Built in laminated plywood by furniture-makers, and amply powered by Rolls-Royce engines, the de Havil-land Mosquito was a highly adaptable and uniquely successful Allied aircraft in World War II. The bomber prototype first flew in November 1940 and immediately began to exceed expectations of its performance. Billed as the fastest bomber in the world, it made its operational debut with the Royal Air Force in May 1942 and was soon adapted to photo reconnaissance, night-fighting, and fighter-bomber roles.
Airfix’s new 1/24 scale Mosquito is a tour de force. Just the number and weight of the part sprues is impressive. The kit is cleanly molded in neutral gray plastic and rich in options. You can build either a fighter-bomber (FB.VI) or a night fighter (NF.II). Choices include bombs, rockets, radar aerials, two complete Merlin 25 engines, posable flying surfaces, full machine gun and cannon details, internal fuel tanks, four crew figures (standing and seated), two types of props, vinyl tires – whew! – and that’s still not everything.
I started my Mosquito project by first carefully studying the 52-page (yes, 52) instruction book – a must for a kit this complex. After a thorough read, I determined a strategy for construction and painting. (Note: There are some mistakes in the instructions, both in part numbering and diagram sequences.)
Most of the large parts have numerous, large ejector marks, so if you are looking to build a contest-level model you’ll need to tackle these all along.
Construction is heavy on building subassemblies. The well-detailed cockpit features impressive instrument panels. On the clear instrument parts, the dials are already in place! (Make sure you distinguish the differences for the night fighter.)
The engine/nacelle and landing-gear assemblies are very complex and do not lend themselves to building and painting later. I decided to build and paint the engine nacelles separately from the main construction. This helped prevent damage to the landing gear and allowed better access to the assembled fuselage and wings. The landing gear is fiddly to construct and a challenge to install. Surprisingly, it is designed to be movable!
A fair amount of time is needed to construct the engines, which are a bit tricky with all their piping. These are molded to shape in regular styrene, and after working through the assembly I wished Airfix had done them in a flexible vinyl.
If you plan to leave the engines exposed and want to attach the cowling panels later, do not install the exhaust covers – they will not fit over the exhaust stacks.
On test-fitting, the large one-piece upper wing revealed a (very) tight fit to the fuselage. Once I wrangled it into position, I decided to leave it there and proceed to adding the other parts. It was a good call, as adding the lower center wing (Part 2B) would have made the installation difficult. The upper wing has slight shrinkage depressions just in front of the wing flaps.
The 20mm cannon assembly is tricky; there is only one attachment point for the gun until the ammo feeds and wiring are added. I did need some filler where the cannon-bay’s side walls (parts 7D and 8D) meet the wings. Additionally, some filler was needed at the front wing-to-fuselage joint, but, considering the size of that junction, the fit was pretty good.
This beast is heavy when all the parts are assembled! I painted my Mossie with a combination of Tamiya spray-can and bottled acrylic RAF colors. As scale-model painting projects go, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more spacious canvas. However, all the subassemblies and the complex construction design make the painting a challenge.
The kit provides decals that cover four aircraft, including one night fighter and three fighter-bombers. Because they are printed by Cartograf, I expected them to perform well – and the decals definitely lived up to Cartograf’s reputation! I was most impressed with how well the golfball-size roundels adhered.
My primary reference was De Havilland Mosquito Part 1: Polish Pilots of the Mosquito (AJ Press, ISBN 978-83-7237-178-2). I also found Mosquito: Their History and How to Model Them (Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85059-432-4) very helpful.
I completed my Mosquito in 65 hours, which is a lot more than I’ve spent on any kit I have built recently. However, given the level of detail and complexity of construction, you would expect to spend that extra time.
The resulting model is impressive! My congratulations to Airfix. Experienced modelers who like to build big will have a great time with this kit.