damouav

It's just been a month since I started working on this fighter. Engine is ready. My plan is to keep the left side always exposed. I plan to cover the right one with shields, a bit like Joker and his two faces
 


Best Regards
Lukasz

Thanks a lot Ernest. 

Fighting again EN315 - Stanisław Skalski - 4.04.1943 Tunisia
 
In the morning of April 4, six Polish SpitfireIXs set off to intercept the enemy. On that day, Stach Skalski piloted the EN-315 with the side designation ZX6. Elevation 16,000 feet. As the aircraft flew over Gabes, the command post radioed in on enemy aircraft. Soon, the Poles saw 7 Junkres Ju-88s with a cover of 20 Bf-109s flying in pairs. The enemy fighters were at the same altitude as the Polish formation. Despite the significant advantage of the opponent, Stach Skalski does not think long. Gives the signal to attack.
 
Skalki and his side Majchrzyk attack four Messershmitts, opening fire at them from a considerable distance, but without results. German fighters, not wanting to let the Poles to the bombers, turn back and engage in a dogfight. Skalksi sees one German gaining altitude, attacks him from 200 yards. Shots are accurate and black smoke is belching from the German plane, after a while the fighter crashes to the ground. Majchrzek, unfortunately, receives hits from a machine gun from the ground during the fight.
 
The second pair of Poles Król and Martel also have their hands full. Król attacked two Germans from the front but to no avail, he soon spots another heading north-west and attacks him from behind. A frantic pursuit ensues that goes above the earth. Finally, from a distance of 400 yards, the King accurately fires at the German plane, which crashes into the ground. Martel attacks the second pair of Germans. He managed to damage one, but due to the attack of another plane he could not finish off the enemy.
 
The balance of the day: 2 confirmed kills (Skalski, Król), 1 damage (Machowiak).

Meanwhile, my day was busy. I managed to assemble the engine with the cage and the whole thing looks like this:


 


Best Regards
Lukasz
 
 

Work is slowly moving in the right direction. The model is made perfectly. Minor problems are rather my inexperience, anyway I am delighted with the quality of this set.
I used a black primer to make shading easier. I applied the base color with varying intensity. Strongest from the direction of the light. Finally, brush, finish the detail and wash. I used dark and sand to introduce a bit of a desert climate.
 

 

 

First win EN315 - "Dziubek" Horbaczewski - 2.04.1943 Tunisia
 
The day of April 2, 1943 was quite abundant in flights. First, six machines moved to intercept the enemy, then four to cover P-40s that were looking for downed airmen over the sea. A third flight with a force of four aircraft in the afternoon again for interception.
 
The Poles were flying at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. Behind the EN315 streams marked ZX6 sat Eugieniusz "Dziubek" Horbaczewski as a winger of Stanisław Skalski. Then came news of the enemy north of El-Hamma. The Poles climbed to 16,000 feet on course 350. They soon spotted 6-7 Bf 109s flying about 8,000 feet and to their left. Skalski struck first, quickly shooting down one Bf 109. At that time, Horbaczewski attacked another plane and fired a series of 300 yards, but had to stop the attack because another German attacked him from the side. Dziubek immediately tipped towards the enemy and engaged him in a dogfight. After a few moments, he began to gain the advantage, so the German fighter tried to escape. Dziubek dived after him and started firing from 300 yards, finishing at 150. The shells reached the target, the German plane at 2000 feet suddenly turned around and then the Pole corrected him with a burst. The Messershmitt burst into flames and crashed to the ground moments later.
 
Unfortunately, Bohdan Arct's machine was damaged and he had to withdraw from the fight, but before that happened, Arct damaged one opponent. The fourth Pole, Marcin Machowiak, in pursuit of the German, whom he managed to damage, got into two more Messershmitts. In combat with superior enemy forces, he managed to shoot down one plane and retreat from the fight.
 
