Let’s get started
The kit interior naturally breaks up into three manageable sections to concentrate on, forward cabin and cockpit, central body area and rear cargo ramp area. No prizes for guessing where we start?
The cockpit floor has the central instrument and throttle panel moulded in place and this is pretty inaccurate and won’t fit the Eduard PE set I have, mainly as that was designed for the Italeri kit, which has a much more acceptable cockpit. No real hardship, just a few cuts and everything will line up ok.
The underside of the floor makes up the roof of the nose wheel bay and along with the sides are devoid of any detail at all, so although it won’t be easily seen a little styrene strip adds some structure to a bare area.
You need to pre-paint the nose wheel oleo before assembling the sidewalls and leave the pivot point unglued. Note I cut off the lower wheel hub centre and drilled out a hole. I was quite clear the kit part was way too weak to support the nose once some balance weight was added. I will replace with a metal rod later in the build.
Alan Griffith says
Beautiful rendition of an old kit!
AlanG