Painting Preparations

Time to get the plane painted but before I proceed I must protect the engine. after a few tests, I determined that the easiest way was to stuff around the radial engine with small pieces of rolled up kleenex. I then used Tamiya masking tape to cover up the shaft and the engine center area. I believe this should do the trip...

Re-positioning the Antennas!

I found it odd that the such a large antenna was in the middle of the pilot's view and tonight upon a more detailed examination of the plans realized that I had put them in the wrong position! To make matters worse I had superglued the antennas to the tissue underneath! 

I therefore carefully cut them out, placed them in the correct position and covered up the holes with some tissue and glue.

Now, this looks much better!

A few general photos...

Just taking some general photos of the progress of the kit...

Vertical Stabilizer Installation

I decided it was finally time to install the vertical stabilizer. I have been putting this step off as long as possible to make it easier to manipulate the kit without risk of damaging it.

Antenna Installation

I inserted a small needle into the base of each antenna, added super glue and inserted it into the wood of the frame of the kit. I figure the needle will help strengthen the part.

Tail Landing Gear Bay

I decided to open up the undercarriage of the kit to expose properly the landing gear bay. I plan to make an inner box with thin wood which will eventually be painted green.

Antennas

Tonight I spent about an hour sanding two wooden cylinders into cones for the aircraft antennas.

Climbing onboard...

I was not aware until analyzing what was left in the box that there were some plastic parts missing in the wing and lower fuselage that have grooves in them. Found out that they serve as a step to allow the pilot to get into the aircraft...

Bomb Support Columns

Tonight I glued the four pylons used to mount the bombs to the undercarriage of the plane. I used some white glue to fill in any cracks between the base of the pylon and the tissue of the wing. Due to a lack of time to complete the project before my sons birthday, I may have to omit the bombs for now...

Just like New!

After last nights incident I got up this morning and glued the frame back together. Only had to create two new wood frame supports. After lunch once the glue had dried I took some tissue and covered up the missing areas. Finally mid-afternoon I sprayed the tissue with some water mist and let it dry to allow the tissue to shrink and everything is back to normal. While I would have preferred to have spent the approximately 45 min repair time on actual build time it could have been a whole lot worse. At least tonight I can get back to business...