Bish, the Beau and the diorama look fantastic! A great rendering of a classic plane. Good to see that the figures finally got out of the draw.

Ferg, that's no good about the canopy - not sure how to fix that up.

Thanks guys.

Beautiful work on that Beau Bish!

Piers, I've started on the Sunderland. So far the kit is going together well. They put in a lot of interior that probably may not be seen but I'll paint it up anyway. No extra figures exceot the pilot and co.

Thanks Steve. Great start on the Sundrland.

Great job there as usual Bish! Love your dios!!!

Ferg: I know THAT feeling. Had a few canopies disappear and find them when they went CRACK under my shoe... Can you make a tarp to go over it maybe???

Steve: Great start there!

Nice work with the Beaufighter and diorama Bish. I'm pretty certain I've got those figures in the stash as well, and now I've got an idea what to do with them.

So, after all the excellent work that's been on display so far, I thought I'd better post an update, having taken advantage of the excellent (for modelling) bank holiday weather here today. The cockpit interior and machine gun bay are finally complete (good job this is a year long build!):

And the side view.Here you can see where I spent a happy few hours wiring up the back of the control panel before remembering this is a Mk VI Mosquito which means all this is invisible (no clear nose - I mean, you'd think I'd have noticed!), and the firing mechanism for the guns, which is again all but invisible unless you're looking at numbers 1 or 4.

Finally, and the bit I was most nervous about, the guns all line up and go through the nose and nothing in there fell off when I tested this.

Next up, adding all the cockpit sidewall detail and getting the fuselage closed up. Hopefully there won't be such a large gap until the next update!

Darren

Steve the Sunderland is looking very impressive.

Gam I've never been a fan of tarps, to me it just looks like I'm trying to cover something up. May just have to live with it.

Darren your Mossie is looking great, shame about all the extra work, but at least you know it's there. That's what we tell ourselves right???????

Thanks Darren. Thats stunning work on the Mossie.

Steve. yes a nice start..

Darren. Mighty fine detailing.

Its starting to look like a spitfire..

I may be crazy but I'd like to join with this:  a 1/72 CA-15 Kangroo vacu-form.  not sure where I even picked this one up from.

John

John, welcome on board. Didn't know this kit before, really like the look of it. I had only seen the CMK resin kit in the past, but that was AUD120. Looking forward to it (don't mind a vacform, but you don't want to do them too often).

Steve yes a lot of detail in there and looking really good, but I can't imagine seeing much through the little portholes!

Darren, really bringing out the detail with your finish there. Like the subtle weathering on the exposed plywood and the metal on the armament. Are the belts PE?

Nick it really does look very slick. And doesn't look like there was much filling required. That was another kit that I baulked at the price of - over AUD200 for the Aussie Eight double kit.

Hi Lost, thanks for the comments.

The seat belts are Eduard's PE set for the Mosquito (think it came in the Big Ed bundle). I didn't like the colour of them much so gave them a wash of burnt umber, which helped tone them down a bit.

The buckles on the pilot's belt were the worst part as you have to thread the straps through them. Fortunately some prior experience with Aber belts and buckles on 1/35 rifles helped here, although I did manage to break one of them giving it a bit too ferocious tug through the buckle. Cyano to the rescue! :)

Darren: Fantastic job there- I love the detail!!! 

Nick: She looks sharp! 

John: I've never had the guts to tackle a vac-form kit. Really looking forward to seeing how she goes for you. 

Thanks Piers.

Yeah, I'm not going nuts on the interior. Just a little paint for contrast when you look through the windows. The cockpit however will have some detail since you'll be able to see it better.

I completed all the interior items except for the pre painted Eduard PE and painted the primer. Next is the color coats and the cockpit work, and install the nose guns. I have four projects on the bench right now so the Sunderland gets a few minuits a night.

Now is probably the time to start setting up the tube for the stand, before I close this puppy up. Although there's still a lot to do inside. Hey, once it's closed and the turrete are completed, it's halfway finished.

