Alan,
Impressive start! That should look reet nice when it is finished. BTW, I know I'm going a bit JMN worrying about 3mm, but I'd like to see if it makes a difference to the 'look' of the finished article. I'm currently guessing the answer is "no!"
OK, I've finished re-angling the fuselage side gear wells and have coaxed in the Airwaves etched brass backs (meant for the MPM kit):
I've also done a bit of sanding on the Spitfire spinner and it currently looks like this. It's still a bit sharp, when comparing it to photos, but I like it. Whether I continue to add bluntness remains to be seen:
I've added the tailplanes to the fin:
And here is the first step to improving the gaping maw that is the lower nose air intake. A thin strip of Carlsberg beer can ("probably the best material from which to scratch-build Airfix Mosquito gear doors", as I stated elsewhere) has had a bit of bend induced in it by moulding round a suitable shape (hobby knife handle) then superglued to the top of the intake lip.
What I intend to do is to cantilever the vertical splitter from the beer can base and build up the duct walls around it. I have no idea whether this will work, so watch this space. The vertical splitter - which is far from a simple straight line - has been started by gluing 2 lengths of 20thou plastic strip together. This is very thick but should allow for robustness for future sanding / shaping. Given that the total height of the intake is only some 6mm, I have only glued ~3mm of strip together in the centre. I plan to add a shim at top between the unglued sections of strip, followed by filling and sanding, to give the flared shape evident at the top of the splitter. The bottom of the splitter separates into two, sandwiching some sort of matrix between the two halves, hence why this area is unglued at present. If it works, it'll be some sort of miracle, but if not, I'll have learnt how not to do it, at least.
If I can get that sorted, then that'll give me confidence in going forward with the kit, as the lack of any intake is a fatal flaw on this kit imho, standing out, as it does, like the proverbial. After that, though, I plan to open up the oil cooler outlet duct under the nose, and the recess on the underside between the fuselage side gear wells, as there is a rather nice etched plate that should fit in there. I'm afraid that only if I get that all done will I then consider what to do to the interior. Definitely something is needed, if only the decking between the crew positions, but I'm unsure how much will be seen at the end, even if I use a vacform canopy.
I'm not going to be doing something every night on this build; it's slowly slowly catchee monkey for me, I'm afraid.
regards,
Martin
