De Havilland Mosquito Fighter Aircraft WWII

This has been my favourite build since starting back into the hobby after a 35 year holiday. The fact that the Mosquito is in my top 5 favourite aircraft of all time made this build a lot of fun. The kit is fantastic with tons of detail and plenty of finishing options as far as leaving doors open or closed. Very little of the interior is visible once this bird is buttoned up so if you are going to close all the doors you can save yourself a lot of time by not finishing the interior. In addition to the kit parts, I ordered a set of 100 gallon drop tanks and after market decals for a 404 Squadron RCAF Coastal Command Mosquito. Many aftermarket upgrades are available for this model. The trickiest part of this build as far as I was concerned was the landing gear (undercarriage). Tiny parts with minimums of tolerances resulted in a frustrating build of the first set of main gear but the second set went much easier having learned the first time. With this model you must decide early on which version you will be building as various holes will need to be opened in the wings or fuselage and optional parts will be used. Care must be taken to ensure that no version specific items are missed. This is another winner from Tamiya and another copy of this aircraft will cross my workbench again at some point in the future. So many Mosquitos, so little time. Cheers, Jeff

This kit is well worth the money that I paid for it when taking into consideration how well engineered it is, the quality of the molded product, the detail within the cockpit, wheel assemblies, bomb bay and front gun magazine compartment, when compared to other manufacturers that mold this aircraft. The fits of parts is excellent, I only needed a small amount of filler on the top of the fuselage. The parts come with finely recessed panel lines and rivets which look great when highlighted using a wash of oil paints. The decals offer 3 different squadron markings that went on really well and looked painted on when applying to a gloss varnished surface then finished with two coats of matte/flat varnish. The model can be displayed with the cockpit door in the open position and an access ladder put in place. The front gun magazine compartment cover panel can be left unglued to remove and display the inner detail. I modeled mine with both of these options and can be seen in the images above. I have to say that out of the 7 kits that I have built to date, this is the best one yet. It was a joy to build and the final results are extremely pleasing. This model has now taken the prime location on our lounge display cabinet, illuminated by the built in LED lights! If you are a fan of the Mosquito, fondly known as the Mossie or the Wooden Wonder because of it being constructed mainly of wood, making it one of the most formidable Fighter Bomber aircraft of WW.II, very fast and maneuverable because of its light weight, you MUST buy this kit.....I highly recommend it!! I will be buying another one, but when I do, I will be buying the after market resin Rolls Royce Merlin Engines and engine cowling covers, along with the etched brass seats and safety belts and a resin set of movable ailerons, flaps and rudder to make it look even more realistic than it already does. My only negative about this kit is; it would have been nice for the ailerons, flaps and rudder to be separate assemblies so that they can be modeled in any position. That said, at the assembly stage, one can cut these from the solid molded parts and refit in open positions. Go ahead, make your day....buy one now!!

Opened the box just to see the parts in the bags..Excellent Excellent..Read directions and some details have no verbal clues. Should be able to figure it out as I work on the kit..Have ordered a set of brass machine gus for this kit to replace the plastic ones..They look great,,