Got up early after a few hours kip, as I have a lot to do today. As I have to wait for the battery on my mobility scooter to fully charge, I cracked on and made quite a bit of progress with the wing, although some clean up is still required.
PIC 1. Walls have been added to the wheel-well 'troughs', the cannon shell ejector slots opened-up and blanked-off inside, and the oil cooler blanked-off at the rear and painted, and 'roof' added to cover the open top in the wing.
PIC.2. The 'walls' of the radiator shutter have been thinned down, and the actuator and braces added from stretched sprue. These have yet to be refined at the joints, which will be done after they've fully set.
PIC.3. Oil cooler internal blank painted, walls thinned and painted inside.
PIC.4. Radiator fitted and painted, and the de-icer spray nozzle made and fitted, again using stretched sprue.
PIC.5. The cannons have been removed, and the moulded M.G. port patches filed down. The remaining stubs of the cannons will be drilled-out once the wings are joined, and the gun port 'patches' replaced with painted tissue after drilling-out the ports, and once the model itself has been painted.
PIC.6. Fuel filler joint filled and the vent holes drilled, with the raised cowling panel lines removed and then engraved, and the cowling fastener 'buttons' lightly drilled.
PIC.7. The cannon shell and MG cases ejector ports.
PIC.8. The I.D. signal lamp has been drilled-out and backed with scrap plastic inside. The moulded lamp area was off-center within the 'retaining ring' but this can be rectified at the painting stage. Once the model has been painted, the 'lamp' will be painted and glazed.
PIC.9. The holes for the undercarriage indicator pegs have been drilled on each wing, and the reinforcing strakes added from various gauges of plastic strip. They are in the process of being chamferred and sanded to shape here. Unfortunately, I noticed after gluing them in position, that the starboard wing strakes are slightly angled, but there's not a lot I can do about this, without ruining the wing surface, so I'll have to live with it, and hope the paint finish hides at least some of this stupid error !
PIC.10. The top and bottom wing surfaces have been joined, and will have the leading edge joints sanded, and the holes for the turned-brass cannons drilled-out once fully set.
That's it for now, and I hope to get back to it over the weekend, time allowing.