Thank Chris and Hugh. Chris, no worries about that touch up as the extension needs to go on yet anyway and there will be work on the seam there.
With all the fuselage decals now on and the trailing edges at the wing roots finish painted, it was time to bite the bullet and get the wings on. After an umpteenth dry fit to confirm everything lines up, I dabbed some thick CA on the attachment seam and slid the wing on, ensuring that the lower one was perfectly flat. The upper wing center section is loosely placed at this point and it would only be glued in place once the main wings have set.
With that done, take a look above at my no-longer-straight rigging. The tiniest flex in the wing to make the joints fit properly has buckled the rear diagonals. Another view of the assembly is shown below.
To me, it was important to get the seams tight and they are - at least on the top.
With the wing set, the "important" landing gear struts could be glued on. For the deployed wing, you need the wing in place to attach the struts as one of the support points is on the outer wing.
The tail wheel is painted and glued in place. Note that I lost my scratch-built towing shackle, which is not a surprise as it was fairly exposed. It's easy to make another so no big deal.
A dry fit of the folded wing revealed a tight fit and, in the process of doing this, I once again popped and buckled some of the rigging.
The wheels and tires painted, washed, and ready to install.
I also started on the prop. Though Tamiya supplies decals for the yellow prop tips, I prefer to paint these myself. After spraying on the yellow, 2mm strips of tape are applied to the tips at the fornt and back and then the black will be applied. That will be for another day.
So the next lesson to pass on is this: if you are doing the PE rigging, leave the straight end free to slip in the slot until everything is assembled, then drop some thin CA in the slot once everything is tight. This was actually a warning given by a reviewer whose link was posted earlier but I did not heed it. If I did this model again, I would go that route.