Part 1 - Cockpit Assembly
Please excuse the flood of posts, Im kind of playing catch up as Ive actualy been working on this for about a week.
All photos of all my builds will appear in my gallery which I believe you can click on using the link on the left by my user details. All Gallery photos are clearly labelled and the photos are also titled to show you which part of the instructions they represent.
so, onwards and upwards
So, part 1
This is the first time I dealt with the instructions, which I have to admit I would rate as 11 out of 10. There are 10 main colours so this is ideal for someone like me who is returning to the hobby and doesnt have a big stick of paints (As I build more aircraft I will find that many colours I already own, but this being my first for a while, Ive got to buy every colour quoted). Obviously if you want to add extra detail (As I shall) you will need more paint, but Ive bought 6 different colours and that should see me through to about part 14 (Which at the rate of progression is gonna be about a month at least).
You will find that every single part will be painted on all sides and as Ive not yet seen it constructed I dont know which parts are visable and which are not. Therefore my advice at this stage is paunt it ALL. Therefore it may be an idea to paint on the sprue. Others may tell you different and if they do dont ignore them.
Research material also presents me with a problem, or a dilema. Apparantly many of the parts are not as good as they can be and even inaccurate. For example, even though it explains in detail the exact bomb load of each of the 16 aircraft it doesnt actually supply you with the pieces to make them, for example, there are no incendury bombs includd in the kit. IMO thats a real bad thing, but we are still able to proceed. You may wish to purchase resin extras which are available.
So, Ive painted the parts needed for part 1.
I then glued the Bombardiars access tunnel (K48) and the Rear Bulkhead (J218) to the cockpit floor (K43) along with the Instrument Panel (F44). In hindsight perhaps I should have left the instrument panel off for a while as it needs to be painted black with grey foot pedals.
The panel comes with two
decals, but as there is great detail Ive decided to omit the
decals and paint the dials instead (The rear decal is simply black, so I just panted it instead).
It should look something like this ready to be given a second coat
and Im happy with this picture that shows the lovely detail of the instruments
I have decided to leave the seats till last as I want to try something a bit special with them and it will be just too fiddly to do of they are glued to the cockpit floor.
Will update later
BTW - If you think I need to add another element please say.