ianwau

Some progress to report. There's been a fair bit of fettling and procrastinating in the background but a bit of a milestone for today. Have pushed ahead with fitting the exhaust fairings (vacform) and the 4 x finlets (white metal). The finlets are very tidy castings - but in doing the prep I twigged that I had 3 x lower finlets and only 1 x upper finlet. Assume that someone else in modeller land has 1 lower and 3 uppers - better check your stash! Anyway - not a big deal as scratchbuilt a replacement from 2mm sheet styrene I've finally decided NOT to do the wingfold. Whilst I have the rather expensive and OOP Airwaves PE set for it (came with the original FeeBay kitpurchase) - on balance I know I'm not going to enjoy it. PE and me - yeh naaaah... That decision meant I could push ahead with fitting the internals - which is basically the kit white metal interior + vacform seats + tamiya tape seat belts and control columns. Being a T2 - the 2nd cockpit needed an instrument panel etc so cobbled something together - painted it mostly black with leather seats. And with the internals done - I could move ahead with fitting the canopies. Dynavector give you two complete sets of vacform canopies, which would seem to be clear styrene (as an experiment on scrap with Revell Contacta stuck like glue). That was helpful as I keep superglue away from canopies, and the canopy glues I prefer using with conventional injection moulded kits. The canopies require a degree of fettling and dry fitting. they are a nice fit, but there's basically nothing in the instructions that tell you which surface is supposed to fit where. So plenty of trial and error. Anyway they're now glued (with Revell Contacta) and I'll be using a bit of "Milliput Black" to blend them in and backfill some of the gaps where I was over-enthusiastic with the fettling vs under-enthusiastic with the dry fitting. It should scrub up nicely though Next Steps: - Blend in the canopies - set up the navigation lights and landing lights (blocks of 'clear' plastic, sanded to profile and polished) - probably install the undercarriage - I always find it handy for painting having a set of u/c deployed. It speeds up the process for me...

The 'bad batch' of butyrate was forming micro-bubbles under heat - before reaching vacforming temperature - using the exact same process I've done dozens of times before. PETG vacforms much the same although a little more 'rubbery' when hot, and requires a touch more heat.

Been there, done that. And from YOUR plans Derek. Thank you!

More progress... installed the interior - seatbelts from thin strips of Tamiya tape coloured in with a permanent marker - instrument panel from a laser printed copy of a googled image of flightsim comanche cockpit. Who'd have thunk! - control wheels fabricated from a combo of drilled sprue, stretched sprue, 0.5mm styrene strip and bent fuse wire. Fiddly. That'll do - despite it being a bit of a glasshouse you can't really see that much inside - unless you get TOO close to the model. ie I've skipped rudder pedals (buried in the blackness under the dash) and control knobs etc (I can't see them which is all that matters from my perspective). You can better see in the pic below the 'tabs' I have running around the perimeter of the cockpit. This gives me a fertile glueing surface - whilst also shielding any view of the glue (unsightly glue is more important than rudder pedals...) Here's a dry fit of the fettled canopies - still with a bit of sanding dust on the inside (not a planned feature of the model). - canopies (and airframes) are marked "A" vs "B" as there are some subtle variances on the size of the canopy opening (and hence canopy size) - it's probably obvious, but once the windows are masked, I'll firstly be painting a coat of the interior ceiling/frame colour before any coats of the exterior colour. This'll give the desired effect. - perhaps I could have masked off the interior glass and painted from the inside - but not a big value add from my perspective. And here we are after using 5 minute epoxy to glue the canopies. A MAJOR milestone - always feels good getting to this stage as you can sort of see (or imagine) the finish line - canopies are roughly masked so I can keep my fat epoxy fingers off the bits that are supposed to stay clear. - really pleased that the epoxying has 'worked' - ie no unsightly squished glue visible on the inside and a nice tight fit all round (makes for easy blending) - back of shot has the obligatory cropdusters under way (for Zac!) - a 1/48 PZL LaLa-1 (AN-2 convesion) and a 1/48 Callair scratchbuild Next steps: - Blend in the canopies with Milliput - fit the horizontal tail surfaces (will do this after the vigorous canopy blending is complete - fit the tip tanks on the airframe with tip tanks - better get the control surfaces engraved - nearly overlooked that! - prep for masking, masking and PAINT!

