Thanks, Spiros, John, Erik, Chuck, George and Walt. I really appreciate your feedback. Sorry I have not responded on this thread in so long. I wasn't posting at all for over a month and was finding life stresses getting in the way of the hobby. Thanks especially to Erik on the color info and Chuck on the torpedo details. It was very kind of you, Chuck, to take the time to upload pics for guidance. I have a much clearer idea now about how to do the torpedoes on the He 111.
So, here is an update on the build. I sanded down all the seams for the wings and fuselage and i am very happy with the results of the build technique I used. Everything looks properly aligned and filling kept to the minimum. I spent quite a bit of time blocking of gaps in the interior of the engine nacelles where daylight could be seen through intakes. I made cylinders of thin sheet plastic for round intakes and flat pieces for rectangular openings.
All were painted flat black inside. After I was done with these interior fixes, I could put the nacelle facings on. I repainted the wheels wells RLM 02, as I was very kindly reminded that they were the wrong color. Easy to fix.
I am now at the stage of adding cockpit details, including seats, plus photo etch harnesses, throttle levers. rudder pedals and knobs, etc. I decided to install the cockpit floor first and add the details to this afterwards.
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1. Etch rudder pedals add good detail to the pit
The instructions would have you attach all the details to the floor first and then install it finished. This was impossible to do when the side console, including a veritable forest of delicate PE control levers, had to be attached first. It took a long time to build this console up, including making control knobs from drops of white glue so I wanted to keep this from getting mangled along the way. Anyway, I was able to do the seats and belts separately and install them completed. I think the drape of the Eduard etch belts looks pretty good.
For the pilot's seat, i drilled/cut out the slot for the belts in the seat back. I left the seat RLM 66, without adding a leather cushion, because photo references of museum birds did not show the padding. The nose gunner's seat appeared to me to be a light folding seat of tube and canvas structure. I test fitted the kit seat in its intended place and found that it sat too low on very short legs in an unrealistic way.
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1. Gunners seat is very low if left OOB. Test fitted here.
2. Seat back is too thick so I sanded it down later.
Period photos of the pit with seated crew appeared to show them sitting at the same level. I therefore added extensions to the legs for the seat. I also sanded down the seat back to make it look more like a thin canvas back brace.
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1. I added this shim here when test fitting the clear parts. There was a gap that was hard to fix, otherwise.
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1. I worked hard to get these control knobs spherical, using drops of white glue. This is the last stage and best view of the result.
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1. I will add transparent dial covers, instrument faces and a detailed back cover to this last. I lost the original Eduard stuff so I will have to scratch build it - no big deal.
2. Rectangular cushion for nose gunner would be here.
It did not make sense to me to have a shoulder harness with such a seat if the back were so flimsy (what would the harness attach to?) so I just did the lap belt. Do you guys know if this is correct? I would prefer to know whether my interpretation is correct before I glue on the canopy permanently. I am also uncertain about adding a cushion for the nose gunner. I don't have clear pics of what this typically looked like or what it was made from (leather? fabric?) but it would add interest/color to the cockpit to create one. I only have this one pic. Does anybody have other reference pics?
That's it for now. There will be more to do on the pit with some instrument dials, wiring, etc. Hope you guys can help me out with the refs.
