Thanks Kirby. It's not quite finished yet, but it will be later today.
Work was somewhat slower than I'd hoped, due to my hands being stiff and painful - probably aggravated the arthritis with all the modelling lately - and a couple of areas also slowed me down, due to ill-fitting parts and large sprue attachments in awkward places, which needed careful removal and clean-up.
However, the undercart and wheel bay doors are on (what a pain they were too !), a new pitot tube has been made and fitted, and all that remains is to fit a couple of IFF dipoles using brass rod, paint the nav lamps and re-touch a couple of small spots - and then have another go at fitting the drop tanks ( explanation below).
PICS 1 and 2. The undercart in place, along with the main gear doors. As mentioned earlier, the locating tabs on the main gear ran the opposite way to the locating slots in the wheel bays, so the legs had to be modified to fit - which they just about did, each side being in a slightly different location !
This, along with a slight difference in dihedral on the outer wings, has caused the model to 'sit' slightly lower on the starboard side, but it's too late now to worry about this !
The nose wheel attachment is about as strong as a Politician's promise, as the plastic leg fits into a hole in the resin frame, which is very delicate, and quite flexible, causing a bit of a 'wobble' if the model is moved. But the joint itself is strong enough so, givent he resin frames hold up to the weight, it should be OK.
PICS 3 to 5. The nose wheel doors are slightly too long, and the forward 'hinge' should be further aft by a few mm, behind the cut out. To save time, the forward hinges were cut off, and the rear ones reduced in length, and the doors were stuck in place using CA adhesive.
A bit of re-touching will be done, to cover the marks made by handling, and once on it's 'feet' they look acceptable enough to serve the purpose of this model.
PIC 6. A new pitot tube was made from aluminium tube and brass rod, with the rod 'blended' into the tube end by moulding CA around the joint. It has yet to be painted in this pic.
PIC 7. The drop tanks refused to adhere, and little wonder, as there are
NO contact surfaces, the pylon edges being concave. If I have time later, I'll try cementing some plastic strip over the open ends of the pylons, and then cement this to the bare plastic of the wings. If that doesn't work, then the tanks will be omitted, as I just haven't got enough time to mess about with other options.
PICS 8 to 10. What the model looks like at the moment.
I have a lot of 'running around' to do today, preparing for the delivery trip to just south of Oxford tomorrow, and for the Holland trip on Friday, but I'll get the final bits done later today, and post pics probably tonight, or at least before I depart tomorrow.
Thanks again to all for your interest, and I'll be back later.