Ha! I have a 'reputation' amongst some who know me, for cropduster models s (~30 so far). Venturing into a pure light civil aviation subject raised eyebrows. The model in the background is a scratchbuild Callair cropduster.... Cheers!

Yep! Surprisingly distinctive profile even with just a raw fuse...

I've quietly skipped ahead a few steps in this build. Time for an update. - the wings/fuse came out of the lego jig - and needed a bit of Milliput around the wing root to blend it all in nicely - the fin was cut and glued into position - and also blended in. More Milliput. - the nose section was fitted - a couple of hollowed out pieces of 1mm styrene. Some Milliput and a bit of sanding (not quite there yet - just the one coat applied so far...) I've then started on the interior. Cabin walls have been added from 0.5mm styrene. If you look closely at the pic, I've continued these internal walls up beyond where the clear piece is going to join to the main fuse. This ensures I have a 'hidden joint' when those two parts are glued together - as well as giving me a very positive alignment tab. Instrument panel console and face has been crafted - adapted from the spares box - cross section of fuselage of unknown origin. Oh and a coat of paint - dark grey floors and red vinyl upholstery - matching my references... Instrument panel has been printed onto paper - source was a flightsim screenshot of a Comanche cockpit! Never thought that'd come in handy for modelling... Then onto the seats. Whilst I have a decent spares box - I invariably find the the seats that I'm looking for are not in the spares box. But these aren't exactly of Martin-Baker complexity so scratchbuilding will do. I kicked off with a long strip of 2mm styrene - with width able to accommodate the seat and seat back. I then cut a heavy groove through that coinciding with where the seat base vs seat back meet. Then cut out 4 x single seats and 2 x double seats. Round off all the edges using a sanding stick - then a bit of fine wet and dry. Then cut through at the heavy groove and join together. Not quite at right angles - check out your car seat to see what angle you normally find comfortable - because that's about the right angle... So here's what it looks like at present - seats and horizontal tail are just loosely sitting in position at the moment. - wheel wells have been mostly cut out (scroll up to see the pic of these being installed prior to glueing the top/bottom wing skins) - and have found tip tanks for the version I'm doing with tip tanks. 15 gallons a side. For which almost by accident the larger tip tanks from the Heller 1/72 Fouga Magister are a pretty much perfect size, shape and fit.. Next steps: - Getting awfully close to fitting the clear canopy - a bit more fettling on the interior first - seatbelts, controls, a bit of 'weathering' to make it look less toylike. - getting the canopy blended in is going to need a bit of care and time - and then the hard bit - masking the canopy (the bit I enjoy least - considering getting one of those Silhouette cutters - but then I'll have to draw up the custom masks - not sure which is most least fun) Thanks for following....

A bit of an update. Doesn't feel like a great deal to report to be honest - build has been progressing - but not necessarily exciting visible progress. - Main construction broke out of the lego jig. - fitted the rear tailplanes (using a styrene spar and more lego jig to ensure true). - fitted the white metal nose/engine intake. Beautiful fit. - started fitting the bits and bobs (eg the extra bulge under the port cockpit) - and a quick coat of rattlecan primer so I can see what's going on. This confirms my previous views on the fit of this kit being superb. The wing to fuse join requires NO putty - a simple run of the Revell Contacta cement and that's all it has needed. That comment is for both sides, top and bottom. The tailplane is just the same - NO putty. Don't you wish some of those modern injection kits could achieve the same some 30 years on? To satisfy Zac I've created in back of shot the necessary link to agricultural aviation.... Just for size comparison - here's a picture showing my recently built Alize - sort of a French counterpart to the Gannet . And the reason my leaning is increasingly to leave the Gannet wings in unfolded mode... The Alize is the vintage Heller 1:50 kit from 1960 - 60 year old mouldings! The Alize was more work than this Dynavector kit is turning out to be. Oh - and another croppie in back of shot for Zac (guesses anyone?). Next steps: - keep adding bits and bobs to the Gannet - exhausts, intakes, finlets on the tail. - move to getting the canopy ready for fitting - final decision on wingfold vs no wingfold.

