Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Hope so Glen but all indications are that it's going to fit together nicely. Anyway, I better get some shots posted before I get too far ahead,
I began work by painting various cockpit bits in Tamiya XF-24 to resemble RLM 66. I mixed in a bit of Future as a thinner to allow for washes and the few decals to be placed with ease. At left is the large receptacle for the nose gear that ends up taking up much of the area between the pilot's legs. I added some wiring from the control column that can be seen running up the right side of the unit. More on that in a future post. The seat in the middle has the cushions done in black but I have yet to add the seatbelts, which I will scratch build, as well as the two side handles. The instrument panel turned out to be a bit of a flop in that one reviewer had success just putting the whole instrument decal in place and applying setting solution. I normally cut out the individual dials and apply them separately, a very tedious task, but I though this time I'd try just applying the whole decal in case Tamiya accounted for the stretch. Well, it didn't work for me and the dials on the right are well off the mark. The only saving grace is that the thing is so tiny that it won't be very noticeable. The IP is not finished anyway as I need to apply a matt coat and pick out the glass covers with Future or PVA.
View attachment 637569
The sidewalls have also been completed in a similar way. I used black Tamiya panel wash, though I'm still not 100% liking this product as it's much too aggressive and needs to be treated with respect. Note the stains where it has spread. The ribs have been highlighted with a slightly lighter grey and I did go ahead and add a yellow wire harness which is quite prominent in reference pics available with the Googler.
View attachment 637570
I had trouble with one of the torque links. In the pic below, you can see how one is still attached to the sprue just under the two circular pieces. At the top of the pic you can see what's left of the first one I tried to clean up. The thing is so fragile and hard to hold to clean up the sprue gates that I ended up breaking it. The thing dropped on the floor and I could only find half of it so I had to make the missing piece with styrene card.
View attachment 637567
Here's the main gear well partly done and it's a rather nifty little piece of engineering. At the top right you can see the repaired torque link in white, not yet painted. Tamiya have done a really nice job of detailing this area but that won't stop me from adding a few more bits here and there. But for that, you'll have to wait for the next installment.
View attachment 637568
Thanks for following along.