Des - thanks for the kind words of appreciation on the woodwork but I think it more beginners luck than anything as it's the first time I've done anything like it. You'll have to put it down to some good tutorials I've followed
Martin, George, Von B and RAG - thanks as always for your comments too - glad to see you are still following
Not much to report tonight but I have got the guns mounted at last with the cocking levers mounted the right way up this time
Also found enough time to get another little phase out of the way in getting the undercarriage mounted and rigged. I think I may have over done the early weathering a tad but hopefully it will all meld in once on it's base
First up was to paint the underside to finish. I tried, not that successfully, to mask the lines using stretched Teflon tubing (ex CA tubing) but it kept sliding back so I will remove the over-spray on the lines later with some thinners and repaint the lines. The underneath had a thin flash of Life Colour Tensochrome 'Oil Stains' dusted over to begin the weathering process underneath
A couple of pieces of balsa made for a simple jig to keep the wings level to sight the U/C parallel and this was fixed in place using Gator Glue. The small locating pegs on the ends of the legs had been pre-drilled and copper wire pins inserted to help reinforce the joins. Once in position the legs were (just) restricted from movement using masking tape.
The wires were then positioned and held with CA, reinforced with a tiny application of Gator glue and the bungees simulated with some fine tan coloured thread run through some Vallejo 'grey white' between finger and thumb.
Quite some time was spent trying to weather the wheels with pigments. They don't look in keeping at the moment and I have to say I'm not that happy with them but hopefully, as said, once on the base it will all come together.
And finally it's on it's wheels. The wings are just off level by slightly less than a mm tip to tip which all things considered I was quite pleased with. Final leveling can be tweaked once on the base. The small green blobs inside the cowling vents are Miliput. This was needed to give the U/C some support. These will get painted later and won't be too obvious once the engine and cowl are on.
That's it as of tonight - it's been a 'bitty' week with not much time to get a fair crack at it but even the smallest progress is always a step in the right direction
Not long now though before that top wing gets tackled
Regards - Tug