Hi Derek, I've just gone for black interior - per the Dynavector instructions, and which matches the reference pics I've managed to glean. Scale effect might well mean a dark gray would do the job. My canopies will be closed up - so won't be much to be seen regardless.. Hey Zac! One needs some light relief from time to time! I'll include some WIP scratch croppies in the background of next progress pix!

So some more progress over the past few days... Worked out that the wing spar goes under the rear seat (ie above the floor). So have pushed ahead and fitted the floor, rear bulkhead and front bulkhead. Also the wheel well - which sees the nose wheel retract under the instrument panel. Then cut and positioned a rear spar (with correct dihedral). Only to find that my wheel wells interfere with the wing spars ability to perform sparring duties (this IS where it goes in 1:1 scale but my wheel well walls are a scale 2 inches thick) So Plan B. The wing spar is going to go under the front seat. The extra holes I've created aren't really a bother - there'll be an inner lining for the main cabin walls which will neatly cover this over. My feathered friend undertakes QA - clearly pleased to see the spar is not fowling the wheel well. So here we go with Lego friends helping out with the wing to fuse joins. Lego is ensuring the leading edge of the wings is on a continuous straight line - and is also at right angles to the centreline of the fuselage. And while we're at it - lets get the Comanche's twin sibling similarly laid out. There's going to be a bit of Milliput required around the wing root join - despite efforts, it's hard (for me) to get a precision fit around all these compound curves with bits shifting all over the place as you trim. It's not until it's in the Lego jig that you truly get that sense of which bits actually need trimming... Next steps: - Very first pic showing tail feathers all cut to size and ready to fit. They'll probably be put in position in another 24hrs or so. The jigs are readily adaptable for fitting the tailplane so may as well get it done before the Lego gets broken up.... - And Milliput around the wing roots. - and continue with interior.... Happy New Year!

Re your Chipmunk - I have a recent release KP 1/72 Piper PA25 Pawnee for which your Chippie description also applies. It has a slightly less annoying typo on the decals - "Grop Culture" (vs Crop Culture). Suspect something simply gets lost in translation. But at least we have kits of these unusual subjects!

A little more progress to report. Spent a bit of time releasing the pieces of the fuselage from their vacformed bonds - and a bit of fettling to make them fit. - each of the 2 x fuselages will have slightly different join lines to take account of the vagaries of the home vacforming process. - tabs have been fitted to the various pieces, both to assist alignment, and create a stronger joint - the aim here is to get the basic fuselage formed so I can push ahead with the interior detail, and the fitment of the main wings/spar (not necessarily in that order). - [back of shot for @Derek_B and @K5054NZ is the PZL Lala-1 with rear pod now moulded and almost ready to fit n blend] So here are all the component parts as at now. - both fuselages as you see them are glued and set aside to dry. - wings have been trimmed to length (one with normal tips, the other ready for tip tanks) - tailplane yet to be trimmed. Easy job. - cockpit clear section as yet untrimmed. Tend to leave this till much later when I can measure 3 times and cut once... Next steps. - Clean up the fuse - trim the tailplane - and scribe the control surfaces. Ditto the main wing. - maybe fit the tailplane - relatively pain free to do and gives a basis for alignment of main wings etc... - resolve the interior vs wings = chicken vs egg dilemma.

Looking forward to the reveal! Keen to get a hold of this new Airfix Vampire - might be a bit of a lag getting to Oz.....

