Thanks guys. Seems like my updates are weekly now doesn't it? Yesterday, I was able to spend several hours on my project as I was relegated to my workshop after my daughter invited 5 girlfriends over to dinner in honour of not having dates for V-Day.
Let's start with where I got to since last time. The canopy has been masked and painted, one coat RLM66 and one of 75. The engine nacelles have been assembled and added to the wings. I originally planned to pose the cowl flaps open bu decided, in the end, to go with the closed ones so I wouldn't get target-focused on the flap actuators. With just a few weeks left in the GB, I need to pull my finger out.
As I commonly do, when I have left over paint in the cup, I apply some to the seams to test how they look. Dry-fitting the nacelles to the wings did show a noticeable step which I, at first, felt the need to repair but then I took a close look at period photos and managed to convince myself that there was indeed a bit of a step there anyway as the sheet metal behind the cowls curled inward and under the cowls. With that being the case, I decided to leave these alone rather than to try and implement a complicated fix. Work on the wing roots continues here.
Before gluing on the gondola, I boxed in the ejection chutes and created some shelves that will allow me to install the longer gun barrels after I paint the model. I glued in the shorter ones, made of brass rod, as these have a low risk of getting in my way while painting.
With filling done at the wing roots, I rescribed the panel line for the fairing and reinstalled the wing attachment points that had been filed off. These were recreated by making an angle cut off the end of a 5mm round diameter plastic rod.
There are so many fiddley bits to deal with on this kit so I also added a total of 6 tiny air vents and 4 aileron actuators whilst also working on a number of sub assemblies like the props, landing gear, and, pictured below, the flame dampers. These were painted steel and then dusted with an acrylic rust colour.
That's it for now. I may get some more done today as it's a holiday here and will post some more pics this evening.