Good evening. to everyone. I've been busy! I've enclosed the left side as it stands tonight (Pacific Standard Time here in Reno, Nevada). I've been experimenting with all manners of techniques to achieve the detailing desired with just common household tools and (now) photographs. I must admit that all this work is beginning to bear fruit. I've done a bit of weathering to the left side in effort to show some wear. There is still quite a bit more to go. I have to add the salvo drop levers, the landing gear lever, another data plate, the pistol outlet (I forgot what exactly it's called, perhaps someone can help?) and some wiring. The throttle will be added after the whole model is nearly complete. The main reason is the grip to the throttle sticks above the canopy rails and it's apt to be busted off the first chance it can. I might still fabricate the throttle body and mixture controls and leave the throttle grip off until then. There's something else I need to add, but I'm not thinking clearly now. Been focused on this left side nearly all day. The control panel to the radiator controls alone took me almost two days. This was mostly due to (lots) of trial and error.
As you can see from the second picture, the scale I'm working with is a bit difficult when considering everything is made from scratch. No plastic kit in this scale, so no parts for me to salvage, no aftermarket sources & no photo-etchings to rely upon. I'll be posting my build series the next time on how I managed to get to this point despite all odds. Hope you'll enjoy and as always, comments are welcome.
Gary