Finally, a start. I think I said I wasn't going to go overboard detailing this one but my first tasks don't look that way. The kit seat is really bad...
...and since it will be visible through the closed canopy, I decided to take the axe to it. I lopped off part of the back rest, rounded the top, thinned the sides and back, drilled a bunch of holes, and added some details to doll the thing up. I'm not too fussed about the ejector pin mark in the pan as this will be covered by the lap belts that I will add.
I also said I'd try riveting the model and to do that, I pulled up some detailed plans on the laptop to start laying things out. That's when I noticed that Tamiya put the inner flap actuator fairing way too far inboard:
I decided to lop the thing off and make a new one out of card. Below is the left upper wing half with the new fairing added and some riveting started. The other wing upper is next to it with no rivets or fairing added yet.
The rivets are being added using a rivet tool that Terry gave me years ago. I tried to find a different one a few years back but ended up modifying the one that Terry gave me instead. The problem was that the contact point between wheel and plastic was hidden behind another part of the tool so I modified it to allow me to see what I'm doing. I start by drawing the rivet lines with a pencil and then running the riveter freehand along the lines. It works quite well.
This will keep me busy for a while but hopefully the effort will be worth it in the end. Thanks for your patience guys.