Tanker12b Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Hi All,This is my first post on the forum so I would welcome any feed back, good or bad! Some time ago acquired the 1/24 Mosquito and it inevitably went into the stash to await its turn on the assembly mat. Having started the kit as it was intended to be built by Airfix, I changed up on a photo of the Tse-Tse with the Molins Gun. This was a game changer and building was halted whilst I gathered information on the Molins installation.Luckily for me, Cosford just happens to have a Mossie with a complete Molins gun with its Autoloader fitted. So the gun and its Autoloader are not the issue as far as detail is concerned, how the mossie was converted to take this monster is as rare as hens teeth so far in my search for actual aircraft details of the installation and the way the gun was installed and removed in active service.Hopefully someone may be able to point me in the direction of the aircraft modifications required to mount and remove the Molins Gun. Aftermarket conversion are limited and what I have found so far restrict the conversion to a stub barrel and the blast plate along with the armour fitted to nose/cowling/radiators etc. I am building the whole Molins from scratch along with the Autoloader in 1/24 scale fitted to the aircraft hence my search for the aircraft modifications. Progress on the Molins so far is about 30 % complete whilst the computer modelling is pretty much there, I am in the process of making a prototype Molins assembly.Any help guys (and gals) would be much appreciated.Kind Regards Tanker12b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebeep Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 You might find this set of interest: link If you were able to travel to the De Havilland Aircraft Museum at London Colney, I can recommend it. When I was last there I remember seeing the gun and lots of data in respect of its fitment, although unlike Cosford there's no airframe with one fitted. I don't think there were a great deal of mods, it occupies the cannon bay and forward part of the weapons bay IIRC. Tsetse machines are usually seen with the outer nose mg's removed, the centre pair were retained for sighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 As Paul says, although my references say the Brownings were removed to save nose weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 As Paul says, although my references say the Brownings were removed to save nose weight.Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciatedRegardsTanker12b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 /media/tinymce_upload/692cb97e0b01531e4c8c995db749e143.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 Hi All,I would recommend this book for some background into the Tsetse Mosquito, and 618 Squadron's part in introducing it into service, as well their training with Barnes Wallis's 'Highball' anti-ship bouncing bomb. It was written by a navigator who was there./media/tinymce_upload/f179c07ce0c0998b868a9bec53c09ba5.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 @PMM - Any decent drawings of a Highball system in situ? I have a feeling that with 2 mines it would be too long to fit with the Hispanos or Molins gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 @PMM - Any decent drawings of a Highball system in situ? I have a feeling that with 2 mines it would be too long to fit with the Hispanos or Molins gun?No drawings, but some photos of the installation. However, the Highball system was fitted to unarmed bomber aircraft, not gun nosed 'planes. When 618 Sqn was sent to Australia with the Highball system, one flight was left behind and re-equipped with the Tsetse Mossies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebeep Posted March 17, 2020 Share Posted March 17, 2020 You can find drawings of the Highball installation in Modeller's Datafile No 1, DH Mosquito. I don't what availability of this publication is like, they were changing hands for silly money a while ago. Paragon Designs did Highball resin sets in 1/72 and 1/48, but they're now rarer than hen's teeth and likewise exchange hands for silly money (pretty much the case for any Paragon sets). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Pretty much what I'd thought, subject to the note that I thought Highball would fit any bomber or recce nose (or indeed night fighter), kind of like the "633 Special" in the novels, which was an FB VI with the Hispanos omitted and the bulged bomb bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted March 23, 2020 Author Share Posted March 23, 2020 Hi Guys,when I try to upload a couple of images showing a little progress on the prototype Molins gun and a pic of where it sits in the bomb bay of the Mosquito, I get a message to say it is in the wrong format. Any help on what I am doing wrong would be good.regardsTanker 12B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebeep Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Can you tell us the type of image file you're attempting to upload? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted March 25, 2020 Author Share Posted March 25, 2020 Can you tell us the type of image file you're attempting to upload?No expert on this Paul, but the IPad use HEIF which apparently stands for High Efficiency Image Format which reduces the storage issues of image files and video. I did download a screenshot earlier in the post with no issues !! regardsTanker12B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebeep Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 There is a known issue with HEIF files, if you convert to jpg, tif, png, bmp etc you shouldn't experience an7y problems. There's an app available to convert image files. As an aside (and I hope you don't mind me borrowing your thread Tanker 12B), I found a sketch layout of the Highball setup. /media/tinymce_upload/68a52e542d6ce1d123a99f156d260019.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 Hi Everyone,I am currently building the mkXVlll in 1/24 scale. I started this as an "out of the box" build but caught the bug to build the Molins armed version complete with 57mm anti tank gun and the Molins Autoloader. As many of you will be aware that the nose of this mark of Mosquito had additional armour fitted and I was wondering if anyone knows how thick this was. I have read that it was 1/2 inch thick but did this only apply to areas like the cockpit floor/radiators/engines etc. Were the outer skin panels on the nose the same gauge or was it thinner. If anyone can point me in the right direction with any details of the additional armour and anything to do with the MkXVlll in general it would be much appreciated.Best Regards Tanker12b_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peebeep Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Your best bet would be the Mosquito Museum at London Colney, they have an exhibit dealing soley with the Mk XVIII including the gun and loading mechanism, plus loads of background material. Obviously a visit at the moment is not possible and it may be out of range for you in any case, but it would be worth contacting them to see if they have anything in the archives that might be of assistance. The staff at the museum are a wonderful bunch, one of the friendliest museums I've ever been to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker12b Posted November 14, 2021 Author Share Posted November 14, 2021 Screen shot of the Molins Gun. I aim to build this to include in a diorama of a Tes-Tse. Currently have an early prototype which is part 3d printed/scratch built to see how it will fit in the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurricane Boy Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Hi Everyone,I am currently building the mkXVlll in 1/24 scale. I started this as an "out of the box" build but caught the bug to build the Molins armed version complete with 57mm anti tank gun and the Molins Autoloader. As many of you will be aware that the nose of this mark of Mosquito had additional armour fitted and I was wondering if anyone knows how thick this was. I have read that it was 1/2 inch thick but did this only apply to areas like the cockpit floor/radiators/engines etc. Were the outer skin panels on the nose the same gauge or was it thinner. If anyone can point me in the right direction with any details of the additional armour and anything to do with the MkXVlll in general it would be much appreciated.Best Regards Tanker12b_ Hi Tanker You should check out Steve Abbey’s build of a 1/24 Airfix Mosquito conversion to a Mk XVIII in the April 2011 copy of Airfix Model World magazine. Also a goo article on the Mk XVIII in that edition. Steve used the Alleycat Conversion set for the build….might make things a little easier if you can find one. Cheers,Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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