The 1:24 scale de Havilland Mosquito kit has arrived!
Referred to as "the kit that Airfix could never produce" the de Havilland Mosquito has just been a dream for many modellers. Airfix are now able to produce this iconic aircraft in its full glory in 1:24 scale.
The Mosquito has never before been produced as a 1:24 scale kit. The number of parts required for a kit of this size made this a hugely challenging project for the design team.
The History
The Mosquito was unique in being an all-wood construction of balsa-plywood sandwich principle introduced by de Havilland prior to the Second World War. The use of wood in the Mosquito avoided imposing additional strain upon metal supplies and utilised a skilled workforce made available by the restricted activities of the woodworking trades. The Mosquito is a twin-engined, mid-wing, cantilever monoplane powered by two Rolls Royce Merlin XX series engines of 1,260 H.P. each and was the world’s fastest production aircraft when it entered service in September 1941.
Versatility was the hallmark of the famous de Havilland Mosquito. Whether it was low level attacks on enemy shipping in Norwegian Fjords, photographing targets deep in Europe or conducting pinpoint bombing on selected industrial targets, the de Havilland Mosquito had few equals. The F.B.VI appeared in mid-1943 and established itself as the premier twin-engine attack fighter-bomber of the War. Several notable raids were made by Mosquito intruder aircraft, including the attack on Amiens Gaol in February 1944 and on the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen in March 1945. As well as flying intruder operations over Europe the F.B.VI was fitted with rocket projectiles beneath the wings and operated effectively with RAF Coastal Command as an anti-shipping aircraft. In addition to under-wing weapons, Mosquitoes were armed with four 20 mm cannons and four 0.303in machine guns in the nose. In the internal fuselage bay, two 500 lb bombs could be carried.
This fantastic 1:24 scale model enables this iconic aircraft to be built showing all the exacting detail you could ever want.
Research & Development
It has taken over 10 months to design this stunning kit using information from the old Airfix Company and the de Havilland Museum at Salisbury Hall, near Hatfield. Records from the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington were used for the NF.II variant.
There are two kit variations, the NF.II & the Fighter Bomber FB.VI.
The kit also has five decal variations; FB.VI No. 418 Sqn, "City of Edmonton", RCAF No 143 Sqn, Baniff Strike Wing No 1 Sqn, RAAF, 1945
NF.II No 23 Sqn, Luqa, Malta, 1943 No 23 Sqn, Ford, 1943
Kit Specification
Length: 545mm Width: 688mm Pieces: 617
Series 25 Code: A25001
Video
Another first for Airfix is this amazing video of the CAD data used to design and create the Mosquito.
Images
The images below show just some of the detail that the kit has to offer.
Please Note - Kit Specifications are subject to change.
Hornby America Inc., Airfix-USA Copyright 2008-2012