Been a little quiet on this one - mainly because I've been dealing with boring bits (cleaning up and fitting the interior, and closing up the fuse). So jumping ahead a littler bit... The fuse in now closed up and I've largely dealt with the associated clean up and patch up of some over-exuberant sanding. The main wing to fuse join is a butt joint with precious little plastic on either part to give any confidence it'd stay put. In addition there is a distinct gull wing section for that inner wing. The solution of course was to make up a spar which is basically three strips of 2mm thick styrene - the outer two cut to correct angle for the anhedral (and the inner one just adding a bit more oomph. Obviously a lot of dry fitting to be comfortable with this. Dynavector have really done a brilliant job on this though - the wing/fuse joint is of Tamiya quality - ie no putty will be required... Others have had similar superlatives about this one. Something else I did (alluded to by Silenoz up above)... Around the inner surface of each wing (ie at the join), I have glued strips of 0.75mm styrene to strengthen the edges. The Dynavector plastic is pretty thin and this serves to give a bit more meat for the wing/fuse join and to also give a bit more rigidity (fat thumbs will surely squish the wing together at some point..). You might be able to just make out the strips in the right hand wing below.... Thanks Colin for the tip off on the wing fold detail. At this stage I still haven't decided whether I'll push ahead with the wing fold. I wanted to get the main wings fitted first before cutting any wing-fold plastic. That gives me more surety of alignment etc. I actually have completed the very old ~1/50 Heller Breguet Alize which makes a nice comparison to this one.. Anyway, pushing on. I've now glued the wings on. A bit of time was put in (as usual) to setting up a Lego jig to make sure everything is in alignment across all four dimensions. Whilst this is not usually required for a Tamiya kit - it becomes pretty much essential for vacforms and scratchbuilding where there at best vague connection/alignment points. You can maybe see what I mean about the wing/fuse joint being of Tamiya quality though - there's just a bead of glue running along it and I think I'm set... My Lego LAMEs have been enlisted to assist - although maybe a bit too much Xmas cheer involved.. Here's another shot of the jigged model... Will be waiting a good 24 hours before that comes out of the jig. Just as a taster for Derek_B... In back left of the shot - you can see the beginnings of a PZL Lala-1 conversion from the Hobbycraft AN-2. I've done the moulding for the rear 'pod' that houses the jet engine. Better google PZL Lala if you have no idea what I'm rabbiting on about.... Maybe start a WIP thread on that... Next steps on the Gannet? Out of the jig. Probably fit the tailplane using similar techniques. Then make a decision on the wingfold vs not...

Too right Graham!! We're both virtually a long way from Eglinton!

