Thanks for the encouragement, Rick & Brad.
This project continues to challenge me at each step. To attach the engine assemblies to their mounts I cemented thin styrene rings to the rear of the resin engines with cyano, enabling me to position them in place with Tamiya Extra Thin glue. This gave me the time to align them as best I could with the upper intakes.
I also had to adapt the propellers to the openings in the front of the engine, which required using a shaft of styrene rod inserted into a pre-cut length of styrene tubing. For some reason, the kit's propellers have an attachment hole that is not quite centered (??).
Contrary to the instruction sequence, I left off adding the bombs & their mounts until this point in time. One reason is the amount of handling necessary up until now, and also the poor fit of the 500lb bombs to their mounts made it necessary to assemble them first, then add them to the bay after adding the doors. The landing gear legs were also added at this point. And I was able to look at adding some of the tiny bits soon - I improved the small venturi by drilling out the ends and adding a small styrene centre piece.
Cheers!
DSC_3304c_01 by
Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
Rings of styrene attached with cyano to the resin engines helped to align the asseblies to their mounts with styrene cement.
DSC_3306c_01 by
Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
The propellers needed to be adapted to their new mounts using rod and tubing.
DSC_3308c_01 by
Gary Edmundson, on FlickrThe bombs had to be cemented to their mounts first, and then placed into position after the bomb bay doors & hardware had been added. I used dark oil paint and a sponge to add the rough look that these bombs seemed to have in period photos.
DSC_3314c_01 by
Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
The tiny venturi received some detailing with styrene.
DSC_3310c_01 by
Gary Edmundson, on Flickr
With the bomb bay completed and landing gear added, it is now time to begin on completing the upper parts. Tape was placed over the lower MG since it could easily be broken off.
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