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It really is taking shape Terry - fantastic detail - I am in awe!!Started work on the nose cone and canopy, but need to re-think things, as explained later.
The B.XVI nose glazing didn't have the frame at the top edge, so this needed to be removed and the area cleaned and polished. The canopy was also slightly different, in as much as there was less rear internal framework, so again, this had to be removed from the Tamiya canopy.
Although a fairly straightforward task, the kit frames were engraved, not raised, so care was need when scraping and sanding.
The nose glazing was not a problem, but things went slightly t*ts up when removing the canopy frames - a stress fracture caused a couple of cracks to appear in the canopy roof !!
This may have been due to pressure of my fingers, holding the canopy, or maybe due to the "T-Cut" used for polishing making the part brittle, or a combination of these . But whatever, I now have to decide whether to try to use the Airfix canopy, or use a spare Tamiya canopy from another B.IV kit ( a Rob Taurus vac-formed canopy will replace this when built ) and live with the frames in place.
I'll have a bit of a fiddle with the Airfix canopy before deciding, but at the moment, I'm leaning towards using the Tamiya part, and ignoring the slightly inaccurate framework - I don't want to risk damage to a second canopy, so the frames will remain !
The captions to the pics ell the story.
Pic 1. The frame to be removed from the nose glazing. There's also a small frame beneath the flat bomb aimer's panel, which will also be removed.
Pic 2. Scraping off, ready to be polished using "T-Cut" ( car body colour restorer ).
Pics 3 and 4. After polishing.
Pic 5. The canopy frames ( arrowed ) being removed.
Pic 6. Oops !
Pics 7 and 8. How the Airfix canopy looks. Some work would be needed to successfully blend this in to the fuselage, so I'll think carefully before deciding what route to take.
Pic 9. The redundant camera hatch has had the joints filled and sanded, and will be painted over with primer and the finish coats.
Once I've decided what to do with the canopy, I'll post another up-date. Meanwhile, thanks to all for the continued interest, and I'll be back soon (ish).
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Thanks Wayne.
Ralph, not sure what CBD is, but I have severe, progressive Rheumatoid Arthritis, and have various pain-killers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and control drugs for the RA., non of which have done much to relive the pain from this recent "injury".
I can actually see the tendon sheath under the skin, swollen, hot and inflamed. I reckon I did this on Monday, when trying to get my front door open - it had swollen and jammed shut near the bottom. As there is only one handle, at the door mid-point, all effort was focused on my right hand, and I'm sure this is how the stress happened.
Fortunately, the inflammation is decreasing, and the pain and stiffness are subsiding, so I hope to get back to work on the Mossie soon.