Airfix's 1/24 scale de Havilland Mosquito FB.VI by Julian Seddon

Airfix's 1/24 scale
de Havilland Mosquito FB.VI

by Julian Seddon

de Havilland Mosquito FB.VI

Airfix's 1/24 scale Mosquito FB.VI is available online from Squadron

Description

After much doubt and disbelief Airfix finally launched their enormous Mosquito at the end of 2009.

My workshop had to be emptied out to make room for all the bits! There are plenty of bits too, some 600 pieces. However, I was assembling this for Scalemodellingnow.com as a review with some additions. The full build is there.

It was fun working in a large scale. Adding to the cockpit, the guns, the engine and the undercarriage was a great deal more comfortable for me than working in smaller scales.

The only problem paradoxically was its size. It was awkward to paint. I did paint quite a bit of it in subassemblies, but even so, such a large model in an average paint booth led to problems with positioning and handling it.

Paragon provided some of the parts not so well moulded by Aifix. Tthe bomb bay doors were a considerable improvement as were the wheels. Paragon also provided the rollers for the undercarriage legs. I had already constructed the other parts of the aircraft included in Paragon’s kit so I could not use them. Their web site lists them all.

Two faults that I have not replaced are the rather over scale grip on the joy stick and the engine panel clips, which I replaced with those from Cammett not realising that they are for the open panels. Oh well.

It was a pleasure to work on, taking me around two months, but then I don’t work on models full time. The result, because of its size, can really be made into a true facsimile of the real thing. The total cost of it is a factor when considering its purchase. Because, in addition to the price (there are now better offers) you must add in a lot of paint , masking tape and other pieces for the add ons to the model.

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