I have spent the last couple of days getting everything ready to close up the cockpit. This was made slower because of some idiosyncrasies with the kit, and some experiments that have slowed things down a little.
The first "problem" is with the intake. Like most intakes, it is molded in two halves, a top and a bottom. Academy has molded the nose landing gear bay as part of the lower half of the intake, while the cockpit was molded as part of the upper half of the intake. Cool idea, but the problem is that there are huge rectangular depressions on the inside of the intake where these parts are molded. I suspect that Academy figured a lot of modelers would want to hide this problem, so they have included intake and exhaust covers. This was my initial plan, but I think I will try to leave the intake open. Academy was thinking ahead because the only locating pins for the intake are at the rear-most end of the intake. Sadly, they didn't use this level of thinking for the exhaust, which has a very large and visible pair of locating pins near the end of the exhaust pipe.
Next problem was the photoetch. I had two options, neither of which was for this kit. I initially planned to use the Eduard PE for the Hasegawa F-86F, which interestingly included both a metal set of instruments and a set of instruments on film. I also had an Eduard Space set, which includes the resin-printed decals for the interior and the PE seatbelts. I decided to try the Space set. These are really easy to use, almost the same as using decals. The problem with this set is that they are really undersized. I didn't realize how small they were till I applied them, but I was just stubborn enough to try to make them work. I spent a long time trying to make their size seem less noticeable. On the opposite end of the scale, the grip on the control stick seems very large, almost large enough that a 1/48 scale pilot could use two hands on it.
I experimented with the intake to try and find an easy way to hide the seam lines down both side. I squeezed a bunch of Vallejo Acrylic Putty in a small container and thinned it slightly with water. I sealed the front of the intake, and filled the front part of the intake with this slurry using a pipette to add the filler from the back of the intake. I let it dry for 10 minutes and then allowed the excess to flow out. I then used a broad brush to smooth a couple of wavy areas and now it is drying. If I need to, I can use either water or alcohol to further smooth the interior after it is dry. Did it work? So far, so good. Working on another idea to eliminate the seams in the tailpipe. More later.
18 attached images. Click to enlarge.
