Thanks again chaps, and yes Andy, that sink mark on the fin, and a small gap at the rear of the 'bullet' fairing, were mentioned earlier, and have now been sorted, as shown later in this post.
A lot more work has now been done, in a non-stop session lasting around 10 hours, the bulk of which involved removing very large sprue attachments and pins, and repeated test-fitting, leading to a fair amount of alteration (i.e. butchery !) in order to get the parts in and on the wing center section to fit - well, almost fit !
Had this been a 'normal' build, where I could take my time, and pace things, the 'problem' areas described and shown below would not have concerned me. But the old saying 'modelling is not a race', for once is untrue in this instance, as I
am now racing - against the clock !
However, as this model is not intended as a true 'show piece', those areas that we, as modellers, would consider to be very poor quality and / or sub-standard work, will not be noticed by those viewing this, and the other models, and as long as the overall finish is as neat as possible, the odd 'not quite perfect' joint should be passable, and go unnoticed - I hope !
It goes against the grain to have to accept, due to time limitations, some of the imperfections that
I know are there, but in the time available, it's impossible to get everything to the standards I normally aim to achieve - to do so would require a further month or more. Had this been a kit from a main-stream manufacturer, the problems, or more correctly, more complex areas, would not be an issue, and the remaining time in which to complete the model would be adequate.
But this is definitely
not a 'shake and bake' kit, being a limited run kit aimed squarely at the experienced, or dare I say it, 'expert' modeller, a fact made perfectly clear on the packaging of all Classic Airframes kits, a company who produce (or used to) a very good range of very good kits, mainly of subjects which are popular and sort after by enthusiasts, but perhaps not 'big sellers' as far as the 'average modeller market' is concerned. For example, a Meteor F3 or F8 would (and does) sell immediately to the 'mass' market, whereas the NF.11 (as this kit is) or T7, probably would not appeal as much, and therefore might not be a good investment for companies such as Airfix or Tamiya, which is exactly why companies like CA produce such kits, as limited run items and with all that entails, specifically for the 'specialist' market, for want of a better description.
I've mentioned all of the above, as it may seem, in the descriptions below, that I'm complaining about the quality of this kit, but that is definitely
not the case - the kit itself is very good indeed for a limited run example, and such things as a lack of locating pins or slots, and vague locating instructions are to be expected. What is provided is a kit of very good parts that allow a very good model to be produced, without the need of cross-kitting and lots of scratch-building, but requiring a high level of skill, and patience, in order to get the desired result - it's all there, it just needs some thought, time, and effort to reach the end, when a very high level of satisfaction should also be achieved !
Anyway, back to the build and the progress so far.
PICS 1 and 2. When the plastic card additions to the fin had fully set, they were trimmed to shape, and 'Milliput' was moulded in place around them, to build-up the overall depth and basic profile. When set, this will be carved, sanded and polished to the finished shape.
The sink mark on the port side of the fin, along with the small gap at the rear of the 'bullet' fairing were also filled at this time,, a was a small gap at the base of the upper, starboard fin, where it meets the top of the 'bullet' fairing. Again, these will be sanded when set.
PIC 3. The fuselage was then put aside to allow the 'Milliput' to set, and attention turned to the wing center section and engines assembly where, from previous test fitting, I knew there would be some problematic areas.
First stage was to fit the boxes for the wheel wells, and just removing them from the sprue was a challenge in itself - just look at the length and thickness of that sprue attachment !
After 5 or more minutes, both wheel bay boxes were eventually sawn of, and then cleaned up before fitting into the inside of the center section, aligning each one by eye, and ensuring the visible 'walls' lined-up with the aperture edges. Once in place and set, the interiors were painted 'Aluminium'.
PIC 4. Resin parts are provided for the engine fronts, with the compressor screen, oil pump, generator and compressor moulded onto a plain disc, and the jet pipes are also resin. After basic painting, the engine parts were 'superglued' in place, aligning them as best I could with reference to the diagrams in the instructions. To save time, I didn't even remove the casting plugs from the inner ends of the jet pipes !
PICS 5 and 6. The instructions suggest that the top and bottom intakes should be fitted to the top and bottom wing sections, before joining the wing, and the wing leading edge visible inside each nacelle is provided, and has to be fitted to the lower intake section first.
I anticipated fit problems if the instructions were followed fully, so I elected to fit the lower cowlings as suggested, but to fit the uppers
after fitting the upper wing, but first, the parts had to be cleaned-up to remove some small amounts of flash, excess plastic along the nacelle an intakes edges, and more, very large pins - yet more time taken wihout moving forward with the construction !
PIC 7. With the bottom intakes fitted, the wing leading edges glued in place, and the insides of the nacelles and the leading edges painted 'Aluminium', it was time to persuade the upper wing sections to fit.