Well after a final push I’m calling this done . The last few furlongs have been a bit of a bugger , all tiny bits that needed adding and each one making it harder and harder to handle without breaking bits off.The WSOs cockpit has been finished off by gluing in the cooling fan and the sighting rig I made earlier and the cockpit doors have been stuck on with demister bars being added to both doors from fuse wire . The prominent pitot on the front of the canopy had to be sorted as the kit one only had two vertical vanes whereas the actual one has four - two vertical and two horizontal . Luckily the kit provides two , one with a blade aerial and one with the odd rods IFF aerials so I just cut off the front of the spare one and stuck it onto the one I’m using .Other last minute additions are the windscreen wipers, cabin doors , cannon and louvred cover , aerial wires ,and the nav lights on the wings and fuselage top -once again the nail art gems coming out!. I’m happy with how the canopy turned out , considering how fubar it was at the beginning .
To sum this kit up ,it’s a bit of a mixed bag really . Its obviously a copy of the Monogram kit but with a few alterations to make the F version . Some details are great but others are simplified or non existent .The cockpit is poor to say the least and is for the D version only so has to be addressed if you want a F. The sloping exhausts are for an early D - on the F they were straight , I decided to overlook this as it was too much hassle to scratch new ones ! If you want to build a D version though there is hope . A resin replacement D version cockpit is available from aires , which I have bought for the next one I’m doing , which will be a Czech Air Force machine and this time I’m doing it in flight so all doors closed ,pilots in and it should be an easier build .
Im just off now to take some more pics for a completed thread , thanks for anyone who’s still following ( I know it’s been a drag !) cheers tony