.  I taped the rough-cut parts together into a crude mock-up just to see if it would be worth pursuing....and I got that happy little rush kitbashers always do when they've put something together that never existed in the real world before:









It didn't matter to me if it was plausible or the right size or anything like that.  I just wanted to glue it all together and FLY it round the house like I did when I was eight years old and, for me, that's what Whiffing is all about.   

[John Howling Mouse]

Then Reality (that Mother-In-Law of Whiffery) kicked in and I knew I had my work cut out for me.  Mostly it was a matter of modifying those bomber wings with the big ugly engine nacelle mounts to work as nimble fighter wings and they had to be completely repositioned, no less!

I drilled some pilot holes then used a nibbler to create wheel well apertures on the lower wings:





I decided to hack out anything to do with the engine nacelle mounts and replace the leading edge with some sort of radiator airscoops.  It was a lot of work.















Primered up, the wings didn't look too bad:





And, today, I scribed some panel lines (since the Mossie had wooden wings, I don't think Airfix erred by not showing any panel lines).

[John Howling Mouse]

Figured a modified Mustang office would do.  Nothing fancy, just something painted up real quick and cut to fill the space.

[John Howling Mouse]

I filled the "normal" wingroot cavity with styrene and figured I'd use dual wingspars to hold the re-positioned wings in place so I cut some matching slots in both the lower fuselage and the wing chords. 





It was then time to scratchbuild a new tailfin to do justice to that cardboard test-piece.  I started by shaping two halves of .030" styrene: a lot of work to get the airfoil shape!





But, when you engrave some "Matchbox-quality" panel-lines, make a hundred rivets and slap the two halves together, it's magic:





Hey, the fin FITS!

[Eddie M.]

The drought is over!  I love seeing a JHM build on the board!

[BlackOps]

YAY!  I'd forgotten this one too! That does it, your not aloud to move anymore!

I too miss Barry's work.     

[Mossie]

Not a pic of somebody wrestling me to the ground then!!!  Looks good Baz, I couldn't get past the idea it'd look like a DH Hornet, which it doesn't.  Kind of looks like P-80 to me, which means I might fight it (not keen on the Shooting Star)!  Don't get me wrong, it's looks like a great build.

Just a suggestion, maybe go for a single rather then a twin, that way you'll loose any likeness to the Mosquito/Hornet.  Oh, & it looks like it'd fly to this eight year old! 

[Captain Canada]

Hey, that tailfin is Grrrrrrrrrreat !



Nice ressurection, Baz !

[jeff3385]

Pop some corn and uncap a cold one boys... This is shaping up to be a real Baz bash. 

[Zeke]

Cripes!...that's a whole stack of work there...but it's looking amazing!...So what kind of colour scheme do you have in mind?

[tanktastic43]

Great tutorial going on here.
From the mock up, the wing shape reminds me a lot of a ww2 Yak fighter.
Looking forward to see this progress.
Top job.