When adequate has to be good enough.... Condor 1/72 A-36

[opus999]

9 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

I'm not sure if this of interest,

Actually, your timing is perfect!  I ran across this in the 3 or 4 threads I read through last night and could've sworn I'd saved it to the desktop.  But I didn't.  So I was resigned to trying to find it again tonight... but you saved the day. 

 

It's interesting to examine those drawings.  I assume they are real, I can't imagine anyone going through all the trouble to create those just as a hoax.  So, between the A and the B/C, the distance from the fuselage reference line to the top of the canopy is the same (31 7/16").  Meanwhile, the distance from the fuselage reference line to the wing reference line is 23 1/2 inches on the A and 26 1/2 inches on the B/C, which confirms the 3 inch change between the bottom of the canopy to the wing root.  Except... the depth was added beneath the fuselage reference line (which accounts for the distance between the Fuselage reference line and the canopy top remaining the same between the variants)!  This is consistent with what I observed when comparing the Monogram B to this model on the 1st or 2nd post.  So I'm encouraged even more to go with the model as is with just some nose refinements.

 

As for the wing kink... that remains to be seen, since I can't even close the two halves together yet!   I did have a closer look at the Monogram B I built and I can see the wing kink as described in other threads.  So I think I know what I'm looking for now.

 

9 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Really looking forward to how this turns out. 

Glad to have you on board Erwin! It's been really slow getting out of the gate, so far.  In fact I'll bet all the folks here are wondering if I'm going to actually build something or just gab on and on and on...    Now that I've got the shape accuracy figured out--and a plan of attack--I hope to really get moving on it.  Before people start going to sleep!  🤪

[72modeler]

I found a link to the XP-51 on display at the EAA Museum; I think you can clearly see how the leading edge of the extension droops towards the wing root. This would be the same for all Allison powered Mustangs as well as the P-51B/C. The P-51D/K had a different leading edge extension and inner gear fairing doors. It's a subtle contour, as from many angles, the droop of the leading edge is masked by the 'crank' of the leading edge extension. Once you see it, you know what to look for in photos, but be careful of restored Allison Mustangs, as many of them used P-51B fuselage sections and P-51D wings mated to a proper Allison  cowling and carb intake. 

 

https://www.skytamer.com/North_American_XP-51.html

 

 

https://www.eaa.org/eaa-museum/museum-collection/aircraft-collection-folder/1941-north-american-xp-51-mustang---nx51na

 

https://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/6/3/2/1312236.jpg?v=v40

 

This last link illustrates one of the 'composite' Allison Mustangs- as you can see in the photos and read in the text., it is  made from P-51D. P-51A. and A-36  sections, and is not an accurate replica of  any of the three, but it is a handsome airplane. If the Muszala Mustang has a cockpit floor and not the upper wing surface as the cockpit floor, then it will have a fuselage that is too deep, as it appears to have in the photos, so would not be of much use as a modeling reference.

https://vintageaviationecho.com/xp51a/

 

There is also a lot of detailed and comprehensive information about the detail differences between the Allison Mustang and P-51B/C on the P-51 SIG, but you have to be a member to access the forums; I am, and IIRC I did paraphrase the pertinent info when I posted.

 

As I recall, the actual height of the fuselage, from the top edge of the highest point of the wing at the root to the cockpit sill was 24" for an Allison Mustang and 27" for the P-51B/C.  The height of the old Frog Mustang and the Special Hobby Mustang I fuselage were correct, but both of those kits had other shape and contour issues. The Academy Allison P-51 kit also had the correct fuselage height, but had some other issues, mainly the wheel bays and prop- easy to fix, IIRC. I sold off my Condor A-36A  kit, but I think it was one of the kits I measured in the original  discussion, so it must have had other issues that I didn't want to correct at the time; I have researched the cross kitting  and corrections that need to be done to make an accurate A-36 or Mustang 1 out of the existing releases, but am holding off to see if a newer, more accurate kit is going to surface. It does appear that Arma Hobby has checked all the boxes for an accurate B/C model, which I believe is going to be a very big seller, so maybe, just maybe they will also do some Allison  Mustang variants- I would start with an A-36, as I think it is the one most often mentioned by modelers. BTW @opus999 really nice photo and comparisons to the Condor kit! 👍

Mike

Edited March 21, 2021 by 72modeler
added text, corrected spelling

[2996 Victor]

7 hours ago, opus999 said:

Actually, your timing is perfect!  I ran across this in the 3 or 4 threads I read through last night and could've sworn I'd saved it to the desktop.  But I didn't.  So I was resigned to trying to find it again tonight... but you saved the day. 

