Thanks! Steve - I know what you mean re the compass. This is just one of the compromises I've taken in building this old kit to a reasonably tight timeframe (I have three weeks left
) - there are more extreme ones to come I'm afraid. Like you, from my research for this build I believe that Dr.1 compasses were most frequently - if not always - mounted on the floor. However I mounted it in a raised position for three reasons - first, the Bentley cutaway of the Dr.1 in the Datafile shows a raised compass; secondly, the kit compass was raised, and it was easier to refine this reasonably clunky part than replace it in a new location; and finally, and related to the second point, a floor-mounted compass didn't fit well and was also almost invisible. So I went with the compromise....
Anyway, after all that work it was time to close up the fuselage. This was reasonably straightforward, thanks to my frequent test fitting, but the quality of the kit plastic isn't great which makes tidying up and polishing seams a tedious business.
Once I had the fuselage joins hidden to my satisfaction, I glued on the (painted) lower wing and used this as an alignment guide for attaching the horizontal tailplane. This was a bear to fit - I ended up cutting off the moulded locating tabs and doing lots of sanding and fettling to get a decent fit before I glued the tailplane in place. After the glue was dry, it was out with the liquid putty to fill some pretty serious gaps around the joins. Most annoying, however, is the incorrect profile of the upper rear fuselage - this is much more curved than the subtle shape of the real thing, which is almost flat where it meets the leading edge of the horizontal plane. I sanded down the rear fuselage a bit, which helped slightly; if I'd had more time up my sleeve I would've really gone to town, but I didn't so made another of my compromise decisions and moved on!
thanks for looking, Brad