Ryan

Yeah not sure how anyone could clean that seam up! Ryan

Thanks VERY much Derek for the extra effort in reposting the shots!! Ryan

And then I remembered why I kinda lost interest with this kit. The cockpit has quite a few seams and flash that needs to be eliminated. Some of the worst ones were on the left side. The trim level panel is zigzagged with a very prominent mold seam line that runs over the top of knobs, jogs in and out of levers and finishes out on top of the large trim wheel! If YOU can clean this up you are better than I. I figured the best way to attack it was to remove most of the detail and rebuild after things are sorted out....rather than fight trying to save the detail that would surely been damaged by seam removal. Further the large trim wheel was sorta soflty molded into the panel, I needed to better define it. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr} image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr} Detail removed....sadly while I do have a nice set of punches, I wont be able to reproduce the trim knobs perfectly, but they will look good enough. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr} And the front, note i drilled small holes to locate the detail I removed and of course removed the seam. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr} So there you have it, a better defined trim wheel and a clean area to add detail back! Great fun. Ryan

Roll back the stone! Ryan

I swear this looks like polished black paint! Really really nice work so far. Ryan

Derek are your earlier pics in this thread available somewhere? Ryan

Hah, yeah I work for a while in this state, then re-center and clean up a bit. Clean up sessions help out when projects are stalled for me anyway. You get to start fresh with a clean desk. Ryan

Thanks guys....gottta get this mess cleaned up first, updates to follow! mess by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ryan

Seems I need to get back on this one, just been working on other projects....you know how it goes I'll dust off the box and dive back in. Ryan

Thanks Peter, nice to know I'm not alone! Ryan

OK update time, I've moved on from the tail section which i'm sure is a delight to all! ZM would have you build up the cockpit as shown below in the pic. Nothing wrong with building and painting it this way, but I have another idea. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr I'm always looking for different ways to build a kit to make painting easier. I found through dry fitting and reading the directions carefully you can glue the cockpit side walls to the fuselage sides to paint all at once. Love it. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr The cockpit side walls are an impressive molding, but have several seams that need attention before painting...so this is the next step then I can paint them up! Thanks Ryan

Yes Thomas....too careful, and too slow! I need to get busy on it.

Thanks, signed up.

Ready to watch sir! Ryan

Cleaning up cockpit parts, updates soon. I do have a question though, is the bar over the seat back in fact a bar or flat stock? Can't tell from pics, but the belts pass under it. A few post back i sanded it off the top of the seat, now need to rebuilt it.

Did you use (2) sets of wings to pull this off? Or are those panels separate in the kit?

Thanks Kev.

Great build, and look forward to getting the book.

Hey guys and gals, You know how you can really fixate on some detail that just bugs you...? Well I was really tormented by the lower strut on the tail gear! I i know it seems silly, but I wasn't happy with my paint job. My unhappiness with this detail has held me up. Anyway ended up taping off and re-working the tail strut oleo, still not completely happy, but hey its on the bottom. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Thanks for reading.

Please post them Thomas.

Yes I would like to know your impressions on the Microlux vac machine.

Tony, I'm a closet 1/72 fan, looking forward to your builds. I aleays loved the term "The gentlemen's scale" when speaking of 72. Ryan PS I'll add the same comment as you, these builds are usually just OOB as I leave the heavy detailing for 1/32.

Thomas I like the smooth satin finish on the AC, it's all even and very clean. Landing gear washes etc. also also just great. Well done. Ryan

It's worth it, I got the stick the other day!

Same here! AND now we (continue) to wait. Since I'm in Florida, I'm sure you two will get it before me! Ryan