 

Glad to have been of help!  I'm always finding useful stuff and then forgetting where it was.....

 

7 hours ago, opus999 said:

the depth was added beneath the fuselage reference line (which accounts for the distance between the Fuselage reference line and the canopy top remaining the same between the variants)!  This is consistent with what I observed when comparing the Monogram B to this model on the 1st or 2nd post.

 

I think, comparing photographs of the A-36/P-51A and the P-51B/C lower nose contours, the latter does look deeper at the leading edge wing root, but of course its difficult to be totally convinced from a photograph. The drawing bears out what @Graham Boak was saying about the extra three inches in depth of Merlin-engined Mustangs. The entire upper fuselage and tail unit behind the radiator scoop appear identical across all the "razorbacks": as you say, the additional depth manifests itself in the area beneath the reference line, between the cockpit rail and the upper surface of the wing, while the increased depth of the radiator scoop serves to accentuate the upward rake of the lower fuselage behind the scoop where it fairs back into the tail area.

 

I'm learning a lot here  every day's a school day!

[opus999]

So... after a bit of an absence I'm finally getting back to this.  I worked on a Ki-61 Hien (Tony) to get the mojo going, but then it too was overcome by events and there was no bench time at all for a few days.  But, I was able to get back to it and finish the Tony last night.  Afterwards, I turned my attention to shaping the nose of this model.  I think I was procrastinating because I was a bit anxious about doing surgery on this kit, but I dove in.  I think it turned out well so far and just the little bit that is necessary really changes the look of the kit for the better.

 

Post-surgery on the right, unaltered half on the left

 

 

 

I dunno. In the pictures it doesn't look like much, but it is more noticeable in 3D reali life.   The shape now matches the picture that I was using for comparison.  Now, I've just got to replicate it on the other half.

On 2/16/2021 at 7:02 PM, 72modeler said:

I found a link to the XP-51 on display at the EAA Museum

I had forgotten that it was at EAA!  My in-laws live just a few miles away, so I've been a few times.  Thanks for the links, I can see what you mean now.  Here's a couple I took when I was there last:

 

 

On 2/16/2021 at 7:02 PM, 72modeler said:

be careful of restored Allison Mustangs, as many of them used P-51B fuselage sections and P-51D wings mated to a proper Allison  cowling and carb intake.

Yes!  I had noticed this in some pictures of restored aircraft.

 

On 2/16/2021 at 7:02 PM, 72modeler said:

It does appear that Arma Hobby has checked all the boxes for an accurate B/C model,

Oh... let's hope they do an Allison Mustang!!

 

On 2/16/2021 at 7:02 PM, 72modeler said:

really nice photo and comparisons to the Condor kit! 

Thanks!  I feel pretty good about the fuselage, but the wings may be a different story.  Time will tell...

 

On 2/17/2021 at 1:07 AM, 2996 Victor said:

I'm learning a lot here  every day's a school day!

Isn't that the truth?  

[72modeler]

@opus999,

 

Thanks for the EAA museum XP-51 photos- yep, once you know what to look for, that drooped leading edge extension is very apparent. I like what you've done with the exhaust opening, and I have attached a link that has some very nice XP-51 photos, mainly the profile view that shows the contours of the lower engine cowling- when you compare it to your kit parts, I think you can see the compound curve of the lower panels; when I built the old Frog Mustang 1, I had to sand and add filler to get the 'double humped' profile of the lower nose; it's hard to explain, but the photos are better than my attempt at a written description.

I think there are a ton of  1/72 modelers out there that would love to see an accurate Allison Mustang, but I don't think Arma could utilize very much of their upcoming P-51B/C, as the fuselage, prop, spinner, and exhaust are different, and although both variants used basically the same wing, the inner fairing doors, gun ports,  case ejector slots, and panel lines are not the same, and the B/C/D/K have two external stiffeners ahead of each aileron on the top and one below, which the earlier versions do not have, so I'm thinking an Allison Mustang/Invader would need  all-new molds.

Mike

 

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/north-american-aviation-xp-51-mustang/

Edited February 26, 2021 by 72modeler
corrected spelling

[Jackson Duvalier]

The rhinoplasty is looking good!

[opus999]

I finally made some real progress yesterday ("It's about time!" someone in the back shouts...).  This in spite of the fact that I took two of my kids on separate hikes. 

 

It sure seems like this kit was designed for maximum frustration.  

