Well, with the aid of Paul's excellent pics, I've been able to plan and commence the installation of the starboard engine, so that the upper cowlings can be left off, and the engine displayed, as if for servicing.
The actual engine bay and/or engines in the kit aren't quite to scale, so the spacing between the rear cylinder bank and the firewall won't be exactly as it should be, but it should look good enogh - fingers crossed.
It took a little over four hours to paint and assemble the engine, then complete the first stage of the installation, not counting time allowed for paint drying and cement setting.
After much test fitting, I decided it would be best to fit the engine to the firewall, then add the exhaust pipes, ignition wires etc.
PIC 1 shows the two cylinder banks, the one on the right being the rear bank, with the back facing the camera.
PIC 2 is the first stage of the installation, with the engine assembled and cemented to the firewall. The cooling gill ring has been fitted first, after sawing through the 'joints' and bending up each flap slightly. There should be thin strips covering the gap between each joint, and these will be added later, from thin plastic card, after the main work has been completed and the ring cleaned up. The 'bare metal' rectangles on the front of each cylinder are the exhaust ports, and have only been roughly painted. The scratch-built exhaust pipes will be glued to each of these in turn, with the rear cylinder's pipes joining on to those from the corresponding front cylinder, before joining the exhaust collector ring, which forms the front cowl.
PICS 3 and 4 show the lower cowling panel in place, with the modified exhaust manifold attached. Once this has fully set, the front edge of the cowling panel will be used as a datum against which the exhaust pipes will be measured. Each pipe has to bend up from the respetive cylinder, before bending again to run forward, joining the pipes from the front cylinder, then curving slightly towards rhe inner rear of the collector ring. This job is going to be a little tricky, as I'll need to 'guesstimate' where and how to cut each pipe, at the right angle, so that they can attach to the collector ring on the inside! I haven't quite figured out exactly how I'm going to glue them, but I've got a few ideas!
Once that little job is out of the way, twin igntion wires will be made , and glued into holes already drilled into the plug seats in each cylinder head. the wires will curve down behind each cylinder, then run back to the ignition harness, which surrounds the rear of the engine, against the firewall.The latter will be made from wire, whilst the ignition leads themselves will be made from stretched sprue. The inlet pipes to each cylinder will also be made from stretched sprue, whilst any brackets or cowling frames will be fabricated from thin plastic strip.
When all this has been done, the final painting will be completed on the engine, then the whole lot masked, in preparation for the first stage of the main colour scheme paintwork.
That's the plan anyway!