Well, most of the major construction and scratch-building is done, just a few more bits to do before clean-up and preparation for the first stage of painting.
Five hours have been spent scratch-building the Navigator/Bomb Aimer's instrument panel and the MkIX Course Setting Bomb Sight, adding wiring etc to the nose compartment, painting the internal colour for the framework for the glazing, and fitting the completed nose section.
PICS 1 and 2 Show the instrument panel, made from thin plastic card and strip, plastic rod, and stretched sprue. The 'instruments' were scratched into the paint, allowing the white plastic to show through. It's a bit rough, but good enough, as the canopy distorts the view slightly anyway. The instrument barells on the rear face are (very) small lengths of plastic rod, and the stretched sprue 'wiring' tucks under the forward section of the floor and framework. The small open slot visible at the rear is one of the ejector ports for the nose guns, drilled out and filed.
PICS 3 and 4. This is the representation of the MkIX Course Setting Bomb Sight, made from plastic strip and a sliver of tube, with the main dial housing from a circular tab off the end of one of the kit parts. The sight was mounted onto a plastic strip mounting bracket after being painted.
PIC 5. The nose glazing had the internal framework colour painted on the outside, with those areas which were accesible being painted inside also. Some of the paint needs retouching due to wearing off through handling when fitting to the nose compatment section, before gluing the complete unit to the forward fuselage. A small amount of filler is required around the joint, as I didn't want to mis-align the transparency by pushing too hard when fitting the nose. The instrument panel inside should really line-up with the central vertical frame, but again, the risk of damage or breakage made me leave it as is, rather than try to bend it into place inside the completed compartment.
So, the next stage is to fit the rear compartment glazing, with the opening section housed under the main canopy, fit the main cockpit canopy, the bomb doors, and the external gun packs either side of the nose, then mask the model ready for the initial painting stages. All being well, I should have some more pics in a day or so.
Thanks again for your interest and kind words.