My Next Project Is Going To Be ..... UPDATE 5-JAN-11 ... COMPLETE 27-MAR-11
BIG!
As in Airfix 24th scale Mossie big!
I have spent some of my Christmas vacation starting on this monster. It is loaded with parts and those parts are loaded with detail I am unaccustomed to seeing in an injection molded kit (I typically build at half this scale). The instruction book is just that - a book. And it's printed on what has to be the biggest paper used for a kit instruction manual, at least to my knowledge.
I have two complaints about this expensive kit, and these complaints are not ticky-tacky. First, the number of injection release points throughout this monster is ridiculous, and given the location of these things, typically in areas where they will be visible, requires a lot of work. Second, Airfix doesn't seem to include any paint references other than undefined numbers. Paint this part 33. WTF does 33 mean? There is a color sheet indicating how to paint the monstrous pilot figures where some of these numbers are included in a circle of the color call-out, but it's not an exhaustive list and appears to only apply to the pilot figures. To get around this I have pulled out the instructions for my Tamiya Mossie and am using educated guesses and color pictures I am finding on the net.
So far the work I've done on this centers around the cockpit. I have painted the parts - MM British Interior Green with leather, MM aircraft interior black, red, yellow, blue, and medium gray for accents, knobs and dial panels.
Main cockpit floor without the seats and other detail parts installed:
Pilot's seat and rudder pedals/controls:
One of the really cool features of the kit is the IP. The IP itself is a well-detailed piece; the dial faces are pre-applied decals on a clear piece that mates to the back of the IP.
Clear pieces with pre-applied dial face decals:
IP:
Completed IP panels:
I expect this build to take considerable time to complete. Lots of mold release points to fill in still (and it seems like that is all I've done). The fit does not look to be what one would expect of any kit with such a price tag (and I got it for a good bit less than the asking price through ScaleHobbyist.com), as I've test fit the fuselage sections and noticed a sizable gap that may or may not resolve itself once I get all the interior components installed. Grrr.