 

First, I painted the cockpit with Mr. Color C303 (FS34102) which seems to match the interior green pretty well.  Then, I did all the detail painting on my scratch-built cockpit features.  They don't look spectacular, but part of that is because macro really is not your friend.  When dry fit and with the canopy on, these details actually look pretty great to the naked eye.

 

 

 

I then went to put the decal on the instrument panel.  The decals look nice and seem very thin.  I heated up some water and dipped the decal in and off the paper it came.   I gently tried to straighten it out but it proceeded to break apart.  Nuts.  I figured that would be no problem because my 40 year old microscale P-51B decal set has I.P. decals.  I found the sheet, but the I.P. decals were gone.  I might have cut them off the bottom when I was working on my P-51B.  So I pawed through my decal box a couple times.  Nothing.  Looked in my other decal storage... nothing.  Practically tore the workroom apart.  Nothing.  On top of that, I've exhausted my store of spare I.P. decals.  "Oh well", I thought, "You won't be able to see the I.P. anyway when it's all closed up!" (spoiler alert:  You can.  )

 

The instructions have you put a bead of glue on the edge of the I.P. and stick it to the side wall.  Except, the shapes are different and there would be little contacting surface.  On top of that, there's no indication where it should really go.  No matter.  A piece of styrene and an educated guess later and it was installed securely!

 

 

Next, in preparation for closing the halves together I had to figure out how the tail wheel (which I'd painted earlier) was going to work.  The instructions show a hole on each half with the cross bar atop the wheel assembly fitting securely in each hole. That's easy!   or... not...  In reality, there is a locating hole on only one side and the crossbar is not wide enough to touch both sides.   Hmm... 🤔  Out comes the styrene again!  Here's the solution I came up with (note the fuselage half shown at bottom is the one with the guide hole)

 

 

When glued together it felt pretty secure, so that was a win.

 

I'm not including detailed pictures of the seat because it doesn't look the greatest.  There was some extra plastic in the bottom corner where the seat back meets the seat pan and I was able to get some out, but I didn't have a tool adequate enough to chip it all out (some kind of micro chisel would probably work...).  The seatbelts partially cover it, but it was still a frustration I couldn't completely resolve.  The seatbelts were a new experience as well.  I'm spoiled with my Eduard pre-painted photoetch.  The PE seatbelts that came with this kit were un-painted, so I worked carefully to detail them.  When the time came to install them and they were bent around the seatback, the lacquer wouldn't bend, but rather peeled up from the seatbelt and stuck straight up in the air!  So, I removed these un-cooperative pieces of paint and repainted the bare sections.  I wasn't too surprised since paint doesn't stick very well to metal.  I wonder if priming them first would've helped?

 

I got the cockpit glued to one half of the fuselage.  My scratch built details certainly look better here.

 

 

 

Then I aligned the halves as best I could and used my glue looper to apply CA and glue the fuselage together.

 

 

The seams are very rough and I foresee a lot of sanding in my future!  

 

 

 

Here's a shot of the cockpit from the bottom.  The floor could've been quite a bit wider!  And if you look carefully, you'll see there is daylight on both sides of the ledge behind the seat!

 

 

Dry fitting the canopy revealed that the seat is too far down and leans too far back.

 

 

So out comes the styrene again!!  A couple "phone books" under the seat and one behind it and the seat looks better now.

 

 

 

 

Finally I spent about 45 minutes removing plastic from the wings to get one side to close.  Part of the problem is that the alignment pegs don't have deep enough holes to fit in (in fact, they would probably go all the way through to the surface if the holes were deep enough) so I cut them off.  Then I removed all the excess plastic shown in the first post.  Finally one side can close.  Note that there is a gap close to the fuselage where the wing was short shot.

 

 

Looks like there isn't a wing kink on the leading edge to speak of.  Don't know I will be able to fake one or not....

 

My goal for today, if I have time, is to get all the seams on the fuselage fixed.

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well once the canopy is closed up not much can be seen of the I.P. On the razorback Mustangs. Particularly the birdcage canopy birds. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

So After thinking on it a bit today, I went and had a dig through the decal files. I found an old 1/72 micro-scale mustang decal sheet that still has two I.P.’s let me know if you're interested ? 

[opus999]

On 2/28/2021 at 11:12 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

So After thinking on it a bit today, I went and had a dig through the decal files. I found an old 1/72 micro-scale mustang decal sheet that still has two I.P.’s let me know if you're interested ? 

Thanks, Dennis, I really appreciate it, but I think it would be far too difficult to put on at this point.  Besides, it probably won't be seen very well. Thanks, though!

