Hi,
some more progress over the Easter break. Most of the interior is completed now and I've taken shots before I mate the left and right sides together. For the interior I used Vallejo Modelcolor 990 Light Grey with a bit of 900 Mirage Blue to darken it (even though 990 is supposedly a match to WNW's suggestion of FS25237 - I find that Vallejo sprays out quite a bit lighter than brushed out swatches).
Some details added to the kit items (based on Datafile photos) are rudder foot rests (fusewire) and petrol and other switches on right of the instrument panel (fusewire and aluminium pie-dish). Added the cabling to the control column (UvR line) and a small slice of white(?) decal to the center-datum on top of the wheel itself.
[
]
The rudder cabling I used some Unithread (but thicker than their Caenis line) but then realised I couldn't pass it through the rear tubing later so terminated this on the fuselage frame behind pilot's seat. Remember that the cable goes right around the pedal assembly - this was grooved on the outer curved elements on the real thing so purists could attempt this. I managed one complete run from port side to starboard side with only four small anchor points of superglue. In the Datafile photos it can be seen that the rudder cables are partly protected with tubing in the rear cockpit and I used 0.3mm brass tube for this and attached it to the frame that fits behind the rear window - it should just clear the dynamo lever and rod.
[
]
I switched to the medium UvR thread as I could
just insert it into the tube but on other side I had to use steel wire that passed through completely - this will have to be attached forward and aft after the right frame is added. I added a dynamo lever rod from the rear cockpit lever to the pilot's lever but this was actually bent around an upright - I would recommend drilling through or putting a proper dog-leg kink in the rod. The forward end from pilot level to dynamo will be added after the engine is inserted.
[
]
After my last post I realised I could add the cabling from the 'junction box' to the voltmeter before putting the frame assembly in the port fuselage half - lead wire is perfect for this (and colour) and will be just nudged into place later. It needs to bend around the dynamo lever behind the rudder cable and lever rod, then alongside the window frame - OK when the assembly is in place in the fuselage half. I will add some copper wire for the aerial lead in the same way.
My biggest bugbear at the moment is with fitting etched seat belts. I try and do a nice job with 'leather' etc on the seats, get decent 'fabric effect on the seat-belts themselves but then cover the former over with the seat-belts and also find that the bloody things are hard to stick in place without serious removal of paint - doh!
Also grappling with the engine, learning the hard way how to deal with the Taurus upgrades. I made the mistake of adding the valve springs first then the long assembly on top - of course the springs were almost all slightly out of alignment so I will have to redo these. Ugh.
[
]
Looking good now - next time engine will be in and ready to get fuselage up and ready for painting.
Cheers,
GrahamB
