I've now finished one of the undercarriage assemblies and post pics below. This time I used my macro lens so I could get in tight. Detailed additions, if you look hard, include brake hoses and tubes, 4 cables that form part of the system to retract the doors, a hydraulic tube connection on the retraction jack, and two oil lines connecting to the oil tank sump. A wash has been applied and mud, in the form of dry, cakey paint, has been splattered onto the mud guard.
Back at the nacelles, these have now been glued in place after making sure that I can insert the undercarriage later without breaking anything. You can also see that the flame dampers have been added
At the rear bulkhead, the springs that help close the doors have been added. The spirals were formed by rolling a length of solder on my cutting mat with a coarse wood file.
Thanks guys. I'm at that seemingly endless stage of fixing small imperfections, usually not once but twice or even three times with filling, filing and polishing. The fit on this kit is very good and doesn't warrant putty. I prefer using thick primer if I can get away with it which, in this case, I can. The paint allows for better rescribing, something that I find that putty is not well suited for. Below can be seen the end of one of the nacelles and the port wing tip, the latter having received the clear nav light with the bulb, already moulded in, painted red. The flap seams were also opened up with a thin saw as the joints looked too tight for my liking in the as-moulded state. They still look a bit too perfect and I may go over them some more.
At the nose, I finished the insert for the cannons by cutting away the kit barrels and gluing in the brass ones that Terry was kind enough to send me. The insert was then glued in after a bit of finagling with the opening to achieve a good fit. The small gaps will be filled with primer.
The nose cone with the protruding .303s will be left for later as the sticky-outy bits will be prone to breakage. Thanks again for looking in.