Well, it took a little bit longer than I anticipated (should have known !), but I actually made some good progress, and only one £*%^ up ! There's a slim chance I might make the deadline after all.
I decided to fit the Radar Martels and pylons to the outer wing panels first, then fit the undercarriage. This all went without problem, and the gear legs were detail painted and dirtied, as were the wheel bays. The little mishap concerned the rather long and delicate pitot probe, which I'd already decided to replace, possibly with a hypodermic needle tube. In the end, I was forced to, because as soon as I touched the part, even on the sprue, the bl**dy thing went 'ping' and snapped clean in two !
A bit of fiddling, drilling, sawing and glueing myself to the needle with superglue later, and a suitable steel tube was grafted onto the pitot mounting, and cemented to the lower wing. It sill needs to be sanded slightly and then re-touched, which will be easier, and safer to do once it's set in place.
The windscreen and HUD have been fitted and sealed, and just need the joint touching in with paint to blend it into the fuselage, and the rear blast screen frame has been painted, along with some small detail areas, such auxilliary intakes and vents.
The first steps in adding detail to the wing fold mechanisms has been done, and the remainder will be completed and painted once the wings are fitted.
Next step is to the spray the finishing clear coat, before the horrors of fitting the wings !
PIC 1. Shows the Radar Martels in place, with the hypodermic pitot probe (thanks Dwight, it was just what I needed
!).
PIC 2. The main gear in place and the wheel bays painted and dirtied. The gear doors have yet to be fitted - another tricky job, as the locating points are minimal, and access difficult.
PIC 3. Some extra holes have been drilled in the wing folds, and some tubes added, ready to receive wiring and pipe work, and more detail will be added, and the edges tidied, once the wings are in place.
PIC 4. The Hud and windscreen in place. The screen has been sealed with PVA which, once hardened, will be painted and clear coated to blend into the fuselage profile.
PICS 5 and 6. On her legs at last !
Thanks once again to you all for your welcome encouragement during this b*st*rd of a build !!