The balance of that day was therefore 3 confirmed kills (Skalski, Horbaczewski, Machowiak) and 2 damages (Machowiak, Arct).
 
Engine almost done. A few more cosmetic treatments and he'll be ready. According to the instructions, it should be black. However, I decided, in addition to the primer, to use several shades of metalizers to finally cover with black color. As a result, we managed to get a metallic gloss and a bit more play of colors.


 

I think I liked playing with the plates when building the P.11c and got into the valorization of the Merlin engine for the Spitfire. Patience and no rush, I keep telling myself that.


 

The wings and fuselage were joined. All that's left is to take care of the joints and putty and the whole section will be painted in this form.


 


I ordered some literature, including a monograph on Circus Skalski. If you feel like it, I will intersperse the workshop with information about the formations and their African experiences in the spring of 1943.

Best regards
Lukasz

The wings are basically ready. Polished and with most of the elements, at least those that are necessary for overall painting. On the leading edges I used Mr.Hobby 500 gray filler. I'm finishing work on the fuselage and soon it's time to join the wings.


 


Cheers Lukasz

Flaps and ailerons done. I am delighted with this set. I don't have any knowledge of the modeling market yet, but if there are companies that make models as well as Tamyia, be sure to share your experiences.

I painted over too much and the presahding is not very visible, but the conclusions are already there. First of all, the blend proposed by Tamyi is too dark in my opinion. I would like the model to be in light tones, so I will lighten the base color in a ratio of 1:4, not 1:3 as recommended in the instructions.
 
Secondly, I decided to use two colors of preshading on the underside of the airframe. The center wing, the fuselage and the horizontal stabilizers will be made with a brown mix, and the rest with a navy blue mix. The transition between the mixtures will be asymmetric.
 

 
In the photo, I marked the frames in the colors of the preshading used. I know that you can't see too much, but the point is that the concept was born. Time to get to work.

The first colors appeared on the wing.

Since I'm waiting for resin additions in P.11, I went back to work on the Spitfire. I started assembling the wings. However, there was a need to use the final color of the bottom. I've never put a similar shade before and that's why a million questions appeared in my head.
 
First of all, I had to decide how to apply preshading? What shade will be the best, or maybe a combination of several colors? I've already experimented with a similar solution and the results were promising.
 
So I took my test model out of the cabinet and prepared the surfaces as in the final Spit. In the actual model, the metallic surface will be much more complex, but this experiment was only to indicate the correct color of the preshading, so I limited myself to the basic treatments with the test model.

To give you a full view, I'm posting the desert paint scheme and colors. The first test will be on the underside blue color.
 

 
Then I prepared three types of mixtures from which I made the colors.


 
Next step, apply the correct color and judge. Let me ask you for your opinion which shade will look best.

It was crazy night with Spit and P-11 

Rudders in place.
 

 
 

I've finished work on the cockpit. I also painted the inside of the hull. For the first time I used C8 silver from Gunze. It works out quite well. I try to use wash sparingly, but I would still like to give a desert character to a machine that stood, flew and fought for two months in very harsh conditions.
 



 
Unfortunately, I set the focus wrong and it went to the other half of the fuselage. I hope this isn't a big problem.
 

 
Finally, I glued the cockpit to the fuselage, along with other elements indicated by the manual.
 

 
Hull closed. The next stage behind me.
 

 
I made my wishes in another report, but if someone didn't find it there, I'll leave it here as well. I wish you all the best in the New Year.

From the beginning, when I was thinking about modeling, I was guided by the idea of celebrating Polish wings. Considering how many excellent pilots we had, how many stories and incredibly beautiful cards in aviation stories, I decided that it was worth immersing myself in this world and celebrating these people in my own way. It is true that I started modeling from a completely different side, there was Shiden-Kai, then Raiden and then two Japanese machines that I presented in the gallery. However, I decided that this was the stage of basic learning in airbrushing and modeling in general. Now I think I'm ready to tackle the actual topic.
 
