To start with, this is where the action takes place, a styrene torturer's den.
You may be able to make out, in front of the kit box on the bench, my new reading specs. All of a sudden I can see details again
And this is my next victim.
Being already familiar with the kit, work progressed apace. The cockpit walls were painted, this time with a base of Tamiya XF-51 (khaki drab) which seems a much closer match to my references. It's certainly closer than the wierd shade suggested by the kit instructions. The walls had some details picked out in black and silver and then a wash of Tamiya XF-59 (desert yellow) was applied. The rest of the cockpit assembly was treated the same way, the instrument decal added and it was put aside to dry for a while.
Given the lack of pilot I thought the cockpit would be improved by the addition of some seatbelts so these were made from wine-bottle foil (I'll have to empty some more bottles before I run out
). These got a coat of Vallejo leather brown with small areas left unpainted revealing their natural metal finish.
Here's a couple of pictures of the finished cockpit insert. I'm pretty happy with the belts and, on the whole, Airfix have produced a nice cockpit for the scale.
With everything dry (ish), it was time to close up the fuselage and add the wings. This all happened pretty easily, although the kit does have a couple of fit issues around the wings (see picture) these weren't unexpected and I know they aren't difficult to correct.
All in all it's a nice relief from fiddling with the Seahawk lurking at the back of the bench.
