Tamiya 1/72 Mosquito FB Mk.VI

Well this will be a labor of love. The mosquito is up there as one of my all time favourite WW2 planes. The rumor is the Tamiya version is the best 1/72 scale model on the market, so I'll be taking a lot of care to enjoy this one.

Box Art

If you want to follow the build go here.

Finished Model

Comments
This was a very easy and enjoyable build. Who can resist a Mosquito, they are a beautiful aeroplane. I did struggle with the decals on this one, despite my tried and true method of putting down clear gloss first then covering over with matt gloss. The decals did have trouble settling over the bumpy bits. I also forget the tanks that go on the landing gear, but no one is going to notice. All up another highly recommended kit.

Rating:
Instructions - 3 - very easy to understand

Assembly Complexity - 3 - very easy to assemble

Quality of Molding - 3 - Very good - Tamiya are always reliable in this department

Part Fit - 2.5 - all went together very well but lost marks because of the way the rear engine cowling is put together. that could be better and the bomb bay doors were a very tight fit that didn't quite go flush.

Overall Score 11.5/12

Paints Used
Fuselage - Tamiya AS-31 - Ocean Gray 2 (RAF), Tamiya AS-9 - Dark Green (RAF)
Underside - Tamiya AS-11 - Medium Sea Grey (RAF)
Cockpit- Tamiya XF-71 - Cockpit Green
Wheel wells - Tamiya XF71 - Cockpit green and Tamiya XF-16 - Flat Aluminium
Propellor - Tamiya X-10 - Gun Metal

Tamiya 1/72 F4U-1A Corsair

Well who can't resist the temptation to build a WW2 corsair, especially one that depicts Pappy Boyington's plane. During this wave of motivation I have to build WW2 fighters, this one has to be close to the top of all time favourites.

Box Art

Finished Model

Comments
I actually had a tough time on this one. First of all, after having done the Airfix kits and being lulled into a false sense of security with parts fitting together, the corsair fuselage halves dried together slightly out of alignment. Something I should have picked up if I'd paid better attention. Good thing is its only noticeable by the guy that built it. The wings also suffered from the same problem, it was only after the halves dried that I noticed the gun ports were not right so a bit of drilling fixed that.
I also had a tough time with the Tamiya matt white. I oversprayed it and it dribbled everywhere making a bit of a mess over the top of the fuselage as I had the model upside down while spraying. Damn annoying but I have to learn to spray matt white sparingly as its so damn runny.
The cockpit on this model is incredibly well detailed for this scale. I was very happy with the way it turned out. Overall, its not one of my better efforts but it'll do. Who can resist having a Pappy Boyington corsair in their collection. :)

Rating:
Instructions - 3 - very easy to understand - designed for beginners

Assembly Complexity - 3 - very easy to assemble, good for beginners

Quality of Molding - 3 - Fantastic, which is what I expect from Tamiya

Part Fit - 2.5 most parts were perfect but you have to be careful to align the body halves properly and the wing halves carefully, its not an automatic fit or snap together.

Overall Score 11.5/12

Paints Used
Underside - Tamiya TS-27 - Matt White, Tamiya AS-19 - Intermediate Blue
Fuselage - Tamiya AS-19 - Intermediate Blue, Tamiya AS-8 - Navy Blue
Cockpit- Tamiya XF-71 - Cockpit Green
Wheel wells - Tamiya XF-4 - Yellow Green