As a standard, I decided to run two projects in parallel. The main theme, i.e. the title Spitfire EN315 from the Polish Fighting Team with the side designation ZX6. Model from Tamyia kit in 1/32 scale. I will not write about the second model here, because I will create a separate report for it.
 

 
The reason for sending a group of Polish pilots to Africa was supposed to be "gaining tactical experience in the use of aviation". In fact, it was about creating an opportunity to fight the Luftwaffe, whose planes were hardly seen over England anymore. A new opportunity for combat use has appeared for Polish fighters. On March 28, the local population could see for the first time what Polish airmen can really do.
 
As for the machine itself, it is probably the most frequently built aircraft of this squadron. It can also be considered one of the most distinguished PFT fighters. They flew on it Dziubek Horbaczewski, Bohdan Arct, Kazek Sporny, Mieczysław Wyszkowski, Mieczysław Popek and of course Stach Skalski flew it. An elite Polish group of pilots was sent to North Africa in March 1943, they fought there for the next two months, achieving great successes and gaining recognition. For me, the main character, commander and owner of the machine, i.e. Stanisław Skalski is an extraordinary, extraordinary and tragic character at the same time. The greatest ace of Polish forces during World War II. A character hurt by fate, enemy and homeland. Another outstanding pilot is undoubtedly Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, called Dziubek. An excellent pilot and a rising star who started to rise to the top of Polish aces in Africa. He died in 1944 when his formation of 12 planes clashed with 60 Focke Wulf machines. Before being shot down, he destroyed three enemy machines.
 
The Poles on this machine scored a total of 6 confirmed kills, 2 probable kills and 2 damages.
 
The construction itself will be rather standard, I will use a few additions, which of course I will write about during construction. This is my first report, so I don't quite have an idea of the scope of descriptions and photo materials yet. I already have one Tamyia behind me, and the Spitfire itself is said to be much more interesting in the modeling project itself. Time will tell.
 

 
First up, as always, is the cockpit. Basically, I use a light base, but for the cockpit I use a dark one, it's easier for me to shade all kinds of spatial solids. So I used black color and then the actual color, in this case Tamyia. Later, on the protruding elements, I put the base color brightened with Buff, also from Tamyia, after placing such a filter, brightening again and another one on smaller surfaces. Then a dry brush and paints from Vallejo. Finish with a panel-line dark brown and sand wash to bring in some desert decor. I painted the piece with a brush.
 
The pieces fit like Lego bricks. No slack, no thinking, pure pleasure.
It should be mentioned here that I used belts from Eduard and a Yahoo board. I bought one of the spits second-hand, and since it had these extras, I decided to use it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I have to say that I like this stage. Building cockpits always absorbs me completely. At the moment, the only difficulty was the Eduard belts and their strange assembly instructions. Fortunately, there is the Internet and I finally managed to figure out what was with what and where.
 
 
 
 

Calling this one done.  The following photos are not the best.  When I finish the ground work I will post better photos of the diorama I am making that will include the two figures I made for this build in the "Ready for Inspection"  section.  Thank you everyone that visited the build and for the many kind comments!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rigged - Whew!!  I rigged the bracing and control wires in three sessions over a period of two days.  The process was the most compleX rigging that I have done to date.  The double bracing wires were a challenge to thread through the eyelets in the areas where four of them were located together.  As there were a lot of crisscrossing of wires I had to make sure I did not run wires that interfered with others - I had to re-thread a couple when I saw they were not quite right; fortunately before I glued them.  The bracing wires that run very near to the fuselage area were especially "fun" to get threaded as there was very little room to work with, and I admit that more then a couple of naughty words were spoken during that part of the process.  I am glad I thought through the rigging sequence as if I had rigged some of the lines in a different sequence it would have made it a good deal more difficult. 
 
At any rate the rigging is finished and looks halfway decent.  My next WWI build will be rigged with fishing line as i have never tried that method.
 