[opus999]

I can safely say I have never used a file this much on a model.  I gave up on the sandpaper... just using a file now!  I had to remove an unbelievable amount of plastic to get the wings to fit together, and then even more to get them to fit on the fuselage.  I've easily spent a couple hours over the last couple days filing and fitting. It's paid off, because I have the wings on now! 

 

But first, on Sunday I got the seams on the fuselage all smoothed out.  It's hard to see, but I tried to capture it here:

 

 

Then tonight I got to where I could put the wings on.  One side doesn't look too bad:

 

 

The other....

 

 

This was not from filing, either.  It's just part of the design.  

 

Also, I haven't tackled this yet -- it's going to be special.

 

The other thing I tackled tonight was the intake.  It was two pieces and nothing fit well so there were steps at each seem, but Mr. File took care of that in a hot minute!

 

 

It still needs to be sanded and smoothed, but at least it's contoured correctly right now.

 

So here's where its at tonight.  Almost looking like an airplane!  

 

 

 

[2996 Victor]

Excellent work beating this raw material into shape! It's coming along very nicely, I'd say.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Cheers,

Mark

[opus999]

yesterday I filled in that atrocious gap on the port-side wing root.  I mixed up some Apoxie sculpt and just kept pushing it in to the seam until it reached the bottom and continued to fill it until it was flush.  Smoothed it out with water afterwards.  It will need some sanding, but it is far better than before.

 

I masked a little bit of the canopy but the family is binge watching Star Trek: Picard, so didn't get a lot done last night or tonight.  The canopy makes me the most anxious because of the poor fit.  I have some ideas about how to fill the massive gaps in, but I'm a little apprehensive because canopies are tricky things when it comes to sandpapers and various glues! 😕 

 

I'm going to throw this question out there:  Does anyone have any information about wheel well color?  My P-51B build was helped out quite a bit by fellow Britmodellers who shared some great info and the answer there was that the wheel wells were painted in an aluminum lacquer, with zinc chromate on the spar.  I don't have any reason to suspect that the P-51A would be any different, but if anyone knows it would be helpful.  Unless I can find any other info, I'm planning on a silver wheel well.

[mark.au]

This WIP is a real wrestlemania!  Bravo for your perseverance and execution.

 

NA put progressively more paint/corrosion control into the wheel wells throughout production.  It’s quite possible though that there was none at all this early in the type’s production, even including the main spar.  However, if it were my model I’d represent a main spar painted in YZC with the rest of the wheel well left natural metal - note that at this stage in production it wasn’t a silver or aluminium paint, just natural metal for the ribs, stringers and the underside of the wing skinning.  When the rest of the interior came to be painted it was painted with either YZC or Interior Green (or green zinc chromate  ).

 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by mark.au
Clarity

[opus999]

1 hour ago, mark.au said:

This WIP is a real wrestlemania!  Bravo for your perseverance and execution.

Thank you, sir!  It has been a challenge, but at least I knew what I was getting into, and I'm quite pleased with how its turning out.  

 

1 hour ago, mark.au said:

 However, if it were my model I’d represent a main spar painted in YZC with the rest of the wheel well left natural metal

I would too if the molding was better.  As it is, the wheel wells have sides, so there's no main spar to be seen.  I'm really kicking myself because just yesterday it occurred to me that I could've ground away the molded wheel bays and built a new wheel bay like on my P-51B.  It would've looked a lot better.  I briefly entertained taking the wings apart and doing that, but there's no way those wings are coming apart now!

 

 

[opus999]

Well, didn't quite get to where I wanted by the end of the weekend.  That's OK, though.  It was very nice this weekend -- sunny, warm and still -- so my wife wanted to explore some potential locations to take her Cub Scout pack.  We ended up going to a really neat location about 20 miles out of town called "Two sisters".  I've lived here my whole life and have never been there.  

 

I live in Washington state, whose nickname is "the Evergreen state".  So, here's a picture of me hiking in the Evergreen state:

 

 

Yeah... "Evergreen" only applies to about half the state.  The other half is in a rainshadow from the Cascade mountains and is dry and hot! (near-desert climate actually).  The bare sand is not very common, my neck of the woods looks more like this:

 

 

Sagebrush and basalt rock.

 

Here's the "Two Sisters' which is a formation of eroded basalt rock:

 

 

Pretty neat.  A trail went to the base of each "sister".

 

 

In the above picture the contrails point to SeaTac international airport in Seattle. 

