occa

That looks by far more than OK, and I fail to see any flaws withe transparencies.

Here this appears to be the same AC as in the color photo above albeit supposedly at an earlier stage without the cross of Lorraine and yet no stripes on the wings

At least this one seems to be blue grey above or maybe even DSG (notice the OD on the dakota in the background), no wonder if one considers they had to fly over water, the undersides look like neutral grey indeed. Notice they used the darker British roundel colors for the fin flash.

Just be aware that the shape of the cowling is wrong on all kits I know of. It was perfectly circular not only at the front but also at the trailing edge. There was just a rectangular cutout for the carburetor intake that gradually started about halfway when seen from the side.

Here's that painting from above in case. For embedding right click the image and select 'Copy Image Location' Then just paste the link ... the image will appear by itself after a second or two

If that's the day fighter scheme indeed then the mixed grey came out extremely dark almost like fresh EDSG

I so love this plane and your build is a real inspiration. I hope Frrom / SH will release every version that is, I will buy all of them. I also hope Gilles will release the promised additional decal sheets as soon as possible. Can't wait to see it rigged, fingers crossed that everything goes well.

That is on TSS with touch ups of what appears to be Ocean Grey (or Mixed Grey)

The FM-1 had the smaller tail like all the earlier versions, only the FM-2 hat the taller fin, I don't think the Hasegawa has an incorrect tail rather a minimally too small nose if anything even.

Simply WOW !!!!! And your awesome collection of Soviet amphibians, I'd wish I had something similar in my display cabinet. Edit: Seems you landed in the wrong section tho, I'd ask a mod to fix that if I were you.

Judging from the most excellent photo @SeaVenom posted above I'd say there are separate wooden panels. Probably to ease up construction and also repair. Edit: Oops but the longitudinal ones seem to be stencils ... so the panel lines we see seem to be restricted to the leading edges indeed, besides the panels around the engines of course.

Seconded what Graeme said ^^ Could you use your skills to make a new Mk.II nose + wing radiator sections as a conversion for the academy kit ?

What an awesome subject again J.W. !!! Please take notice the cross of Lorraine must be the French roundel blue here and not red in case Sorry for being a smartass

Omega Models produced two different conversions of camera installations too, I must have them somewhere.