Thanks Des, appreciate the support. I was actually concerned about how the gun mount would look. Would be much easier to fabricate in a larger scale!
Looking ahead, the design of this kit does not match the plane they intended for it to represent. This kit has the engine sump cowling while the prototype did not. The lower wings are notched out for camera view and pilot visibility while the prototype was not. Since these are features I will not be changing, I am feeling ok about going ahead and building it as one of the planes these changes were made to prior to the removal of the skid landing gear and the version change to the D/E/F variants. I will be adding markings to match as well. I don't have the datafile in front of me at the moment, but there was a photo that caught my eye which would be a great representation of what I will be modeling. This is why I added the goal post gun mount even though the top wing was not notched out above the fuselage. We're going for one of those moments of when... hey, would be better if we notched out the wing a bit.
John