 

Once at the top, it was a long sharp drop down.

 

 

But it had an amazing view of the mighty Columbia river that runs through our town.

 

 

But you didn't come here to see this!  You came here to see some modeling.  I finished masking the canopy and set to trying to fix its fit. I did some sanding so that the canopy sat on the sills, so at least there are no gaps there.  The rear part, however, needed some shimming to fill in the gaps.  I used some styrene, and whittled a bamboo toothpick since the opening between the fuselage and canopy was wedge shaped.

 

 

This wasn't meant to fill it in completely, but to act as a backstop for whatever filler I was going to use.  I glued the canopy on with Micro Krystal Klear and waited for that to set.

 

The other aspect of the model that I really wanted to fix, but wasn't sure if I could was the intake atop the cowl.  It needed to stick out toward the propeller by about 3-4 mm.  Looking at the parts tree, I found that there was an unused part.  It looked like a box, but it had a hole in one side and grooves on the sides.  I measured it and it was a hair narrower than the intake.  I decided to cut it down to shape and use as the front part of the intake.  Here it is after I'd mostly cut through it with the razor saw:

 

 

Once that piece was off, I cut it in half along the groove, and then did some trimming to make sure everything was even and square.  Then I glued it on, and filled gaps with CA.

 

 

 

 

It's not perfect but it is a whole lot better! I think my intake may protrude a little too far, but I was trying to match the gap between the intake and propeller disk in the photo I had.  I'm pretty thrilled that I was able to fix that because it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.  The drawback is that there is no opening in the intake (but there wasn't one in the original mold, either) and I'm not sure if I will be able to cut a bit of an opening or not.

 

When the canopy set up I decided to fill with putty.  It seemed like the best option for this application.  My tube of squadron putty was rock hard (and I guess I won't be getting any replacement for that ever again, huh?  ).  Luckily my Testors putty was still soft and it came out of the tube a bit runny, which is what I wanted anyway.  I puttied around the seams:

 

 

 

It's going to be a bit of a trick to sand the rear-ward part of the canopy without removing the masking.  That will be interesting. 

 

As of bedtime, the putty was still a bit soft, so it will need to sit at least overnight.  Then maybe I can start the final sanding tomorrow and finally get some paint on!!  🥳

Edited March 8, 2021 by opus999
replaced picture

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

The model and the terrain look good. 

[2996 Victor]

The A-36 is coming along really nicely, and the cowl-top intake looks so much better - it's a really distinctive part of the Allison Mustangs and you've got it to a tee.

 

The landscape where you are looks magnificent, absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing those photographs, its wonderful to see such amazing sights even via a computer monitor! The Two Sisters are incredible, and I admire your fortitude in climbing to the top - I've no head for heights, and although the view is astounding I'd never be able to get myself up there!

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[opus999]

When I got done with work today, I thought I'd sand the canopy area and found that it was still soft!  It has been years and years since I used Testors Putty, but I'd expect it should've set up by now?  It seems like it should eventually harden up.  If not it will really be a pain to pick it out of all the crevices! 😕 

 

So, I'm a bit stuck.  I can probably sand on the wing roots and underneath the nose, but after that I can't go any further.

 

Another thing I forgot to point out: you may notice in the pictures from yesterday, that the spinner is quite "bulbous" looking.  Since a shaft comes out of the back of the propeller/spinner assembly, I'm going to put it in the Dremmel and (hopefully) sand it into shape. The thickness of the plastic is much thinner in the nose than the rest of the body than the spinner, so I think I will pack it with Apoxie sculpt in case it gets too thin, or even breaks through.

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Opuss, hang in there--your perseverance is rewarding you with an excellent build of an important member of the P-51 family that many of us do not have in our collections--the shaping you did on the bottom cowling is awesome & you tackled the wing joint well.  At least they made the rear windows in the canopy part of a larger piece of the fuselage--I shudder to think about making the windows fit into cutouts given this molding.  Great work!  Best, Erwin

Edited March 9, 2021 by VT Red Sox Fan

[opus999]

Well!  The putty hadn't set up yet as of this morning.  I decided to remove all the excess in the hopes that a thinner layer would dry (cure?) faster.  After work I checked on it and it was still not completely hardened yet.    To heck with it!  I started wet sanding it, which was a real challenge to preserve the masking, and then put a super thin layer of CA over it.  