I shot a few of the photos slightly under exposed and backlit as the rigging lines show up better. 

 
The tail area was very fiddly to rig as both the rudder and tail skid are not engineered for a solid glued fit.  I managed to knock the rudder loose twice during rigging.
The little brass tubes were an experiment that did not work out.  Their weight caused the long bracing wires in the wing area to sag slightly and made an already complex job that much more difficult; so I decided not to use them after the tail area.  That is one of the reasons I plan to try fishing line on my next build.

 
Looking at the rigging with the model turned over gives you an appreciation for how complex it is - relative to a Sopwith Triplane or even an Albatros DV. 

 
The macro shows just how little room there was to thread the lines in the places where four come together.  I am guessing fishing line would have been easier to thread as it is somewhat stiffer than elastic line.  I was happy when I finished this particular part of the rigging process!

 
In between rigging sessions I worked on the exhausts.  My aim is to replicate the heat discoloration as well as some of the heat rusting effect.  I still have some work to do but they are coming along ok.

 

Hello all;
As many of you know, my beloved husband and life's partner Jerry Crandall passed away due to Covid-19 on 12 June 2022,  only 4 days after diagnosis. He begged to come home and not die in the hospital so I worked with Hospice to bring him home on Saturday. He was so happy to be home. The Hospice RN gave us pain management and oxygen. He was home at 4:30 Saturday afternoon and passed at 2:50 on Sunday a.m. He is now with the Lord.
I will continue Eagle Editions, we have several project in the pipeline. We have EagleCals and Wings of the Black Cross projects lined up. Thinking about phasing out some of our resins as they are becoming too expensive to cast.
We started our business in 1974 with western art and prints, expanded into books and hobby decals/resins in 1997 and plan to continue forward.
Thanks for your support in the past and we look forward to working with you in the future.
We have a selection of Bf 109 G-14 and G-6 decals available for the new ZM kit. I'll be sending out a mailer this week. And don't forget our 1:24 Spitfire EagleCals that are just around the corner!!!!
Happy modelling,
Judy

Hey Chuck,
 
I havent been around for a while, great to see your back! And wow, another great build in progress.
 
I will stick around know your back, and no, I'm not a stalker
 
Cheers
Damian

Hey Chuck, I havent been around much as I have been busy with work/life outside the temple of modeling aka my model room. Your build has come along considerably since I last droped in, saying "well done" feels cheap in comparison to what you have done (I woke up and writting this at 3am).
 
Thank you again for taking time to capture your build, I learn so much from your dedication to post the details of each build stage and your projects in general.
 
All the very best.
Damian

What can one say about perfection... nothing
 
Till the next post.

February 12/18
 
A short update, since I'll be gone for a few weeks in the sun to get away from a fairly brutal Canadian winter ever since Xmas.  Winter is great for modeling, but enough is enough already!
 
The early version of this kit, which I'm building, instructs you to cut out a couple of spots near the front of the wing on the port side (right side in pic below).  After some research I found that the front hole is the "Fuel Cooler Vent" and I suspect the open panel on the bottom is the exit for this same vent.  Anybody know?  Details and pics of this vent are very hard to come by, because it was deleted in later versions of the Mk IX and the wing camera was placed here instead.  I did, however, find a decent pic of it at the Spitfire site below.  Note the collar around the vent, presumably for reinforcement.
 
http://spitfiresite.com/uploaded_images/spitfi1xcv.jpg
 
For the starboard side, there is a circular cut-out for the wing camera, but it's just a hole.  Pics of this camera show that there is a glass lens within, so I fashioned something from the stash that would fit and used Tamiya cement at the base to secure it.
 
 

 
 
Due to the angle of the front of the wing, I dry fit the wing shroud in place while the lens dried, to make sure the lens sloped backward at the correct angle.
 
 

 
 
I then secured both wing shrouds in place and used CA glue to close any gaps.  The fuel vent hole was not circular at all and came out fairly triangular looking when you follow the instructions, so I added a brass collar and smoothed any gaps within the vent with more CA glue.  Much better- and it looks like the real deal above a bit more now.
 
