RCAF Mosquitoes

Aviaeology, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

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An ‘updated and expanded’ reissue of one of Aviaeology’s popular early releases, this decal set features four Mosquito FB.VIs operated by 418 Squadron, RCAF in 1944-45.  Individual aircraft details are as follows:

• TH-U/HJ719 “Moonbeam McSwine” flown by Lieutenant “Lou” Luma and based at RAF Holmsley South, early/mid 1944.  HJ719 was camouflaged in Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green over Night, with red codes and serials along with nose art of the titular comic strip character. 

• TH-Z/HR147 “Hairless Joe” flown by Squadron Leader/Wing Commander Russell Bannock and based at RAF Hunsdon, mid/late 1944.  HR147 and the remaining two featured aircraft were finished in overall Medium Sea Grey with a disruptive upper surface pattern of Dark Green, and red codes and black serials.  The evolution of the “Hairless Joe” nose art during HR147’s service life is extensively covered in Aviaeology’s instructions.

• TH-M/NS850 “Black Rufe” flown by Squadron Leader Robert Kipp and based at RAF Holmsley South in mid-1944.

• TH-V/SZ976 “Amigo Panchito” flown by Squadron Leader Vic Cherry and based at Coxyde, Belgium, in Spring 1945.

Researching these Mosquitoes has clearly been a labour of love for Aviaeology, with the distinguishing features of each aircraft – camouflage, markings, equipment and weapons fitout – described in detail in the decal instructions. 

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The seven pages of instructions also feature:

• A comparison of the detail differences between early and late series FB.VIs.

• An illustrated description of the changes in FB.VI camouflage between 1942 and 1945.

• Detailed notes on FB.VI airframe stencil variations.

• Comprehensive descriptions and illustrations of the different types of wing racks and bombs carried by Mosquito FB.VIs.

• Highlighted corrections and revisions from the initial release of the decal set.

• A 12-step guide to trouble-free application of Aviaeology decals.

As is the case with Aviaeology’s RCAF Sunderland decals, this set is almost worth buying just for the instructions:  I own several well-regarded books on the Mosquito that do not come close to providing this amount of useful information.  Also as with the Sunderland release, these instructions are available to Aviaeology customers as an emailed, printable PDF, which makes them even better – if that’s possible.

The decals themselves (the 1/48 sheets are being considered here) appear to be very good.  Quality control looks excellent and colour registration is perfect.  The nose art decals are thoughtfully provided in two parts – a white or black-and-white background decal, and a coloured overlay. 

If the decals are applied carefully, this two-stage process should result in quite authentic looking nose art, with no chance of colour bleed-through from the paint below.

This is another great release from Aviaeology.  The package represents a considerable body of research, which if used carefully (there is a lot of information here to digest!) will allow modelers to reproduce some very accurate 418 Squadron Mosquitoes.  So far, Aviaeology has re-released this set in 1/48 and 1/72 – hopefully it will also do the same in 1/32 and 1/24.  I’d like to see a 1/24 Airfix FB.VI finished as “Moonbeam McSwine”….

Review Sample Compliments of Aviaeology

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2013 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 18 November, 2013
Last updated 20 November, 2013

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