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Day Three
Right. The fuselage is closed up. I have a small step along the roof just behind the skylight. This was attacked with sanding sticks and filler until a smooth joint was achieved. All the other joints were sanded smooth, a task that took little time and the fit is quite good.
Next I fitted the windscreen. This was held in place overnight with a rubber band but I still had a very small gap in the lower left corner. This was filled with pva. It’s also a good idea to attach the tailplanes at this time.
After the tailplanes had dried I drilled holes for the rigging.
At this point I decided that the windows should be masked, as once the main wing was in place it would be difficult, after the struts were fitted it would be next to impossible. (Well, you could probably do it but why make life hard on yourself?)
I usually use Tamiya masking tape but I thought I’d give Humbrol’s masking fluid a try. Given more practice I’d probably get better results but I stayed with the Tamiya tape as I just couldn’t get the fluid to get into all the edges and corners.
Over the years I found that it’s no good trying to be economical with masking tape on windows. I get a piece of tape that more than covers the area to be masked. You can place one edge of the tape along one edge of the window leaving you with three sides left to mask.
Looking at the windscreen, you can see how I’ve burnished the tape down (I use a cotton bud) then I run the end of a cocktail stick into the edges. I’ve run a pencil round to show what I mean. I always use a new blade in my knife when masking, it’s cheaper and easier in the long run and not nearly as frustrating as a dull blade just drags at the tape.