 

 
 
EDIT: As mentioned above I started the engine assembly.  The coolant rail along the side has a central pin and two outer pins, but only the central hole exists, so make sure you drill holes as found in the upper right diagram of Step 43.  While I drilled the coolant rail holes, I drilled out the spark plug wire holes, inside and out, for a total of 24 (2 plugs per cylinder).  You have probably noticed that I'm using the Barracuda head covers, which properly have the Rolls Royce label on the sides.  The engine parts Sprue "H" is identical to the P-51D kit, hence the missing label for the Packard version of this Merlin.  There are some good Rolls Royce labels in the Eduard PE exterior detail kit, if you'd like to go that route instead.
 
 

 
 
A close-up of the rail fit.
 
 

 
 
So this is where I am now with engine assembly.  After clean-up and the removal of seams, I have installed as many parts as I can, but have left off some of them for ease of painting (sometimes a different color), fear of breakage with handling, or ability to add both electrical and hydraulic lines later, some of which are shown.
 
 

 
 
If I'm lucky, this engine will look half as good as Wolf's Merlin- as long as you're standing 6 feet away. 
 
"See you" in a few weeks.
Chuck

Not to be anal about it or pick a fight with anyone, as this is Chuck's masterpiece and fully understand getting bogged down in details. But my response about the wing being puttied from the leading edge to the spar was more in response to the post above my answer than anything and I hadnt seen that Chuck had gone past that point with his kit on the previous page. The practice became commonplace at factories sometime in 1942. I had asked Edgar at one point in time a few questions I had in regard to Mk IX spitfires, the bi colour undercarriage bays being one of them along with wing putty. Chuck, the image you posted of the Spitfire on the ceiling of the IMW is a Mk. II if I recall correctly so wouldnt have had the wings treated (Pre-1942). But again, no criticism of your model is intended, I can only wish for talents like yours. 
 
This is what I found  as the answer to my putty question from Edgar. 
 
On August 7th., 1942, a meeting was held, to discuss Supermarine's proposal to use smooth, rather rhan matt, paints, and paints to D.T.D.517 were eventually settled on. This new finish started, under mod 697, from September 25th., 1942,covered by drawing 30000 Sht.28 (of which I have a copy,) and 30000 sht 54 (which I don't, yet.) These drawings originated in October, 1939, and, with various updates, lasted throughout the war, though I only have a copy of the 1942, and post-war, versions of sheet 28. 
All of the airframe received an undercoat, of either U.P.1, or U.P.2 (haven't found them, yet,) grey undercoat, and special attention was to be paid to the front 20% of the wing l/e (top & bottom,) just like the Mustang. 
On the Seafire, this involved a coat of SOBAC primer, thinned 10-30% with SOBAC thinner "applying the thinnest coat possible consistent with complete covering," with a minimum of 1hr air drying. "Rivet recesses, joints, etc., require to be levelled by the application, with a thin bladed knife, of I.C.I. putty 147-524. Air dry at least two hours: longer may be necessary in some shops." 
After "dry scuffing" with grade 220 Gydro-durasil paper, two coats of I.C.I. grey filler 146-5 (not absolutely sure of the numbers, they're almost illegible)thinned around 10% with SOBAC thinners. One coat required 6 hours drying time; if two coats were needed, two hours had to be allowed between them. This was rubbed down again, although a heavily thinned coat of camouflage colour could be applied, first, as a guide. On the Seafire "D.T.D.517" drawing, it states that SOBAC Hard Grey Stopper could be used instead of I.C.I. Putty 147-524, and SOBAC Grey Oil Filler instead of I.C.I. Filler 146-5. The Spitfire drawing just says that the l/e, back to the spar, must be "stopped" and filled....etc. 
The minutes of the meeting stress this "20%" business, especially with regard to the span-wise panel line of the l/e-mainplane line.

