Part 9. Upper wing
Time definitely seemed limited this weekend. All sorts of distractions kept me busy and away from the bench. But, despite that I did get the upper wing completed and started working on the struts.
The lower wing ribs, framework, and internal structure was masked.

Then lightly overspray with Model Air aged white

Framework masking was removed and the rib masks were peeled back so they may be reapplied after the next painting.

Light layers of aged white were sprayed until it looked transparent

After it dried, I reapplied the rib masks and oversprayed Tamiya clear smoke to highlight the ribs. This was overdone with my heavy handed airbrush work again. I needed to apply another light aged white layer after the masks were removed. Next I applied the kit decals. I forgot to apply decal film and they cracked up pretty noticeably. They needed to be touched up to cover the cracking.
The upper wing is actually the same span as the lower but looks smaller in the picture.

I painted and added the landing gear supports
Now the model has legs to rest on

The kit resin interplane struts are way too flexible to provide any structural support for the upper wing

My first choice was to fabricate the struts from brass strip but I didn?t have any that looked thick enough for this large model

I decided on using Contrail strut material. It?s a little too wide when compared to the plans but will look just fine when used.
The strut is same width as the brass one just looks larger in the image

I?ve added some brass attachment pins to the ends.

Next up is painting them and upper wing attachment!
Thanks for looking in!
Tim