etched location ring fitted to its
inner edge; this rather delicate
piece is asymmetric and fits in
only one of two orientations to
accommodate the ovality of the
fuselage. Cleverly, Dora Wings
have engineered the cowl so that
it actually locates on two of the
engine cylinder heads, and can
be fitted after the engine, so the
location ring doesn’t actually need
to be glued to the fuselage at all.
Wings assemble from upper
and lower halves, and the tail
parts fit to the fuselage with what
are essentially butt joints. Given
the small dimensions, I didn’t
bother with pinning, and only
modest clean up and filling was
needed to achieve a tidy joint line.
I decided to build up the
undercarriage wheels and
spats separately (pants in US
terminology) at this stage.
However, I decided not to fit
them to the wings, thinking that
painting would be easier later. As
it happens, experience suggests
that fitting them at this point
and blending them in properly
would have been a better idea.
PAINTING, MASKING,
AND DECALS
With all the main joints tidied up
as much as possible and the canopy
masked, I sprayed everything
The fuselage access hatch is moulded solid in the kit, and the aperture needs to be
cut out, I made a new hatch with some internal detail
There’s a PE mounting ring which attaches
to to inside of the cowling and locates on the
fuselage. Correct orientation is important to
match the oval fuselage
Here’s the cowling in position, note the close fit of the mounting ring
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