Superb work as always Chuck.
 
I'm sitting in the back row watching you create another masterpiece.
 
I look forward to your next update, it may give me motivation to progress my own project.
 
Damian

11  The bottom is trickier to do, because there should only be a single lines of rivets, which are on the starboard kit part only, and therefore offset slightly from center.  This offset is quite small and “good enoughâ€, because punching rivet detail along a gap line is asking for trouble, which could re-open the gap.
 
 

 
 
12  At the front are two small circular depressions behind the fuel cap that should actually be holes in the panel that covers the fuel tank.  To replicate something similar without drilling through thick plastic, I used a drill bit to deepen both and I will add a dark wash to them after painting to set them apart.  The curved trim detail in front of the windscreen had to be replaced after sanding.  Note how well the windscreen fits the fuselage.  It is literally a drop-in, but I will need to add black to the bottom of the clear plastic to remove the “coke bottle†look of the bottom.
 
 
 

 

 
 
13  The rudder control arm doesn't really fit anything if the rudder is tilted left or right, so I cut it off and replaced it with electrical wire insulation stripped off a wire, then placed it into a hole I drilled into the fuselage receptacle.  The soft plastic will flex without snapping off the anchor, which I drilled out a bit with a #80 drill bit and added a small piece of wire to secure it into place.  The rudder arm is quite thick on the real deal, so this replacement is very close to scale, especially after painting.
 
 
Rudder pushed to the right
 
 

 
And now left
 

 
 
14  As noted by many modelers, the wing root is absolutely perfect and needs no filler.  This is just dry fitted.
 
 

 
 
 
15  The bottom is not as tight, but still better than most kits.  Closing this gap will be relatively easy.
 
Some might remember that I have the Eduard landing flap PE set, which I was going to install.  I found that it is a TON of work for something I won't be able to see very well, so I punted and left the flaps up.  Besides, finding a Spitfire with the flaps down is hard to find, so it must be a relatively rare occurrence anyway.
 
 

 
 
16  I thought I would show the bottom of the aileron to point out a “pin markâ€, which I notice many other modelers have filled.  It is real and as a matter of fact, should be a hole in the aileron with no metal cover like the other holes.  This hole is sometimes covered with dope fabric, so if you want to fill it, you should try and replicate same.
 
 

 
 
With all this done, I'm only about 1/3 finished, because the front and Merlin engine will be super-detailed, just like so many other builds.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Now another tip, or as my wife would say, “Retail Opportunityâ€.  Ever place a bunch of copper wires into a gear well or engine compartment and then try and paint them?  Not easy or fun, is it?  One way of getting around this for fine wiring is to use pre-colored fly tying wire, which comes in almost every color imaginable and it's CHEAP if you buy it in bulk.  I used to buy the odd small spool from sporting goods stores which can be quite expensive, but I found this set on Amazon for $21 Cdn ($16.80 US) with FREE shipping to my door, even without Prime (which I have anyway).  Each spool has at least 3-4 feet on it, so this set should last me forever.  Yes, many of the colors are too bright and shiny, but with a little dull coat, they will look just fine.
 
Note.  The wire is very smooth, but with shrinking this pic down to fit on your computer screen, it has pixilated a bit and the wire may look a bit braided.  It's not at all.
 
 
 

 
 
 
That's it for now boys.  I have a LOT of engine work in front of me!
 
