Thanks chaps.
Bill, the little chisel is a great bit of kit, and extremely sharp. It makes a heck of a difference when shaving small areas, and when tackling things like ejector pins. I used to do almost all work with just the scalpel, and maybe a razor saw and/or file, but with the arthritis getting worse, and articulation and grip limited, and especially with the rigid fingers getting in the way, I'm having to find different ways of doing things, and therefore different tools. I think I've bought more modelling tools in the last couple of years, than I have in the last fifty years!
Anyway, the engine is painted, fitted into the cowling, and this assembly is now stuck onto the front of the fuselage, and the tail planes are on. The pics show what had to be done.
PIC 1. As mentioned in George's GB thread, the fit of the cowl to the fuselage was very nebulous, with very little in the way of mating surfaces, so some extra support was provided, by gluing scrap plastic around the front of the fuselage, and filing this roughly to shape, to provide something to glue the cowling rim to.
PIC 2. The moulding of the engine was somewhat 'soft', an indication of the age of this kit, so I didn't even try to add any further detail, apart from a piece of 'Sylon' mesh in the opening for the intercooler intake. Even painting was a bit haphazard, due to the uneven moulding of the once sharp details, but, bearing in mind the degree of magnification shown in the pic, it looks acceptable to the naked eye, with the impression of the ignition harness, push rods, and the data plates and maker's badge giving it a bit of 'life'.
PIC 3. The cowling assembly has been firmly fitted to the fuselage, after first making saw cuts in the cowl flaps, and painting the interior in 'dirty' yellow zinc chromate, followed by a light, 'oily' wash, to tone things down a bit.
PIC 4. Once the prop is on, a lot of the engine will be masked from view, and hopefully it should look convincing enough.
PIC 5. There are very slight gaps at the tail plane joints, even though the mating surfaces were sanded to remove the moudling seams. But these should be easy to fill, probably with PVA, once the model has been primed.
PIC 6. How the model looks to date, and with those moulded guns already showing signs of going on holiday! I'm fairly sure that I'll remove these, and replace with stainless steel tube, cut from Revell cement bottles, if the cutting discs on my motor tool thingy can handle the job, otherwise it'll be either brass micro tube, or hypodermic needles.
There's a few little areas to clean up, then it'll be time to mask, and spray a light grey primer overall. All being well, I'll have another up-date in the next day or so.