Thanks chaps you really are the best. Your kind words are very encouraging! Despite the mishaps my morale remains high, I'm thrilled to be working on such a beautifully engineered kit. It's all a very far cry from the flash infested kits we all built as kids.
Terri, thanks that vice looks just the thing. Will have a shop around for something similar. The model you are working on (Bristol Scout?)
looks beautiful too!
I had the afternoon to myself and made a start on removing the evidence of my tail skid/glue adventure. I then donned my magnifying visor and set about adding ignition leads to the engine. I'm really pleased to have done this, it won't be very visible but it's good practice for the main rigging event much later.
I also sanded and micromeshed the fuselage join, little bit of Mr Surfacer to go on and I think I'm there. Oh yes, you may have noticed that I managed to knock the pads off the machine guns. definitely not going to worry about that as they wouldn't really be seen anyway.

20200224_163820 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
20200224_163920 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
20200224_164036 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
20200224_163940 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
Fair bit of touching up to do, I seem to have rubbed off the paint on the engine's pusher rods by over buffing them to get them shiny. Easily remedied.
Many thanks for looking in. As ever any tips, hints or criticisms are greatly appreciated. I so keen to learn!