Well, I didn't get much done on Christmas day, as I got interrupted
three times, including a friend calling in, for the second time, just as I sat down to my Christmas dinner!
The insensitive sod didn't even realise he was intruding, and stayed for well over an hour, despite the strong hints I was giving !
Anyway, I eventually got some work done late today (er ... morning !), and I was pleased to be able to free the cockpit assembly without causing any damage, and relocate it where it should have been in the first place.
The tail wheel has been assembled, painted and fitted, and the gun sight (not a very good representation) had the reflector screen removed, was painted, and fitted into the cockpit coaming, before joining the fuselage halves.
A new reflector screen will be made from clear sheet, and fitted before the canopy is glued in place, to avoid damage when handling.
Some work was needed to get a reasonable fit on the lower (cannon) panel, and the spent case and links ejector ports were opened up before eventually fitting the panel to the lower fuselage.
The nose cone had a hole drilled for the gun camera, and a 'back stop' was made and fitted, to support the brass .303 machine guns, which will be fitted after painting the model.
PIC 1. Tail wheel and gun sight in place, and the fuselage joined.
PIC 2. Work under way engraving the tactical camera access hatch, and countersinking the holes for the signal lamps. A third lamp is positioned just aft of the bomb bay, on the starboard side. These will be painted silver, and then glazed and painted in transparent red, amber, and green, once the model has been painted and the matt clear coat applied.
PIC 3. The kit lower panel (bottom) is moulded in a very hard, thick plastic, which has a glazed look to it, and was difficult to sand or drill - rather like trying to drill ceramics - so the spare panel from the 'extra' parts in the PR.XVI kit was used instead. This needed to be filed around the front edges, on the inside, to try to improve the fit. It's designed to sit slightly 'proud' of the underside, to replicate the fit of the panel on the real aircraft, but the kit part would not 'sit down' properly, and needed quite a lot of sanding to help it fit, albeit poorly, hence the substitution of the 'spare' panel.
PICS 4 and 5. Drilling out the spent case and links ejector ports, before cutting and filing to final shape, I'd considered drilling-out the cannon ports, and fitting the brass cannon muzzles that come with the machine guns, but the shallow 'troughs', and thick plastic on the opposite side, made this almost impossible, without the risk of damage to the surrounding area, so the moulded parts will be carefully painted to improve their appearance.
PIC 6. The nose cone had the gun camera port drilled-out, and the fit of the brass guns, two of which are shown here, was checked, for alignment and depth.
PIC 7. As the fuselage area immediately behind the nose cone is empty, a 'back stop' for the machine guns was fabricated from plastic channel and strip, and glued into the nose cone, the joint being reinforced with CA adhesive. Holes were then drilled into this, using the gun port apertures as a drilling guide. When fitted, the guns will slot into these holes, and the channel will support the guns, which will be fixed with spots of CA.
PIC 8. After first fitting the nose cone, the lower panel was coaxed into place and cemented around the edges, with the frontal joint being reinforced with CA. There's still a gap, which looks worse in the photo than it really is, and this will be filled and sanded, along with the nose and nose cone joint, when the parts have fully set.
Given I don't have any more visitors tomorrow, I hope to get a lot more done, and hopefully some more on the PR.IX too - back soon.