Cheers,
Chuck

February 6, 2018
 
I've been plugging away at this build and although I've made the Tamiya P-51D kit before, I think this one is actually better, which is saying a lot.  Almost everything is finely detailed and almost everything fits perfectly, so it's a joy to assemble.  I said “almost†for a reason, so I have a few tips below to help if you make this kit in the future based upon my recent experiences.   Before I show anything, I have a few comments:
 
1)  As Wolf Buddee suggested to me, get the Montforton book on the Spitfire 9 and 16.  It is a MUST if you want to go to the next level of detail, even though the kit detail is already excellent.  Besides many photographs of the real deal, it has many engineering drawings of almost every part, so you can figure out what all of the parts are and what the panel line and rivet detail should look like.  Only downside to this book is that it has almost nothing on the engine, so fortunately I have other sources.  Hard copies of this book are hard to find and expensive, but you can download an E-Book in pdf format like I did here:
 
http://www.monfortonpress.com/
 
2)  Although I really enjoy adding a lot of detail to my builds, I have come to the conclusion that unless I can see this detail fairly easily without flipping the model over and using a flashlight, I'm just not going to do it anymore.  Landing gear wells are a perfect example.  I have spent many, many hours doing all sorts of extra plumbing detail on most of my models and I haven't looked at any of it since, mostly because it's mostly hidden.  One exception is the gear well of my Mustang build, which is very open and obvious, so that was worthwhile.  Thankfully the Spitfire has very little to see in the gear wells, so I'm not adding one wire to them.
 
       3)  I now use CA glue exclusively as a filler and I can't remember the last time I used putty, so everything below is filled with CA glue for the following reasons:
 
It won't shrink. With Accelerator, it is ready to be sanded NOW, rather than after a few days drying.  Similarly, repairs are immediate It sands easily within the first few hours of drying. Rivet and panel line detail can be re-applied without fear of ragged edges and chipped filler.  
So let's get on with my build, which I will describe numerically as follows:
 
1   As per the instructions, wing area below the cockpit is paint RAF Interior Green.
2   Aluminum for the rear of the cockpit and inner wheel wells.
3   Tamiya AS-32 Medium Sea Grey for the round part of the wheel wells, which is the same as the bottom color.
 
 

 
 
4  The interior of the radiator housings should also be AS-32, which is not suggested in the instructions.
 
 

 
 
5  Although I bought the Barracuda early style gun blisters, which have a more accurate curved front, I found them a bit short at the front, which meant that I would need filler to close the gap.  I don't think the difference to the kit parts is worth the effort, so I went with the kit parts instead.
 
 

 
 
6  I am using the RB Productions radiator grills, which have a lot more detail than the kit parts.
 
 

 
 
Unfortunately, I found them to be too tall- wider than the kit parts- so I had to cut off the top of the radiator grills to get them to fit.  This might be user error, but I don't think so.
 
 

 
 
From the front and rear, they add some nice obvious detail, without going crazy with other internal detail I'll never see.
 
 

 
7  As indicated many times before with other builds of this kit, the cannon and gun inserts fit terrible and take a lot of filling and sanding to smooth them out.  While the outline of the cannon insert doesn't not exist on the real deal, extensive rivet reinforcement does and should be added.  While the gaps between the kit parts appear to be still rough, the clear CA glue is very smooth and a dark wash is added to check for flaws.
 
 

 
 
8  While this detail might appear to be haphazard, this is what the rivet pattern should look like on the other wing, according to the Montforton book.  Also, the rivet pattern on the left should be extended just beyond the outside gun.  This rivet pattern should be replicated on the bottom of the wing as a mirror image, including the rivets surrounding the cannon tubes.
 
 

 
 
 
9  The horizontal stabilizers fit nice and flush to the rear fuselage, but they are both too fat and should be sanded down to meet the filet at the join.  To do this, I re-punched the rivets a bit deeper, sanded the plastic, then re-punched the rivet detail with a needle in a pin vice.
 
 

 
 
10  On the top of the fuselage, there should be two parallel lines of rivets that are on the kit parts, but the mating surface should be removed completely.  As before, I deepened the rivets, added CA glue to fill the gap, then sanded the surface smooth, followed by replacement of the rivet detail.
 
 

The other side, which had way less plumbing to deal with.
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
A close-up….
 
 

 
 
That's it for now boys, but I am now totally committed to this build with all the work accomplished so far.
 
 
Cheers,
Chuck