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Back to the fuselage…
Now the fuselage is together I started to take a closer look at those long strakes moulded into the fuselage all around the body and consulted my refs again (check out the Photo Reference Library for a good set on the C-17). You can just see these long strakes but in 1:144 scale they are overdone and will benefit from reducing their visibility. Some of MDCs sanding pads are ideal for this purpose, or other sanding sticks you may have to hand. This took longer than I expected as you need to try and get an even appearance across the airframe.
You’ve hopefully seen that that this project is taking longer than I for one had anticipated. All the cleaning up and making good is just modelling, but it does mean that this project is taking longer to complete so bear with me as we close in on the finish line!
Canopy…
Looking at the fuselage join where the front of the canopy will locate, you will see that there is a moulding defect on my model. It’s not serious but there is a distinct lip below the front windscreen that isn’t there on the real aircraft. When I test-fitted the canopy there is a large gap that will need to be dealt with and I decided to sort that using a number of applications of PVA (Micro Kristal Klear in this case), worked into place with a wet finger. The canopy is secured with Gator Grip clue – I like this stuff, it seems to create a strong bond (a bit stronger than Kristal Klear) when dry and doesn’t fog the clear parts.
The rear of the clear section also sits proud of the upper fuselage. I tried to initially fix this by applying Vallejo white filler, but in fact this failed as the putty never went off, even after leaving it for 2 days! Not very impressive and I discovered this during the sanding phase, so I picked out the filler and settled on my tried and tested approach – cyano.
Masking out the window panes will allow you just enough clearance to sand the upper join using different grades of sanding sticks (see Techniques Bank).