Things are starting to move along nicely now.
Once the oil paint dried, I sealed in using clear orange followed by a couple of coats of clear matt. I was then able to paint the engine, cockpit and other details. Assembly could now begin - engine, cockpit and further bulkhead put together so:
Just a bit of careful line up of engine and cockpit - once all set, I then bought the fuselage halves together glueing and clamping till had set hard.
Glad to report that the fuselage halves went together very well. The next process with to clean up the joins. It ended up that I only need to sand and smooth things out without having to use any filler which shows how good the fit here was. I used paint along all joints to test that no joint would be visible before proceeding further.
In between all this I cut the elevator which is molded with stabiliser so I could pose dynamically.
I have also pre-drilled some rigging holes in the fuselage before adding any other pieces as it is easier to do. I have also removed the lower wings from the sprue, cleaned up and pre-drilled further rigging holes. These wings feature very small molded points that are supposed to match corresponding (shallow moulded) holes in the fuselage. This does not look overly strong to me so cut these points from the wing, drilling out where they were and adding some wire. I then more deeply drilled out the fuselage wing location points.
I have put aside for today and will attach the lower wings once everything has had a chance to set further.
Regards
Dave
