"Others have flown through this kit so I know it is simply my mediocre skills at fault."
Rick, I have finally got around to reading through this thread after being absent from the forum for several weeks and I read this!!!! Now I do not like to do this as I retired nearly a decade ago, but I have to put my teacher's hat on just this once and reprimand you for writing such nonsense: there is absolutely nothing that is remotely mediocre about your modelling skills: we all make mistakes - so what? Making mistakes was one of the few things that I was good at teaching!!
Lecture over, I return to being an observer of other modeller's wonderful efforts, yours being no exception. This is going to be an interesting thread with two contrasting kits. I am really waiting to see how you tackle the aliminium dope finish on these models - I have never been able to do that convincingly so I always avoid it.
Stephen.