Progress update. With the trailing edge of the wings now set from the previous step - we move onto the leading edge. The wing is thicker at the root than the tip - and this flows through to the leading edge. A tapering leading edge was required - for which I used a strip of thick 2mm styrene - and sanded it down using some course grade wet and dry. The strip I used was initially 20mm wide - which I then cut into 4 x 5mm strips (2 sets of wings, port and starboard). Here's one of the wings with leading edge now glued - just out of traction. And in the recovery room. It looks a bit rough but that'll pretty much all sand out. I always make the upper and lower skins a bit oversize so they can be sanded down to side without having to use (much) putty. And here's what they look like after having shaped the leading edge to proper airfoil shape. There's a couple of spots where I'll need a bit of Milliput to fill a gap etc - and also some finer sanding and shaping before I'm comfortable with this. Not there is no dihedral applied as yet - I always do that after I have the basic wing shape correct. Also quite surprised that there's actually a couple of wheel wells hiding inside the rear section of the wing - waiting to be released.... So let's move onto the fuselage. The 'buck' for vacforming was prepared a couple of posts up above. Here's the plan for how this will come together - mould the lower section of the fuse in one section using 1mm white styrene - mould the front cowl and the rear turtle deck separately - also white styrene - mould the entire clear section (and a bit more besides) in clear PETG. Have always used butyrate before but after a bad batch thought I'd try the PETG. - the interior will obviously build up nicely inside the lower section of the fuse. Fore and aft bulkheads will assist in making this a 'sealed unit' so that the join between clear bits and fuse can be dealt with in isolation. So here we go with the underside of the buck set up for vacforming. Just attached with some 'white tack' - positioned so that the hot plastic doesn't suck all the way around the buck. It's low tech vacforming. That's an old plastic container (feta cheese!) with lots of wholes drilled in the lid. And a big hole in the side for the home vacuum cleaner... And here we are straight from the grill (ie the one in the kitchen). The styrene was sandwiched between two bits of ply - with the centre cut out. And clamped together using some standard bull clips. Did this twice over (since I am tag teaming a double build) So onto the moulding of the front cowl and turtle deck. Looks a little drastic - but I have cut the buck into three - primarily to ensure the section to be moulded in clear has a nice sharp edge at the front of the canopy. But also to maximise the chance of a clean shot. And here's that one straight out of the kitchen. Then the clear bit. The base material is 1mm PETG which I've never used before (but apparently very popular with the R/C guys for their canopies). It has a more rubbery consistency than the styrene - I initially thought I'd blown this one - but all the creases and folds you can see are nicely clear of the cutting points. Also note that I've switched the vacforming base - just a bit smaller given the buck is smaller. Means less waste (!) and I think the circular shape works a tad better. And here's the product of about two hours work. Obviously a fair bit of trimming now required (not much different than dealing with a vacform kit...) Next steps? - Get all the trimming done - then I'll join the fuse underside, front cowl and rear turtledeck. - then move onto interior fit out - (I need to decide if main wing gets fitting before/after the interior - need to check out clearances of a spar through vs below the cabin floor).

Beautiful detailing there. And great references! Following with interest

A small update with some more basic construction today.. wheel wells have been boxed in - a combo of sections of styrene strip - and some semi-circular pieces cut from a suitable sized drop tank in the spares box. The 'top' of this dry sanded to conform with the position of the upper skin. I will cut out the wheel well openings after the wing has been glued - saves introducing any deformity as the top and bottom skins are drawn together. I also made up some box section tapered spars (actually done as I-beams. Lots of measuring, a fair bit of cutting and not much glueing. The spars are tacked into position on the set of wings at top of photo. Also cut out the bits for the fin and empennage... And have pushed ahead by gluing the trailing edges on both sets of wings, and the tailplane bits. Wing spar is in position for the main wings - although there is no stress on anything yet. Once the trailing edges are dry - then I'll be closing the top and bottom skins over the top of the spar and gluing at the leading edge. Choosing 1mm styrene for the bottom skin and 0.75mm for top skin, gives me a pretty close match to required airfoil shape. Taking care to use as little glue as possible (ie none) on the main spar to ensures a smooth wing surface. The empennage has a really thin spar inserted - the unit is narrow in profile so doesn't need any help. The fin will need a tapered spar but will sort this out later (not important for the moment). Next steps. The fuse master is now ready for vacforming - just hasn't been a priority for today....

