Thanks, Michael and Adam. I wish I'd just put the cushion over that filler hole and left it there!!
I've completed the cockpit with the exception of the guns and a set of floor cross braces. It's a very busy and surprisingly cramped little office space without the guns, once those are added you can easily see the lack of space between the gun "butts" and the Pilot's head!
The interior of the "turtle deck" component, a combination of wood and metal, is finished as well.
Additions included all the flight control cables the extra work on the instrument panel detailed earlier, the HGW seat belts, the cables from the triggers on the joy stick to the guns done with lead wire, and frame cross bracing.
The final assembly of the cockpit component was a little tricky when fitting the joystick or control column; the stabilator bell cranks on either sides were difficult to fit in the tiny gap between the floor boards and frames, it took a bit of pressure to get them to pop into the holes provided even though they were enlarged a bit before final assembly.
As is so often the case a great deal of the detail is completely covered over once the fuselage is "closed up"; as we all say, "at least
I know it's there!
The component fits perfectly inside the fuselage, shown here dry fitted, however the fuel caps appear too recessed, too late now however future Builders might consider not inserting them all the way to the bottom of their mounting holes. These are permanently in place with CA, so they'll stay as they are.
Now it's time to clean up the work bench a bit and start on the guns, in this case the GasPatch Set # 32062 Vickers British Hyland Type B with Standard and Reversed Ammo Feed. At the same time I'll be starting work on the Bentley Engine using the Kit supplied version.
Cheers,
Lance
