Tamiya 1/48 DeHavilland Mosquito B.35 - by Boyd Waechter - Katy, Texas

I have just finished the Tamiya 1/48th DeHavilland Mosquito B.35 conversion. I have always liked the look of the postwar B.35 variant with the enlarged bomb bay and Merlin engines, so using a box full of Paragon Design and Verlinden resin parts I gave it a go this Fall. The quality of the kit is typical Tamiya. My only complaint is the fit of the clear parts with none of them fitting very tight. If I were to do it over again, I would glue them in place and fill all of the gaps prior to painting the model. As it happened, I added them all after the model was painted and decaled thinking I would save myself some time and effort.

This is a list of the aftermarket parts I used:
• Paragon Design Merlin Engines (designed to be used on the Airfix kit, but adapted to fit the Tamiya model)
• Paragon Design Enlarged Bomb Bay
• Paragon Design 200 gal Slipper Tanks (for long range operations)
• True Details Late Model Mosquito Wheels
• True Details Mosquito Interior (in conjunction with kit pieces which I felt were better)
• Verlinden Control Surfaces and Wheel well Interior
• Freightdog Mosquito B.35 Decals (superb decals)
• BarracudaCals Mosquito Stencil Decals (great decals)

Overall, I am pleased with the overcome, though to me, it doesn't have the wow-factor that I thought a high-speed silver Mossie would have. It certainly won't win any awards, but it does look good in my display cabinet next to my Sea Fury T.20 in a similar scheme. I can't say enough about the superb Freightdog Decals - they were thin, good color registration, and went on without a hiccup.

Barracuda Studios products used:
BC48010 Mosquito Stencils - 1/48 Scale