@Wayne - remember; eduard screws up the Radiator Flaps for the D-11, giving you a D-13 Flaps instead; else the thing is awesome!
@Dnied - no probs; thats the point of the forum - and I supposed, while I am waiting for some more Alclad Black, I have the time! I have almost saved this thing; I think! The lower wings are mostly black still (as they'd had one coat of alclad black previous) while the rest of the thing is that lovely, smoothed 800grit wet finish. A few of the more damaged area's have some Alclad White applied to help smooth the surafce, but we wont really know til I get some more black this week.
As for the tediousness of sand/fit/test, obviously after the first one, life gets easier - but is there any kit out there that does not require a degree of sand/fit/test? Especially something as complex as the Eduard! I actually used more filler on my 'builds itself' Tamiya D-9 than on the Eduard D-11; BUT the Eduard kit is one that doesnt give you much room to stray from the instructions!
Which brings me to your question, how would I approach the Eduard kit now? I'd follow the instructions really closely, take my time closing those wing gun doors (they dont want to flush, they need to sit a few thou proud of the wing and I'd double check for flash on the rear of the canopy (my D-11 has just a hit of flash with I didnt notice til colour was going on!). Its not a kit you can really change you mind on, once youve started either!
Oh and, I'd use red decal for the trim tabs - masking RVD bands is enough of a pain in the arse, so doing most of the trim tabs with red decal, then just touching up the edges (before applying the white warmings) makes life much easier!
Back to math homework - then maybe some D-15
Dan