Steve: That looks soooo good!!! Nice work!!!

man this is slow going...

John. That is one very interesting kit.

Lostagain. Thank you, yes they are pricey. The fit is very good but lots of tiny parts.

Gamera. many thanks my friend.

Steve. Good looking flying boat.

Crown r n7, now that's a nice looking Spit, makes the old Otaki look like lego

Crikey Steve, it's ait different from the old Airfix one! Looking good mate.

Dodgy

Crikey Steve, it's a bit different from the old Airfix one! Looking good mate.

Crown r n7, now that's a nice looking Spit, makes the old Otaki look like lego

 

You're right there Ferg!

Steve, there is some good detail in there - a lot on the inner fuselage.

Nick - having to hold those tiny parts on with clear gloss shows how tiny they must be - by that point I would have heard the dreaded 'plink' as the tiny part gets catapulted out of the tweezers a number of times by now...

Okay. I have started the spit and learned a lesson. I am trying Tamiya paints for the first time and discovered, that unlike enamels, they need a primer first. Ah well, live and learn. So the Otaki kit is very basic and I have a cracked canopy that I don't think is possible to fix. Also the kit had no decals. If I was to buy this kit now, I would not pay any more than 10 dollars, (Aus), for it. The canopy I can live with, the lack of detail is fine, but I had to buy some decals, and wait for it, they cost me $20 bucks and $16 postage, and ........ they are coming from the States. So my $10 kit is now going to cost somewhere around $46 smackeroonies........

Ferg: OUCH!!! Sounds like she's turning out to be a jinxed kit. I've had those before, nothing ever seems to go right with them.

Dodgy. I have good memories of Otaki kits from the mid 70's. I feel your pain about this build keep at it.

Lostagain. Aint that the truth, each time I find the part its only going to fly off some place I cant get to it ( its lostagain) LOL.....

Ferg, that is not a great start mate. The Tamiya paints can be picky sometimes with the plastic needing to be just right.

Update on the Hawk - yes something has been happening. Got the seats, IPs and sticks painted up.

Then they all got installed.

And the blast shield in the centre was installed. This was cast in a clear resin which had gone very yellow, so I cut the centre out. Then I had to cut it up further to fit it under the canopy properly. Other builders said it went together well, so it could just be me!

Last I have got the canopy glued on - a little bit of filling required to fit the front of the canopy.

I was able to get a little more done on the Sunderland this weekend. I completed the cockpit, PE and attached the assembly  to the fuse. There's a few more items to install but I won't be working too hard on them since they mostly won't be seen.

Piers that Hawk is looking very sweet.

Steve thats great work on the Sunderland cockpit. I love the way the pilots head is turned to the left as if looking out. Very natural.

LA. good looking seats and the hawk is moving along nicely.

Steve.That is a busy cockpit. I aways wanted to build me one of those but 1/72 flying boat takes up a lot of room.

up date on mk VIII. all primed and ready for paint.

Hey wow, great work there guys!

Piers: Sorry to hear about the misfitting adventure, but looks like you've got things under control. Love those seats!

Steve: Looks fantastic! Nice to have a big old greenhouse canopy to see all the detail you working in there. And I too really like the guy with his head turned to port, looks very lifelike.

Nick: Great job there on the pre-shading. Love how she's coming!

I put the rest of the guts in the Sunderland and started to close it up. There are very few aligning pins so it's align some, glue, rinse and repeat when dry. So I have about half of the fuse glued up at this point.

G'day mates

Awesome job on that whale of a plane Steve!

One of our club members builds stuff like that and puts it in another members swimming pool when we have a club cookout at his house. I don't think the guy with the pool has been amused half as much as the builder though... 

Super work on the Sunderland Steve, coming together really well. Plenty of detail in the cockpit, right down to the small belts. Mind you, coming off the Akagi it must all look huge! Looks like a nasty stain on the cot downstairs...

Good work on the preshading Nick, looking forward to seeing this scheme on.