Scale aviation modeller international

glue had set. Meanwhile, I added

the separate wheel well inserts and

the air intake sections to the lower

wing. Dry-fitting the lower wing to

the fuselage revealed no issues, but

a remarkably large gap appeared

when I test-fitted the canopy hood

to the fuselage; it touched down on

the front and aft seam, but not down

into the cut-out of the fuselage.

Holding the cockpit doors against

their cut-outs confirmed that they

were the same height, so I had the

correct positioning of the canopy.

I have built RS Model kits

before, and I knew what to expect,

but I’d never come across any

serious mishaps like this in their

kits. Looking at build reviews

on the internet, none came up

with the clear-part issue, so

this may just be a moulding

defect on my review sample.

There is also a small piece of

the cockpit hood framing missing

on the right rear side of the

clear part, which confirmed my

suspicion that the moulding

process was incomplete.

The resulting gaps on the front

side were too large to be filled with

putty, as it would probably flow into

the cockpit. Instead, using styrene

sheet and a hobby knife, I shaped

little plastic wedges – as well as I

could – to fill the spaces on each

side. Next, I attached the canopy

hood and left it to dry overnight,

before sliding the plastic wedges

into position underneath the

canopy frame. Tamiya Extra Thin

poly is a perfect solution for this

task, as it can be sparingly applied

with a fine brush and is drawn into

the recesses by capillary action.

Of course, my little plastic

chips were far from being a perfect

fit, so the remaining gaps were

covered with white glue. To protect

the canopy hood from further

Plastic wedges inserted into the gaps

Gluing the wings in position

Gloss black paint applied to detect surface irregularities

First coat of Tamiya TS-30 Silver

30 • JULY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

028-33-QB-Cobra-0718.indd 30 11/06/2018 13:54