Have just started new scratchbuild and thought it'd be good to share the build here. Kits of civilian scale models are pretty thin on the ground - compared to the crop of Spitfires, P51's, 109's etc. One that seems to have been quite overlooked is the Piper PA-24 Comanche. Correct me if I'm wrong - but I've only seen some larger scale flying model kits - and nothing in more conventional (or even unconventional) scales. There's quite a few Cherokee kits (which is more 'family sedan') but the Comanche (a bit of a 'sports car') seems to have missed out? The inspiration for this is that it was one of my fathers favourite aircraft when he was in his early flying years - at the Royal Aero Club of NSW based at Bankstown in Sydney, Australia. Here's a picture of the subject model here - taken circa 1963 on a 'field trip' to Canberra. This is a VH-RSX PA-24-180 - in a rather tasty colour scheme. The other one I am torn with doing is this PA-24-250 VH-SME operated by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority - who had quite a fleet of aircraft to support that big project. This one here - a Greg Banfield photo from Bankstown 1963 courtesy of the Ed Coates collection. Including tip tanks. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austmz/VH-SME2.jpg To save making a decision - my current plan is to build TWO models at the same time. One of VH-RSX and one of VH-SME. Twin Comanches? Anyway - onto the model. I've now scratchbuilt quite a few of this style of aircraft and have a fairly standardised technique for dealing with the glasshouse and a full interior. These will be in 1/48 to fit in with my 'collection'. I found a set of plans from Aeromodeller 1961 - which whilst targeted at a flying scale model include some very handy fuse cross-sections and 'look' to be on scale vs compromised by the 'flying scale' requirements. There's also another set of plans in Air Progress - Winter 1962-63 which are rather nice but without the cross sections. There's some subtle differences between the plans - which I'd put down to artistic license. And happy to work with both of these as a basis. First up - here's the 'buck' for vacforming of the fuselage. Basically a skeleton of 1mm styrene built out with the cross sections from the plans (and all a little undersize to allow for the thickness of the vacformed plastic... That looks like the pic below after it is filled and sanded, filled and sanded, filled and sanded with 2-pack car putty (buy it from the automotive supplies stores - tell them you want to fix a dent in your car!). This is not quite ready for vacforming - a little bit of finessing still required to get the shape right, For vacforming, I will mould the underside in white styrene - and the topside in probably PETG (first use of this, wish me luck). The buck will be cut just in front of the windscreen after moulding the underside - this will give me a sharp clean edge to the front canopy, and ditto the top of the engine cowling. [The photo looks as if it's back to front - it's just the plan printed in reverse so I can get both a LH and RH view of the fuse (& yes I know the door is only on one side)]. So with some more putty on the buck and set aside to dry - time to turn attention to the wings. Remember I'm tag-teaming two models. The wing shape has been cut from 1mm styrene for bottom skin and 0.75mm for the top skin. Trailing edges have been sanding down wafer thin on the inside surface (using 180 grit then 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper. very wet). then a bit of marking out of the wing spar location and the wheel wells. Next steps are fabricating the wheel wells (gosh they're a long way aft!). Also finish off the buck to the point I can vacform. Hope you enjoy the build!

Following with interest - coincidentally having the Dynavector AS-1 underway concurrently!

A little more progress to report. Main wings are now glued - will need a little bit of putty here and there but a good result. I have still not decided if I'll do the wingfold - but not too late. Some build I've seen do all the wingfold cutting before the wing halves are joined - but my thinking is this would be a recipe for misalignment. Keeping in mind there are no locating tabs and the trailing edges are wafer thin. I have the old Heller 1:50 Alize done in wings down mode - and this'd be a nice juxtaposition (even if the scale is different). If I go ahead with the wingfold - it'd be this pose (reminds me of 'The Crane' from the Karate Kid movie). [photo is linked from Fleet Air Arm Association of Australia] The more complex piece of work has been prepping the fuse - ie getting the 2 vacform halves to start thinking about joining up. - added bulkheads to the fuse to give more strength/stability. Kit comes with one - I added one forward of the rear cockpit, and one at the nose. - added pretty much a full length tab to the bottom of the fuse - 0.5mm plastic strip with a curve to match fuse cross-section - ditto a tab in front of the cockpit, And a lump of sprue in the blind centre section at the top between the fore/aft cockpits - a confession: I actually over-sanded one fuse half in the nose area by a couple of mm. The 'tabs' I've installed up above will provide a sound backing surface for inserting a graft. Not concerned - one of the penalties for enthusiastic sanding with 180 grade!. - this work means it now pretty much all dry fits together just like a normal Tamiya kit? Well maybe not quite like a Tamiya - but it's pretty satisfying - I've given it a quick rattlecan matt black (most of the inside was black) - and then cut out (a bit less than I'll need to) the fore and aft canopy areas which gives me a good sense of how the interior is going to fit in. - front wheel well installed too (and doors cut out) I'm not planning to go to town on this build - just aiming to get the basics right and the satisfaction of having built a Gannet. Next steps? Getting awfully close to gluing the fuse together. But need to back track and check I'm not missing anything (instructions are a bit sparse)