 

Sorry no pictures because really it looks the same in the photos, but all the little details are being fixed.  I finished smoothing out the wing edges, finished the wing roots, sanded the join between the fuselage and the front of the wing assembly on the bottom, fixed the sink holes in front of the landing gear bays, packed the spinner full of Apoxie sculpt and glued it together and glued the bombs together. Whew!  Then all was sanded down to 8000 grit.  Some of the seams wouldn't past muster on an NMF, but will be just fine for dull O.D. and gray.

 

My next challenge is to finish off sanding around the canopy seams.  That will take some time because I have to be very careful.  Another thing I've been thinking about is trying to sculpt the leading edges to look a little more like those in the XP-51 photos I posted (the infamous 'wing kink').  I won't be able to match it exactly, because I don't think there's enough material there, but I might be able to improve the look.  After that I will be able to paint.  Finally!

 

9 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

the shaping you did on the bottom cowling is awesome

Thanks! I am so happy it turned out.  It really didn't look right, otherwise.

 

9 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

At least they made the rear windows in the canopy part of a larger piece of the fuselage--I shudder to think about making the windows fit into cutouts given this molding.

Yeah, even though the sanding has been difficult, I have to agree with you.  The cutouts might have had the same quality control as the wing roots! 😟

[opus999]

Lots of little details knocked out today, but still not painting yet!

 

I started off by finishing the sanding around the canopy.  Trying to get it to blend in with the fuselage was a challenge because it was slightly wider than the fuselage at the top, but slightly narrower at the bottom.  Plus, I had to be careful not to wipe out all the masking I'd done.  In the end, one side looks good, and the other side looks good except for one spot, that I hope a drawn-in panel line will mask in the end.

 

Next I set out to improve the leading edge ("wing kink").  Here's a couple "before" pictures, but it's kind of hard to see the leading edge

 

 

 

I used the photo of the XP-51 I'd posted before and took my file set to the wing.  Once I was happy with the shape, I sanded the newly contoured wing down to 8000 grit.  For what it's worth, here's a couple of pictures, but you can't really see the leading edge, so it's really hard to tell that there's a difference.

 

 

 

This picture probably shows it best, the shadows by the wing root along the leading edge are the new contours I sanded into the wing:

 

 

It's not perfect by any stretch, but it looks a lot better than before.

 

Next, I set out to do some preliminary painting, so I masked the canopy to put the interior green on, and the exhaust stacks to touch up all the paint that had rubbed off.

 

 

...and after;

 

 

I put liquid mask on the exhaust stacks, but that wasn't going too well so I think I'll be masking and painting these again at the end of the build.

 

I then decided to re-shape the spinner, because it was much too bulbous.  Since it has the shaft built in, I was able to just put it in the chuck of my Dremel and turn it down as if it was on a lathe.

 

 

I'm disappointed that the next photo doesn't really show the improvement, but believe me it looks so much better than before!  I'm sure you all will get more opportunities to see it later in the build.

 

 

At this point I was going to primer, but then at the last minute, I remembered the light in the leading edge.  Good thing, too, because when I dry fit it I found that a) it didn't fit, and b) it was about a millimeter too thick!!  You wouldn't want it to fit would you?    So, I temporarily glued it in so I could file and sand it into shape.  With the top flush, here's how it looked on the bottom.

 

 

So, I filed it into shape, and then sanded all the way down to 12000 grit, which made it look brand new.

 

 

 

I then popped it back out and decided to use a trick I learned from @billn53:  I took my smallest drill bit and drilled into the back, then filled it with white paint so it looks like a light bulb:

 

 

 

When that is dry I will paint the back (reflector) of the light with Testor's Chrome and set it aside to the end of the build.

 

Speaking of drills, I drilled out the machine gun openings in the leading edge of the wings, too.  

 

So, I have no tasks left before painting, which means I should be able to get to it straightaway tomorrow!! 🥳

Edited March 13, 2021 by opus999
wasn't finished yet!

[2996 Victor]

Fantastic progress, Opus, this is really coming together now! I think we can get the improvement to the leading edges from the shadow in the pic, which is a really distinctive feature. But the spinner is clearly so much better!

Neat trick with the landing light - must try to remember that

Looking forward to primer!

[alt-92]

Nice work - and some good tips  must dig out that MPM mk.I and have a good look. 

Lovely pics of the area, btw. You're not far away from Wallula Gap, apparently.  Washington State is a fascinating location for geology nuts like me. 

Cascade volcanoes, Yellowstone hotspot basalt, ice age flood erosion, pieces of Mexico (yes really)...

If I ever get the chance, the PNW is top of the list of US places to visit. 

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Coming along nicely—best, Erwin