Thank you very much, Gentlemen. A good deal of progress over the last week or so.
It is up on its hind legs now, with a radiator, and some of its tail-feathers....
The vertical tail surfaces are also painted and ready, but I want to decal them before attaching them.
There is a certain amount of 'best guess' to the undercarriage, as the photo which shows it most clearly is of the machine after it broke its wheels and possibly some other things, but I have followed the way other Short float-planes of this size were converted to land operations with wheels at about the same time, which at least the picture does not contradict.
Finally, here is the thing up on some home-made spoked wheels....
I consider the wheels more 'proof of concept' prototypes rather then production examples of a settled technique. I took a run at using a photo-etch fret for spoked wheels I have had for a long time, but botched it. So I tried a technique I have been considering a while, sticking a 'half tire' down on a working surface with an axle stub in the center, gluing fine wire spokes in, then gluing two 'half tires' together. It works, but is hard to handle (I caved one finished wheel in completely) while eliminating the seam between the pieces. I have thought of a couple of ways I think will improve the process, and if I have time these may get clipped off and replaced by Mk. II versions.
There is a surprising amount of rigging left to do on this; kingpost bracing on the wings, and something similar on the rear fuselage, plus tail control wires, and some drag wires, and some stay wires for the radiator, and something on the undercarriage, and probably a few more things I hope I notice in time. And I have still to do the exhaust outlets and the propeller...and looking at these pictures, I notice a couple of aileron cables on the port aileron have worked loose, and will need repair..
