Thanks guys.
Progress has been slow as there's been a lot of sanding and scribing going on at the wing joints and around the cowl. I'm a bit behind the schedule stated above but there's no rush so here's where we stand.
First up is an overall shot. Since last time, a lot of work has been done cleaning up the wing to fuselage joint. Installation of the canopy has started, LE slates are on, and the underwing cannon gondolas have been placed.
The below close-up of the cowl area has a couple of things to mention. The front windscreen has been glued on after significant filing down of the fuselage. I didn't get a "before" pic but where the side windows met the fuselage there was a fairly large step on both sides. I toyed with prying open the clear part (which was done at the rear canopy piece) but opted to narrow the fuselage plastic instead. The center seciton of the canopy is just loosely placed for correct spacing at this stage.
Also seen is the cowl hinge which runs along the top centerline. Hobbycraft's molding of this area was odd as the separate piece of cowl that contained the fine hinge detail did not extend to the back of the cowl. Rather, it stopped just behind the gun troughs, so the hinge abruptly stops and is lost in the fuselage seam. To remedy this, I cut a slot in the seam and glued in a piece of stretched sprue. This will receive some fine horizontal cuts to complete the hinge look. More shots of this are will be taken later when this is completed.
Finally, here's the finished prop and spinner, ready to receive a mix of Future and flat coat to get a semi gloss finish. The center cannon has been installed by drilling out the spinner and gluing in a short length of rod that has had the bore drilled out. I piece of tubing would have been better I guess but this looks fine.
The prop blades as well as the back plate are from my Hasegawa G-6 kit and fit perfectly. Hobbycraft's prop was slightly to small in diameter and just looked a bit thick so I decided not to use it.
That's going to be it for a week or so as I'm off to Mexico early tomorrow. See you when I get back.