1/48th Mitchell II - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII.

You're doing great Terry. Do have a snifter!

Thanks Karl and Andy - I think I'll have two snifters, as I've completed the cockpit !
Seats are finished, painted, Sutton harnesses made, painted and attached, and seats fitted to the bases.
Control columns have been trimmed of flash and moulding seams (what a b*gg*r of a job !) and painted, and will be installed when dry.
The corrugated internal hatch cover for the rear entrance hatch has been made and painted, and awaits fitting when the paint is dry.
Just a few small jobs to attend to, and then the fuselage halves can be joined - at last !
I'll post pics tomorrow, when the paint is dry, and the control columns have been fitted.

Bummer about the pings Terry and as you said, I found a window from my navy Marauder finished many moons ago. Your perseverance is remarkable.

Geo

Thanks very much Geo - I've persevered further, and got the fuselage joined, at last !
I'm not happy with the cockpit seats - they're far too wide. I'd thought about either scratch-building some, or using resin seats, but decided against it - should have gone with my initial thoughts.
Anyway, the cockpit is done and installed, along with the remainder of the internal bits, a hole has been roughly cut for the astrodome, and a 'dome moulded from clear sheet, the bomb bay doors have been fitted, and the fuselage joined, with the seams sanded.

PICS 1 to 3. The completed cockpit - and that bright green which isn't. Should have changed the 'White Balance' on the camera for Tungsten light !
PIC 4. The very roughly fashioned hole for the astrodome, where the rectangular window used to be. This will be filed to the proper shape once the fuselage has fully set.
PIC 5. The 'dome was moulded from clear sheet, and wonders never cease, I got an acceptable part first time !
This was a little tricky to remove from the sheet and sand around the rim. It will be fitted at the end of the build, after painting the model.
PICS 6 and 7. The corrugated internal hatch cover for the rear entrance hatch, and the part in place.
PICS 8 and 9. Cockpit cemented in place.

The rest follows in the next post - limited to 10 pics with the 'new' forum system.

Continuing with the progress to date :-

PICS 1 and 2. The nose gear leg had to be fitted at this stage, and it was first cleaned-up, and the retraction jack and scissor link reduced in thickness substantially, before painting and fitting into the nose. The 'wheel hub' was also removed. Pics show before and after.
PIC 3. Fuselage joined, with the seams sanded, but not yet polished. I wasn't happy at about that gear leg dangling beneath the fuselage, and it lasted less than five minutes before the locating pin sheared at the first touch. I'll sort a way of reinforcing it and fitting it in place, as it can't be done later, due to the nose section, when fitted, blocking access to the locating point.
PIC 4. Small tabs of scrap plastic have been cemented around the inside of the redundant ventral turret aperture, to support the cover when fitted.
PIC 5. The bomb bay doors, designed to be able to open an close, have a gap at the rear, which will be filled with plastic card, sanded to shape to blend with the fuselage.
If needed. the line of the doors will be re-engraved.

Next step is to assemble and detail the nose compartment, before fitting it to the front of the fuselage, and then fit the tail plane assembly, blending the forward joint into the top of the fuselage.
Then work can begin on the wings and engine cowlings, which will need quite a bit of attention both in the addition of detail not included in the kit, and the modification to the cowlings due to the use of the resin items.
All being well, I hope to pot another up-date some time tomorrow.

Well done Pal.

I was going to do this next lot later today or this evening, but as it's p*ss*ng down with rain, I've postponed my intended shopping trip into town, and cracked on with tidying the bomb bay doors, fitting and filling the ventral turret opening fairing, and fitting the tail plane assembly.

PIC 1. The turret fairing, as provided in the kit, was fitted and cemented onto the plastic strips previously glued around the aperture, and the slight gaps filled with superglue, which was then sanded to provide a flush fit around the rim of the fairing. This area, as with the rest of the joints and seams on the fudelage, has yet to be polished to eliminate the sanding scratches.
PIC 2. The gaps around the bomb bay doors weren't as wide as I thought, and were easily filled with stretched sprue, dissolved into the joints and gaps using liquid cement. Once set, the sprue was sanded smooth. A coat of primer should show if the lines of the doors front and rear need to be re-engraved, and the very slight gap where the two doors meet will also be reduced slightly with the primer, and should be acceptable - especially as the model will be on a diorama base, and the underside will be difficult to see !
PIC 3. The opening in the rear of the fuselage needed to be forced open more, in order for the tail plane trailing edge fairing to fit and align properly, so a spacer, made from a length of sprue, was superglued into the tail end, opening the rear by a further 3mm. This spacer will also serve another purpose, described later.
PIC 4. The previously assembled tail plane and rear gun cupola was then cemented in place, carefully aligning the upper rear fairing, and ensuring that the whole assembly was square and true.
PIC 5. This rather large gap will be filled and blended into the line of the fuselage, using 'Milliput', once the tail plane assembly has fully set.
PICS 6 and 7. The spacer will also form the base for the rear frame, the shape of which is shown in the second photo, onto which the 'canvas' shroud will be fitted. The Mitchell IIa, although having the rear gun position, did not carry the single .50 cal Browning in RAF service, so the 'shroud' will be 'gathered' around the opening at the bottom, revealing the base for the empty gun mount - or at least that's the plan - if it gets too fiddly and my hands protest, it'll just be a plain, full canvas shroud !!
PIC 8. The glare shield coaming over the instrument panel had the joint filled with supeglue and sanded smooth, and the recess for the canopy windscreen was increased, to allow the entire canopy to fit snugly, minimising any joints which, if any show, will be filled to ensure a smooth blend of the canopy to fuselage. A Direction Indicator repeater will be made and fitted to the top of the glare shield, before masking the canopy and fitting it in place.
The starboard seat came adrift when I was attending the the joint in the coaming, so I took the opportunity to remove it, and re-fit it slightly further forward, which goes some way to detract from the fact the seats are too wide, and slightly improves the overall appearance of the cockpit area.

