The Cockpit

Internal framing, fuel tanks, seat, instrument panel and fuel control panel, radiator and various pieces – is together. Even though there are a goodly number of parts, some quite small, everything fits together very well. It pays to ensure all the mould lines are off before painting. There are not many, but there are some. Also, test fit all of the parts and assemblies. Not that they don’t fit well, but to familiarize yourself with how they go together. Although the instruction book is excellent, there are a few areas that, to me at least, were not abundantly clear about exactly how things were supposed to mate up. The instruction illustration putting the long side rails around the floor, fuel tank, and radiator assembly appears to be a complex task but, once aligned properly, the two assemblies fit solidly together and, by looking at the engineering of the parts, it is pretty obvious how it goes together.

I found this generally true throughout the cockpit build.

I used a combination of Gunze and Tamiya paints. All of the detail work was done by hand, with touchups being necessary after everything was together.

One pleasure was to decal the instrument panel. I painted the bezels flat black, scraped the oils and acrylics from the faces of the instruments, and applied a drop of Future to each. Then, taking the decals in order, I populated the instrument panel faces with them. They are outstanding, clear, and go down easily. Many, being pretty small, took some coaxing with a brush and sharp toothpick to get aligned and positioned correctly. I did not use any kind of setting solution but, after they dried, I covered each with Future.

I drilled out holes in the ends of the rudder bar and attached short pieces of EZ Line there and routed them around the pulleys, preparatory to routing out of the nacelle (along with the aileron ‘wires’ for future control line rigging).

There is not much to say about the build beyond that. No major hassles, and any that did occur were of my own making, not Wingnuts Wings.

I have decided to forego turnbuckles (or I’ll be at this until July) on all the rigging. The internal bracing was made with EZ Line and CA. This went much faster than I had anticipated. Put a small spot of CA where a line is to begin. Hold the EZ Line there for a few seconds and it sets. Put another small tack of CA at the next anchor point and slightly stretch the EZ Line there. Wait a few seconds. Repeat.

Next up: completing the nacelle, landing gear, and wing assemblies.

Once again, thanks to Wingnut Wings and IPMS/USA for the review kit.