The cockpit is, indeed, outstanding, my friend @gblair!
Excellent job and understandable mini adventures in fitting.

@gblair it may fly as well as mine but I bet it will burn quicker ; )

George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
I'm happy to hear this one is starting to fall in place for you. The work you have done using your 3D printer is taking this one over the top. Looks like we have a few firefighters here now... I miss working with the crews myself, and the excitement. It was the closest thing to being back in the military for me as far as the camaraderie goes.

I can remember as a kid how I accidentally set one of my balsa wood models on fire in the kitchen ! I had built it with a severe warp in the fuselage, and the Comet instructions said that you could straighten up warps by using steam and pressure... so me being brilliant, thought it would work just as well by using the open flame over the stove... I held it in place just a little too long, and up it went ! Thankfully the sink was right there, and I was able to douse the fuselage under the water, extinguishing it immediately...

Then my dad, who had a nose like a bloodhound, (and I inherited), asked me what was burning from the other room... to which I told him it's OK now. Thankfully he never checked. I was able to replace the burned fuselage stringers, and fix the warp all at the same time.

It was a balsa wood flying model of the Vultee Vengeance, made by Comet, and I think it had a 20 inch wing span. It was my second balsa wood model that I had built, the first being a Guillows Spitfire, with a 16.5 inch wingspan. My Dad got the Vengeance for me as a birthday present when I turned 9 years old. I found out later on in life that he saved his money and went without eating a lunch for a few days so he could get me the model as a surprise birthday gift. I remember how he picked me up from school that day and told me to look inside a brown paper bag he had with him. The Comet Vengeance was in the bag, and I was as excited as a 9 year old boy could get !

The moral of the story is that most things happen for a reason. I was able to fix my mistake easily, and I didn't burn the house down in the process.

Keep it going buddy ! You are on a roll.

After a few days with limited modeling time, I had some time today to get some assembly done. I had previously added the cockpit added to the right fuselage half and then closed and glued the fuselage. There were some fit problems that required some clamps. The front fuselage was significantly wider than the top fuselage piece that forms the top of the nose forward of the windscreen. Clamps helped bring the sides of the fuselage together. When the glue was set, I removed the clamps and determined that filler would be needed just about everywhere, especially in the nose area and the upper fuselage joint. I used a couple of applications of Tamiya filler, followed by sanding. It will need more work later, but it is fine for now. I also ran into problems bringing the two halves of the rear stabilizers/elevators together. Both assemblies required a good deal of sanding before the leading edges would come together. That was about it for today. I hope to get the wings on tomorrow, and then start the fill and sand rotations. Cheers everyone.

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I like what Louis commented: “Keep it going, buddy. You’re on a roll”, George @gblair.

Great progress, my friend @gblair! Fit of some parts is less than perfect, easily tackled by your skills.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). I plan to tackle the wings today. Getting closer to paint.