so here are the shots of the work so far, showing the problems as I see them:
A really poor shot of the cockpit and home made harness. The scaling is all wrong and as wotjek has pointed out the seat is just not the right profile. I re-attached the seat so that it sits more deeply into the cockpit bath, and that does help, but still it is obvious that the subassembly is below par.
This is a side view of the cockpit. The red arrow shows the awful results of my harness building. the blue arrow is the cockpit bath that will need to come out if I use the aftermarket pilots seat, whilst the black arrow is the control stisck that also will need to come out.
This is a major zoom in of the engine on the port side. The oil line I attempted to install is clearly visible and not in correct position and far too much out of scale. I will probably remove it. the dry brushing is not too bad, but as always extreme close ups like this are pitiless.
This is the starboard side engine detail, and in my opinion slightly better
. To give some idea of the extreme magnification, the cloth weave behind is that of a very fine calico or cotton sheet
This is a close up of the unfinished IP. I'm actually pretty happy with the results achieved with this element. still have to apply another decal to the lower part.
I cant paint or apply a PE IP that looks better than this. I know there is a lot of hostility by you guys to IPs that are decals, but I cannot fault the airfix version here. the presentation of the decals is just superb, and quite accurate as well.
Reflector sight is okay as well.
I included this shot to show the effects of the heat warping from last weeks stinking hot weather that nearly killed me, and the model. . Previously the tail was closing flush with the dry fits. This is not a huge issue, but shows just how hot things got in this part of the world......