That's it for now, but I might have some pics of work on the nose compartment area later. However, as I'm considering moulding the Mk.XIV bomb sight computer, and possibly the bomb sight, in resin (I'll need a few more of each, for another Mitchell, a Lanc and a B-24, so makes sense to make one 'master', and mould the lot in one batch) , I may delay work on this area, whilst I obtain the moulding materials, and start work on the wing modifications instead.
Thanks again for your interest and kind comments, and I'll be back soon.

Thanks my friend - I was composing the last post as you replied the last time, so didn't see your reply.
I feel as if I'm getting somewhere, now that the fuselage is joined, and looking forward to tackling the wings, engines and cowlings.
The wings just need the oil cooler intakes opening and detailing, and the moulded shape for the landing lamps need to be cut out - I can use the spare lamp lenses from the B-25J kit for the lamps.
The cowlings might be a little more tricky however, as I'll need to remove the cowling flaps and carb intakes from the kit parts, and fit these to the resin cowlings - and hope that the cowlings will fit over the rather nicely detailed engines, and match-up to the nacelles without too much hassle !
Shame to hide all the engine detail, complete with engine bearers and ancillaries - the kit cowlings are designed to be removable to show the engines, but the props have to be removed to do so !

Maybe you don't need to have the props removed. Isn't possible to remodel the prop shafts and their slots in order to be attached when the cowlings are removed? If you could post a couple of pics of these I could come up with an idea for instance.

The interior turned out great Terry

Wow you are really cranking on this kit Terry! The completed cockpit looks great. Fine work on fixing those seams!

Thanks Glenn, glad you like it.

Wojtek, the kit parts are designed so that the props can be pulled off, and the cowlings removed, and the props can then be pushed back on again.
However, on the real aircraft, the front cowling ring would normally be left in place when doing normal engine servicing, with the cowling support frames exposed, unless of course, an engine change was needed, when all cowlings and frames would be removed.
The engines supplied in the kit would look fine displayed without the cowlings, but it wouldn't really be an accurtae way of showing them.
Also, the kit exhaust system is a collector ring leading to a single exhaust pipe, whereas my subject aircraft had the later 'S' type individual exhaust stubs, each one under a small fairing ranged around the cowling, so the kit engines as supplied again wouldn't be truly accurate for my subject.
I'd originally thought of having one engine either exposed, or at least one or two of the cowling panels removed, with ground crew working on the engine, as I did with the same kit for a diorama about 25 years ago, but as I'm now using resin, one-piece cowlings, and the exhaust is different, I decided against this.
Instead, the diorama will show the aircraft ready for 'Ops' at Melsbroek, with the 'trolley ac' plugged in to the starboard engine, and maybe a ground crew member topping up the oil tank on the port engine, from a small oil bowser trolley.
The pilot, W.Cdr Hamer, and his crew will be portrayed 'de-bussing' from a Bedford truck, carrying their parachutes and other kit, ready to board the aircraft.
That's the plan at the moment, but things could change !!

EDIT:- Crossing posts - Thanks John. It could be better, but as most of it will only be seen as shapes or shadows, I've only made a token effort on the interior, which is just as well, as it's been hard, and painful work, due to my bl**dy hands, fingers, wrists and arms being so stiff and hurting like hell !
Most of the work has been done in a couple of night-time sessions, as I couldn't sleep due to the discomfort. Been snatching a couple of hours sleep here and there as needed, instead !

Great work so far Terry!

My seat belts never look so relaxed,Great work on the pit Terry

Thank chaps.
Having a bit of break, as my hands and wrists are really aching at the moment - although I might just fill that tail-plane gap before i get some kip .............

On a roll now.

Certainly is on a roll...fantastic progress good sir!

Thanks very much, Andy and Wayne.
Hoping to crack on with some more tonight, hands permitting. Had a bit of a rough day today, with lots of pain, so been trying to sleep most of the day.
Currently checking over the wings to see what needs doing. The intakes for the oil coolers need to be drilled out and filed to shape, and the landing lamp recesses also need to be opened up. As the model will be in a diorama when finished, I also need to open the socket hatch for the starter trolley lead, on the side of the starboard nacelle, and cut out the hatch over one oil tank, in the port upper nacelle, and simulate the top of the oil tank and filler neck.
I've decided to definitely try to mould the Mk.XIV bomb sight computer, and I'll hopefully be getting the resin and RTV materials tomorrow, if the local art shop has stock of the right stuff. Meanwhile, I'll commence the basic structural work in the nose compartment, adding frames and quilted padding, and modify the seat, which is totally wrong.
I should have some pics maybe later tonight, or over the weekend.