Thx for the build story. I too have had one in the stash for last ~40 years - and would rather like to finish it. The updates/corrections you have done are just my cup of tea! Thx!

Thanks Zac - in parallel I'm actually doing another obscure cropduster - the PZL LaLa-1. Thought the Gannet would be of more interest here.

Excellent! Thank you for that - a great base to work from. And your own build looks superb - I hope I can achieve something of that quality.

OK - and away we go. This post is a bit of "Vacform 101" - so apologies in advance to those who've been there, done that. My initial interest is getting the main bits (ie wings/fuse/tail) cast adrift from their vacform bonds. started with a black texta line around all the pieces - mostly to be clear where I have to scalpel vs not scalpel. then scalpel round the edges. Not right ON the edge just a little away. The more 'away' you are the more sanding you'll have to do. then snap the moulded part away from the plastic sheet - very satisfying process this.... At which point you have lots of Gannet pieces all looking a bit rough round the edges. As shown in the photo below - I've applied a whole lot of 'tabs' of masking tape. This is painters tape sourced from the local hardware - not super cheap stuff that falls off when it gets a bit wet. The idea is that I can use these as grips between my fingers when I'm sanding. You don't HAVE to do this - but from experience, you're going to end up with fingertips sanded through to the bone without something similar... So let's get onto sanding. My standard setup is a full sheet of wet-and-dry sandpaper - in this case 180 grade which is pretty course, but when there's s job to be done.... You could use 240 grade if you're patient or 400 grade if you're alot patient. But the result really isn't much different. the sandpaper sheet is just lying on a large ceramic tile (leftover from a bathroom resto). But the sandpaper+tile is effectively clamped to a workbench as its annoying when the sandpaper slides all over the place. I sand wet. Very wet. And then you sand, sand, sand using the masking tape tabs as handy holds for your fingers and shifting position often so you're not wearing down one side vs the other. Not too much pressure - just lots of water. Then the MOST satisfying part (the vacform aficianados will surely agree!) is when you see slivers of plastic magically appear on the sandpaper (see pic below). This means you've sanded through that bit of overcut mentioned up above - and a really good idea to stop sanding (or just carefully preference those bits that haven't slivered yet...) Now this might all sound really tedious - but the fuse half below would have taken 10 mins (max) to get to the stage shown So 2 fuse halves, 4 wing halves, 4 tailplane halves were all done in an hour and a half (the photo timestamp confirms it!). Whilst the fingers were looking a bit prune-like - the fingertips were intact. So here we are with all the sanding done. And the next bit of prep begins - cutting out the wheel wells, cockpits - and installing bulkheads and tabs in prep for joining fuse, wing etc. And also started assembling the cockpit. Lot's of nice detailed whitemetal. Interestingly this kit doesn't require any noseweight (apparently) - as there's so much whitemetal forward of the CofG. I think I'll put some in anyway... A question for the brains trust. I've decided I'll be finishing this as a T2 Trainer - alternate parts for which are conveniently included in the kit. A small issue though is that the kit doesn't include alternate parts for the rear (ie Trainers) cockpit who presumably had an instrument panel vs the standard 'writing desk'? Can anyone direct me to photos of the rear (Trainers) cockpit for the T2 Gannet? Google not being real helpful - other than outside pics of BAPC309.... Here's a pic of the planned scheme (courtesy of Fleet Air Arm Association of Australia... Next steps. Cut out wheel wells, cockpits, install bulkheads etc