Thanks Hugh.
The RCAF bird is still progressing, but as much of the work done so far has been measuring, cutting and drilling plastic strip, in preparation for modifications to the seat, there's not much worthwhile to show.
Therefore, I've done a bit more to the Danish version which, although it doesn't look much, took a heck of a long time, due to the method of assembly designed by ESCI back in the mid 1970's. Instead of fitting all cockpit components to the cockpit tub, the instrument panel and shroud are assembled separately, and fitted to one side of the fuselage, followed by the tub and rear bulkhead. Sounds simple enough, but took ages ensuring everything would be properly aligned once the fuselage halves were joined.
Anyway, here's how it looks to date, and bear in mind this is more or less an 'OOB' build, apart from the mods to the tail. As the canopy will be closed (being a one-piece moulding), the cockpit detail will be restricted to the throttle handle (power lever), made from plastic rod, the drilled-out gun sight lens, and some extra detail on the Martin Baker seat, taken from the Revell kit, which was fitted in place of the C2 seat in RDAF service.
PICS 1 and 2. The cockpit painted and installed, with the instrument panel using 40 year old decals from the ESCI kit, and the radar panel decal from the Revell kit. The power lever was made from plastic rod, painted and with 'buttons' from dots of paint, then cemented into a hole drilled in the quadrant, and a line cut for the lever slot. Not visible here is the gun sight head, which has been countersunk and will be painted and glazed later, before fitting the sight screen.
PIC 3. Not taking any chances, even though the landing gear geometry suggests it won't be a 'tail sitter', so a couple of chunks of roofing lead have been installed over the nose wheel bay, held in place by 'Plasticine'. Hmm, I hope the church roof doesn't leak too much now .....
PIC 4. Fuselage joined, and will have the joints and seams sanded once set.
Next step is to modify and enhance the kit's jet exhaust and fit it into the tail section, before fitting this to the fuselage and continuing with the main construction.
Many thanks again for your continued interest and compliments, and I'll post more soon.