Mosquito vs V-1 Flying Bomb

The Challenge

The de Havilland Mosquito was one of the RAF's most successful aircraft for intercepting V-1 flying bombs. Fast enough to catch them and heavily armed enough to destroy them, the "Wooden Wonder" accounted for around 600 V-1s during the war.

When my model club, Just For Fun Modellers, was invited to exhibit at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum, someone suggested we should build something a little weird for the show.

Challenge accepted.

The idea

I briefly considered suspending a tank in resin, like a mosquito trapped in amber. Then another thought occurred. If a Mosquito hunted V-1 flying bombs...

...what if it was an actual mosquito?

Sometimes the obvious joke is the best one.

Building the beast

The giant mosquito began as a 3D printed body, produced with the help of Prism Prints on Makers World. The legs were formed from wire before everything was assembled into one rather alarming insect.

It was then painted exactly like the real aircraft. Vallejo paints were airbrushed using Blu Tack masks to recreate the official RAF camouflage pattern, followed by authentic Mosquito decals kindly donated by a friend from my model club.

The more realistic the paint scheme became, the more ridiculous the model looked.

An unfortunate V-1

The victim is a 1:280 scale V-1 flying bomb, mounted beneath the mosquito as though being drained of its fuel.

Multiple layers of glossy transparent reds created the swollen abdomen, while a fine mist of metallic red around the proboscis adds just enough creepiness to suggest the feeding is still in progress.

Specifications

Created for: de Havilland Aircraft Museum model show

V-1 Flying Bomb: 1:280 scale

Mosquito: Approximately 400%... and absolutely unapologetic.

Materials:

• 3D printed body
• Wire legs
• Vallejo paints
• Airbrushed camouflage
• Authentic RAF decals
• Wooden display base