Finally some fairly significant progress made on this Build. I managed to get the landing gear and the external bomb load completed about a week ago. The gear went on very nicely, it's strong and well fitted. Once in place the rigging was added using Chameleon 2 lb. fishing mono. (.005 inch/0.12mm) The photos were taken after the gear and bombs were installed.
The Kit supplies armament for numerous combinations of external bombs. I chose Option IV with 2 X 100Kg PuW Bombs and 4 X 50Kg PuW's. I had already included 12 X 12.5 Kg Bombs internally. That's a total bomb load of 550 Kg's / 1250 pounds.
The bomb retension straps were made from Tamiya tape for curves and painted with enamel.
At this point I elected to install the engines. The first step was to attach the support struts which had to be carefully aligned with the engines dry mounted. Immediately prior the two lines (I assume vacuum or pitot pressure lines) had to be installed on the starboard wing root.
With that completed using stretched sprue the four strut assemblies were installed. I only broke two at this stage!
I've since got both engines installed (Huge sigh of relief here!) and will get some photos up here real soon.
My intent to take a break by returning to my Clerget Camel Build has been overcome by a determination to complete this Build in time for the Western Canadian Region Contest in 3 weeks; hopefully that goal is attainable!
Cheers,
Lance
