[MOC] De Havilland Mosquito - Alternate Build of 2 x 31160 Race Plane

[Wurger49]

Back in March I tried to build a de Havilland Mosquito from two sets of 31160 but couldn’t quite get there, and that attempt eventually evolved into the P-38 Lightning. With a bit of spare time between LEGO releases, I thought: why not try again? So I disassembled the P-38 and returned to the Mossie as a small tribute to the RAAF Mosquitoes built at the de Havilland Australia factory in Bankstown.

After plenty of fiddling with the twin engine mounts, since the available parts aren’t ideal, I finally managed to capture the overall silhouette of the Wooden Wonder. The Mosquito is a twin-engine, multi-role, two-seat fighter bomber from WWII. Its two Merlin engines sit on the wing’s leading edge, housed in long smooth nacelles that extend ahead of the wing to include the main landing gear bays underneath.
 
The fuselage is cigar shaped and tapers cleanly toward the tail. The cockpit sits close to the nose to give the crew better visibility and to free up uninterrupted space in the central fuselage for bombs, fuel, and mission equipment.

The wings are mid-mounted, elliptical wings with gentle taper to rounded tips. I included the characteristic step in the inner leading edge, representing where the Mosquito’s radiators sat just outboard of the fuselage. The vertical tail is tall and rounded, and I used a combination of slopes to get as close as possible to that distinctive triangular curve. The tailplane reuses the original 31160 design, and ideally it would be wider but the parts simply aren’t there. The 1×1 stud with an underside bar works surprisingly well as a tailwheel, accurately giving the Mossie its nose up stance on the ground.

The set’s white, dark azure, and dark blue 45 degree cut tiles opened up many possibilities for disruptive camouflage. After experimenting with several patterns I settled on opposite white accents on the wings and dark azure patterns across the airframe.

Structurally, the Mosquito is extremely solid through the central fuselage, much sturdier than the twin boom layout of my P-38, which makes it great to handle and swooshing around, especially with the spinning propellers.

I kept the black display stand unchanged so you can build an extra one for other MOCs if you like. The Mosquito looks fantastic displayed in flight, and the landing gear pieces can be removed easily if you prefer a clean airborne configuration.

Instructions are on Rebrickable: https://reb.li/m/242069

 

 

 

 

 

[Feuer Zug]

Wicked Mosquito! Great work transforming two of the set into this beast.

[Wurger49]

14 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Wicked Mosquito! Great work transforming two of the set into this beast.

Thank you, better late than never for the Wooden Wonder!