Spitfire Mk9 model made for me by my son

I'm certainly not one to agonise over accuracy!

When I was around 12 years old, I saved up to buy the 1/32 scale Atomic Cannon, a Renwal Bueprint model that was sold in the UK under the FROG Deluxe banner.

It was the largest kit in the toy shop at 32 inches long, and I just had to have it!

The M-65 was far from an accurate representation of the real thing. On the contrary, it had many working parts and was intended to be played with!

The kit was re-released by Revell shortly after I retired, so I added it to my stash along with the Self Propelled 8" Howitzer I also built as a boy.

That should provide a measure of how serious a modeller I am - more a nostalgic collector of kits than a serious builder of them.

I've now stopped adding to my stash - unless I see a bargain in the charity shop - which always saddens me when I realise that another vintage modeller may have gone to meet his maker!
 

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6L6

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It's always puzzled me why Mosquitos had five exhaust stubs instead of six; there's one under restoration at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, Australia and no-one there knows why five.

The radiator air intakes on Mosquito are in the leading edges of the inboard section of the wings. The leading edges are totally open. The combined exhaust stub on cylinders five + six is to keep the numbers 6 exhaust further away from the radiator intake, as those exhaust are always spewing massive heat and flame. (see attached video) Also worth noting is that Mosquito's exhausts are notably pointed more downwards than a typical Merlin, for the same reason.

Now you may ask why the outboard row of exhaust (which do not have radiators downstream) have the same setup, and that is likely attributed to the realities of production - keeping total number of parts to a minimum and attempting to build the engine nacelles as symmetrically as possible would dictate using the custom-for-Mosquito part on both sides.

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Mossie

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Radiator intake illustration


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Wing and radiator in cross-section

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Exhaust and radiator intakes in plain view

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Neat photo - the water is being sprayed into the radiator intakes for increased cooling as airflow is greatly reduced in comparison to flying.

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5-stub exhaust on outboard as well.




Note the flame during normal operation. Also note that these trailer-mounted engines that have actual propellers cannot run at full power unless the trailer is very securely anchored, and in this video the max RPM achieved (around 1:20) is not at full throttle, it's still purring, not snarling like Merlin do at high power.




Mosquito night engine run. Lots of flame, max power around 10:00
 
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If the Mosquito floats your boat, and you're in the south of England, the De Havilland aircraft museum is worth a visit. There's other stuff there as well as the Mossies of course. I last went a couple of years before COVID when it was The Mosquito Museum, and have plans to return because it looks like a lot has changed in the last 5 years.
 
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It's always puzzled me why Mosquitos had five exhaust stubs instead of six; there's one under restoration at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, Australia and no-one there knows why five. It's being restored for static display only but it's a slow process due to wood supply and shortage of skilled wood-workers.

I almost bought that kit but didn't have the shelf space or WAF, thank you for the warning!

Geoff
Do you know I never noticed that before, well i be damned
 
If the Mosquito floats your boat, and you're in the south of England, the De Havilland aircraft museum is worth a visit. There's other stuff there as well as the Mossies of course. I last went a couple of years before COVID when it was The Mosquito Museum, and have plans to return because it looks like a lot has changed in the last 5 years.
Air museums in Britain are just terrific; due to limited time, only went to a few when we visited in 2012 but I was just knocked out by their breadth and quality. We didn't get to the DH Museum unfortunately but IWM, Duxford, Hendon and Folkestone were great. The display at Duxford was truly awesome, with the day ending with the BBMF flypast.

Geoff
 
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If the Mosquito floats your boat, and you're in the south of England, the De Havilland aircraft museum is worth a visit. There's other stuff there as well as the Mossies of course. I last went a couple of years before COVID when it was The Mosquito Museum, and have plans to return because it looks like a lot has changed in the last 5 years.
I've been there, it's excellent
 
This is a great thread:)

Interesting to read about so many memories and History from
specific kit makers.

As a child the local drug store carried kits in the toy section.
My mom finally learned to dodge taking me shopping.
Knowing I would instantly run to toy section and beg for
a new kit.

Monogram and Revell the more popular brands stocked.

I was overwhelmed and loved the B-17 and P-61
1/48 scale planes from Monogram.

I think a big influence was books at the time
published Sheperd Paine's Dioramas. And spent
hours staring at the photos of the B-17G and P-61 Black Widow
Later on purchased the kits ( mowing a lot of lawns)
The kits included 4 or 5 page modeling tip pamphlets
which I would read likely hundreds of times.

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...I model Spitfires because - along with the Hawker Hunter, Lockheed Constellation and DeHavilland Mosquito, they're one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made. However, my favourite modelling subject is the Douglas DC-3/C-47: I've flown in it many times and it's an incredibly versatile, important and ageless machine.

Probably the most fun build was Airfix' Wallace and Gromit!

Back to the OP, the care and attention to detail in that build is truly awesome. ....

Yes, OP, that is outstanding... beyond outstanding. What battleship is that? Interesting mounting of the guns... four and two... not three and three as normally seen in WWII American ships.

I used to build lots of things when in High School. Mostly ships... I had a three foot Mayflower, a three foot HMS Victory, a very big USS Missouri, USS Enterprise CVN.. The rigging and painting detail on the Victory took almost two months!

But my favorite was the three foot wingspan Heinkel He-111 painted in Afrika Korps colors forever dropping bombs over my bed with the gunner looking at me from 15,000 feet!

We forgot the cheese, Gromit!
 
What is this place next door to mine in Portsmouth, UK? And I have just noticed it is painted in British Racing Green.

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In fact the erstwhile workshop of my good friend, Ray. He used to maintain Mosquito airplanes:

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One RR Merlin good, two better! Later he rebuilt classic cars. But still kept a picture of a Mosquito on the wall. It may still be there. I shall look next time his boy visits.
 
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Seeing Actual Mosquito photos just makes me smile.

One of the first RC planes I bought was a micro
starter kit from parkzone.
Such a fun airplane to fly, and with dual motors
it could do so much more than the usual little cub flyers.

Lots of power, light winds no problem to power
out of. Could do little stunts just in the front yard
when I got better at flying
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