I've had a closer look at my other Arii kit, and the louvres and vent fairing
are there, although the latter is not very well defined, hence my difficulty spotting it under the black paint of the AEAF stripes on this model. So no problem when it comes to building the second Arii kit, as the fairing can be improved as needed.
Anyway, the gunsight arrangement is almost complete, and just needs a little detail painting, once the PVA has fully cleared.
Bracing bars and a mount for the back-up ring sight have been added, made from stretched sprue, and the ring sight added, from the Eduard PE gun sights set. This was all painted, then the projector lens simulated by painting with a chrome paint pen, topping this with a "dome" of PVA, and then fitting the circular reflector screen, punched out from clear sheet. So far. I've only dislodged the PE ring sight once, and hope it stays put now that it's been re-attached !
The reflector sight seems to be sitting a little high to me, probably due to the use of the Hasegawa instrument panel, which is higher than the kit part, but it'll pass.
The armoured glass screen provided in the Arii kit has been re-shaped, as it was totally wrong, having straight sides and a curved top, instead of angled sides with a flat top, but I think I may need to replace this with a scratch-built item, as it looks rather small. I just hope I can find my thicker gauge clear sheet !
Although I'd already separated the windscreen from the canopy, I've decided to have this model with a closed canopy, using the one from the second Arii kit (the open canopy will be used on the second Arii build), mainly because of that "high" gun sight, and because I also feel that the decal instrument panel detracts from the overall "look" of the model, although it'll be acceptable when viewed through the canopy, which is quite clear.
So, another two or three hours required to mask the canopy inside and out, before painting the frames !
The (rather poor) pics below show the state of play so far, and I'll be back in the next day or two with another up-date. Thanks again to all for the interest and "likes".