Sabre F-86

Heres a decent trick if you want to keep the hatch as well. Before you do anything to the hatch, wipe some vaseline on the hatch and the surrounding area. Take some regular Autobody putty, mix it up and apply it to the hatch and surrounding area. Let it harden, then flick the finished mold off with a finger nail. Once you have made the opening, you can take the mold and lay a thin layer of epoxy into it. Once that hardens you can add interior stringers and frames, latch mechanisms, etc. then very gently pop it off the mold. Theres your replacement hatch. Sabre

What Brad sez about corroding from the inside out is quite true. Its vital to stop the corrosion process inside the structure or you will end up with something like what FM104, the Toronto Aerospace Museum Lancaster looks like. Beautifully painted filligree. The aluminum on that airframe is tissue thin in spots from people climbing in with road salt on their boots, bird poop and smog. Sabre

A possible solution to the cone laying down on the wire? Put the cone on a piece of paper with a hole punched in it, and then thread the wire into the cone and out the hole, with the wire being vertical instead of horizontal. Tie one end to a holder, do the threading bit and then tie a weight to the other end. Let it hang down and apply a tiny drop of CA. Sabre

Great model you are building here. Just a small point, Unless I dont' remember my german correctly, you used the plural of easteregg. Osterei is the singular. Sabre

Nice job so far, just one detail you missed on the tailplane. You opened up the structure and got the main ribs in place. However, if you look at the other side the skin will show you half ribs between the full ones, and you know the half ribs are supported at the inner end with a mini spar. I don't know if you can add them at this time but its worth a try. Shouldn't be too hard with the degree of skill you've showed so far. Sabre