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fitted on the base of the struts. Then

it was back to my usual method of

monofilament and Bob’s (lovely)

Buckles. This has to be done at this

point, as the attachment points

will not be accessible once the

fuselage sides are closed up. The

fit was excellent so far, a little bit

fiddly in places, but that’s expected

with such a very intricate interior.

One of the other advantages

to opening up the engine cowling

panels is that it gives the observer

another view into the cockpit from

an unusual angle. It’s nice to be able

to view the detail, rather than to

spend an age working on it, only to

close it up never to be seen again.

There isn’t a great deal of

instrumentation in these early

fighters, but there are a few

traditional clock-face dials. I

opted to use the individual (and

excellent) kit decals, with a blob

of clear epoxy to give the illusion

of glass; although overscale, I

do like the effect this has. It also

has the advantage of sealing

in the decal. Just take your

time applying the epoxy with

a finely pointed toothpick.

The pilot’s seat was also

from the kit. Although there

is an aftermarket option from

Barracuda Studios (a beautiful

resin version), I thought the kit

part was good enough for my

model. The same for the seatbelts;

I used the kit’s photo-etch parts

rather than purchase Eduard’s

pre-painted steel ones (though

that would have been easier).

Using WNW’s brass, it’s worth

the effort to anneal these over a

flame until they get a purple bloom,

before dunking them in cold water.

This makes them more malleable

and easy to form into a realistic

drape. Another tip is to drape them

over the seat into the shape you

want before painting, which avoids

the chance of the paint cracking

off when you bend it to shape.

MOVING ON

With the interior finished it was

time to close up the fuselage. I

normally do a couple of practice

dry runs here, as the fit is very

tight where the cockpit floor

meets the wing roots, and any

excess paint or glue will make the

fitting an issue to be addressed.

Fitting the engine was next up

and this really was a struggle, not

because of any kit inaccuracies, but

because it requires some bending

of the framework before the

engine clicks into place. At first I

thought I’d done something wrong,

because it didn’t look like it was

going to go in at all, but with some

struggling, bending, and expletives,

it suddenly popped into place.

I really had thought I was

going to break something, but it

did fit in the end, so I guess the

computer-generated tolerances

are such that it’s not designed for

ham–fisted modellers like me!

I now added some extra

piping where appropriate (using

copper wire and tubing from the

Albion Alloys range). Various

other details were also added

from random old PE sheets,

including the aluminium-painted

machine gun shell casing chute.

PAINTING

The issue now was how to mask this

complex structure for the upcoming

paint job; in the end I decided to just

dodge the masking! I primed the

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