BlrwestSiR

It definitely could be left out. Along with a lot of other parts but I want to see how it all fits together.

I'm glad the build review is being so helpful. As for the.tailplane, it's been given a further sanding so it doesn't look so rough. Otherwise it would look like they used zimmerit on the tail.

Thanks Bill! Like I said earlier I'm slowly catching up to your build. As for the gear mounts, hopefully this pic helps you out. You can see the tabs on the mounts and where they connect to the firewall.

Nice job Bill. I'm almost at the same point in my build. Carl

The cockpit coaming needs some holes drilled in it for the battery. This is clearly marked in the instructions. Time to close up the fuselage. The cockpit was glued to the right side. The fit is very good. It is best to scrape paint off any joints to keep it that way. I left the fuselage tank out for the movement as this allowed me to apply cement from the underside and keep all the joints tight. The tank can go in after the fuselage is together. All closed up. There are a couple very small seams that took a quick sanding to remove. The tailplanes are one piece so a quick sanding off of mould lines and it was ready to go. I then attached them followed by the vertical tail.

While this was drying, I continued on the wings. The interior was sprayed in RLM 02. Leaving the MLG bay walls until now was the right choice in my opinion. It not only made them easier to paint but also allowed me to better line them up with the bay opening in the lower wing. They also have to be aligned with an upper part that fits against the top. When you add the upper wing skin, don't forget to have the slat in place. If you're careful with the glue, the slat will work after assembly.

Prior to installing the belts, I did a bit of weathering to the cockpit. I then installed the lap belts. It would have been easier to install the left side belt either before you put the seat in or before the wheels on the left side are attached. I then finished the cockpit assembly. First I added the fuel line. Then the cockpit side panels were each attached in place.

Time for an over due update. The IP is done now. I applied the decals to the backside of the clear panel. I used some Tamiya Super Strong decal solvent and it did a great job making them stick and conform. I also applied a decal not on the instructions to the left side of the panel. This had some markings on it that helped to spruce up the IP a bit more. @DocRob, the IP details are a bit on the soft side but not that bad. They could be sharper, but I think with a wash and dry brush they're ok. As there are no seat belts provided in the kit, I elected to use a set from Wako/Feeling. Each pack has two full sets of seatbelts and are about $6 from Japan. The belts are a similar material to HGW ones but come unpainted. The best part of these belts is that Wako has laid out the buckles so that you can not only thread the belts through them while they are still attached, but even fold over and glue the tabs down before removing the buckles. You can see this in the larger spaces to one side of some of the buckles. Also, they have a full routing diagram so you know how to thread the buckles and where they go. Here's the belts and buckles with a coat of paint. One last thing to note. The buckles are made from plastic and not PE so they need a bit more care in handling.

Don't you hate it when they use 4WD?

The Whirlwind looks great Peter. Glad to hear the decals went on without a hitch.

Catch any?

Here you go.

"The things I have to do for my birthday cake"

Great build Martin! Still can't believe it's 1/72. Carl

The F-35 is out in Dec. My LHS is taking pre-orders with a discount. Might just bite.

This goofball is 1 years old today. Here's his two sisters.

Great work on the Corsair and enjoy your vacation. Carl

And our other cat didn't want to be left out. At least she's not on the bench...

Nice changeup from a Corsair. It'll be a nice compliment to the one you already did. I'm looking at those screw heads and shuddering at the thought of doing them all by hand....

Back to the build, I decided to use the clear IP and apply the provided decals to the back side as suggested. As I am terrible with a brush, I decided to airbrush the panel. I first masked off the dial faces using precut tape circles. The sheet I bought start with 1mm diameter circles and they increase in 0.2mm increments so it's way to find the right size. At this point I noticed that there is a mounting pin on the backside directly in line with the lower most rightside instrument. This means there's no way the decal could go on the back as intended. To remedy this, uncut the pin off and sanded and polished the panel. The panel was then painted. After removing a couple of the masks, I was happy to see that they had worked. There are a couple of the bezels that need to be done in yellow. For those ones, I left the instrument masks in place and added an exterior one to go around the bezel. Can you tell I hate brush painting? The yellow was airbrushed and then I removed the remaining masks. It worked so now to apply the decals.

@Redshift, sorry if I came across as being too critical. It's not something that I would have considered to be lacking. If anything , I'd say the opposite true in that there would more complaints about I'd they had included moulded wiring as it would have been grossly out of scale. Or worse, moulded in place. Maybe they could have included a wiring diagram and that could be suggested to ZM. They do tend to listen to criticisms about their kits and have made changes as a result, ie their kits are in one colour now instead of multicoloured plastic. As for covering up a complete engine, I personally prefer the closed up look. I'm going to see if the cowl panels can be removed after completion. We'll find out soon enough.

If you're using the clear one, watch out for the locating pin in the bottom right corner. It goes right where the instrument decal is supposed to. I clipped it off and will just use PVA to glue on the knob that is mounted there. Otherwise the wings look good.

I'm right there with Hubert and Gary. Hope someone brought lots of popcorn.

Thanks Martin! Your help pointing out the issue and you suggestion to do the review are both greatly appreciated. I haven't seen the Tamiya ,109 but if they did the same breakdown, then it shows that the execution is where ZM needs that little bit more of a push.

I don't think that ZM are relying on the builder's ignorance by not providing a wiring diagram for the kit and things they will just ignore it. Making wiring fit under a closed cowling is not easy. Some of the best builders out there have had a hard time doing it and just getting the engine bearers to fit nevermind a closed cowl. Very few companies have in fact ever provided a wiring diagram with their kits. WNW is the only one that comes to mind. When the Tamiya Spitfire and all their subsequent prop kits came out, no one complained that they didn't have an engine wiring diagram. Those with the skill and patience to do the wiring would most likely scoff at anything moulded in place much less done in IM plastic. The manufacturer has to draw the line somewhere. Me, I'm not a fan of wiring engines and really only do it when it's extremely visible like on a a radial engine. I do wish that ZM had included an engine blank and then I would have considered wiring the engine to display beside the finished plane. Which GWH has with their P-40.