Ok time to get this bird moving along after a lot of stop start over the past week...
got the lower gondola assembled and sanded, looks sh!tty because there is some superglue worked into the surface to get it smoothed out, have glued the lower canopy section in place on the nose section to get the gondola position right.
The forward part of the gondola has been removed for a plasticard plate through which the MGFF 20 Cannon will protrude. The few photo's available shoe minor variations to each one that was fitted in this position.
I haven't found any internal shots of this installation so i have taken a tiny bit of artistic license here, first I cut a small rectangular opening in the floor above the gondola for access to the MGFF cannon as this is a really tight area and it is logical that there could have been access to the gun via the cockpit rather than just from the rear of the gondola.
To get a consistent fit and make sure the MGFF assembly sits right I have extended it just slightly within the gondola using some brass rod to connect the bits, the brass rod allows me to leave off the extended cannon barrel until later, so i avoid knocking the damn thing off during further assembly and painting, none of the internal assembly will be really visible once fitted and surrounding area painted in any event.
So here is a series of pics....first part...