Above we see the inner workings of the vertical tail base. Tamiya have provided a “quick release” mechanism for this and more usefully, the wing pylons (great for swapping stores as needed).
This view shows the tail base being test-mated to the fuselage. I found that the resulting fit was not very tight and resulted in about 1mm of vertical movement. Of course this won’t do so the tail will be glued to the fuselage at the appropriate time.
Not quite the flawless model we are used to from Tamiya!
As I have worked more on this kit, my initial admiration for the Tamiya engineers has somewhat waned. Don’t get me wrong, the fit of the kit is amazing, but the number of awkward ejection pin marks continues to grow. Just about every undercarriage component has several noticeable ejection marks.
The Tamiya kits (unlike Hasegawa) do not provide a boarding ladder. Here I have fished a PE ladder from the cupboard.
