The last few sessions have been devoted to various fixes on the fuselage seams and panels.
This overall shot shows some of the things that are needing attention. The arrows numbered one are small hatches that have been molded into the kit. These hatches were present on the P-40N but not on the K that this aircraft depicts. These appear on the other side as well. In addition, the port side also has hatches on the intake housing under the engine, also bogus for the K. The arrow marked 2 seems to be a signal lamp as the instruction sheet calls for a clear part to be inserted into a hole at this location. Some profiles of the K have this feature but close examination of the photos on the line up of Kittyhawk III's in 260 Sqdn prove these were not present on the machine I'm doing.
Note also that the rivets behind the rear canopy glazing have been sanded down a fair amount to make them less prominent.
Here's a bit of a brutal close-up of the area where the tail section attaches to the forward section of the fuselage. The seam is obvious but it's been sanded down and filled so should disappear once a coat of primer is applied. The rescribing has resulted in a couple of slips as you can see and these will be filled with a few layers of primer and sanded. The hatch has been eliminated by filling the recessed lines with a 3 or 4 brushed coats of primer and then sanding the area down until the primer remains only in the recesses. I chose this method rather than removing the recesses completely so as not to create a flat spot and risk losing the nearby rivet details.
This close up is of the forward section showing again the filled hatch panel lines. The removal of excess primer by sanding has preserved the fine rivet details leaving the recessed hatch lines filled. Behind these you can see that I have plugged the hole for the signal lamp with a bit of stretched sprue. At this point the cement is yet to harden. Once set, I'll file this flush and polish the area to eliminate the detail. Also seen on this close-up is the oblong insert behind the exhaust opening that fills the molded hollow present on later P-40s but not the K. This kit-supplied piece fit beautifully and filling was limited to a tiny bit of primer.
Proceeding slow and steady. Once I think I have all this fixed, I'll give the fuselage a shot of primer to check everythingand will post pics then. Thanks for your continued interest.