Thanks W and W.
Thought I'd push my scratch building skills to a new level today. The challenge was to replicate the folding strut that operated the inner gear doors, which I also scratch built a while back. Here's what the thing looks like:
They couldn't just make a simple stick right? The fork had me scratching my head for a while and after a couple of failed trials with plastic card I went with a piece of curved lead wire that I pressed flat. The other bit of strut was made of plastic card and stretched sprue.
The lead wire was cut and folded in half to make the fork, then glued to the slot in the gear door. Once the fork was set, I adjusted the strut for length and CA glued it to the end of the fork and to the bracket in the well.
Here's how it looks painted.
Both in place. The stain on the gear door is from some flat clear coat that I had to apply between the doors as some of the glue had turned the exhaust glossy. I'll need to see if I can gently spray some RLM 76 in there, hopefully not blowing everything apart in the process.
The malformed tail wheel that I mentioned a few posts ago was also modified and finished. I cut much of the strut away as it was too long then reattached the yoke on an angle after drilling and inserting a reinforcing pin.
I also see that there is some wash that I forgot to remove but this is now sealed under a flat coat. Oh well, I only noticed this with the close-up so will probably leave it.
The strut and gear door completion was my last major hurdle. Left to do now are a few simple fiddly bits and to add the resin wheels once they arrive. Heck, if I feel cocky, I may even add the cables that operate the inner gear doors and the tail wheel. (I will probably feel cocky tomorrow.) Thanks for your interest guys.