Hey Chuck. That's a lot of progress you have made in a little over a week. Just getting caught up now (over the same period, I have been trying to get the Shiden Kai done). The pre-shading looks great under the nicely translucent Gunze acrylics. Lately Gunze paints have become tricky for me to thin (new formula?) and I have switched from Tamiya thinner to water to stop them from clumping. Yours seem to have gone down well.

If I may make a suggestion, you might try filling in the accidentally chipped areas on the cowl with the some kind of metalizer or marker, avoiding brushwork or airbrushing. I have used silver Sharpie and Rub N Buff Silver Leaf thinned with citrus thinner on smaller chips.

Both will flow on when applied carefully and leave a smooth metal-like surface that will probably stay within the bounds of the chipped area. I would do that before your matt coat, which would bring down the shininess and blend everything together realistically, I think. While you no doubt have techniques of your own, I hope you don't mind this possibly useful tip. I am having some success with the sharpie method on my Shiden Kai where the salt over acrylic hasn't worked perfectly in some tiny areas. I will be using thinned Rub n Buff to repair some chips in the Vallejo metal coat that can't be resprayed. Looking forward to seeing your Jill cross the finish line. Such a nice clean-looking airplane.

Decal time. The kit decals were shot and already looked frosty on the sheet for lack of a better description. Using Techmod Japanese Universal markings sheet. I started with the lower Hinomaru's first.

Next applied the markings on the top wing panels. These settled nicely over the details on the wings.

Finally the fuselage Hinomaru's were next.

The kit provided markings especially the #33 are really quite popular and have seen a few times. And really wanted something different. But finding markings for the Jill are few and far between.
So I pieced together some markings found on Pinterest of this particular Jill late in the war. Side number 37. Which I was able to piece together from several Japanese kits in the stash to come up with the 37 side number and tail codes. The 37 on the fuselage should be a bit larger. And I believe the tail codes should be white not yellow. But oh well close enough.

The tail stripes are added. These are Hase decals, but when they settle they do not silver. A bit thick and at first I thought they may not settle properly after a coat of Solvaset. But they do,

Some weathering is applied with some metal chipping with a silver pencil. Ammo Mig washes fuel stains from the fuel tanks.

Streaks under the lower wings and fuselage. In the air flow direction.

Vallejo Satin finish is applied to the overall air frame.

Next up to remove the masks start work on the final details...
More to follow.

Very nice work Chuck, those Techmod decals aren’t bad at all

Now the fun part. Removing the masks and start the final phase of the build.

Using Testor's Clear cement to create the rear view windows on each side of the lower fuselage.

Love this stuff. Dries very clear.

In the meantime the masking set is removed from the canopy. Hasegawa clear parts show the interior very well still would prefer to have them slid open.

The exhaust stacks are installed and then painted Burnt iron with a rust wash applied.

Now to start work on the lower details. First with the tail wheel and hook.

The tail wheel is very nice one piece affair. Already in aluminum, Tire is painted Testor's Rubber.

Next the tail hook is painted steel then attached in place in the hook bay.

The tail lamp is then attached just under the tail rudder.

Next up, assemble and paint the prop and install the landing gear.

more to follow...

Since I will display the fowler flaps extended. Next is the actuators are attached to the flap bays.

After attaching 8 actuators 4 to each wing, will leave the flaps off for now. Other wise I may just knocked them off with some handling still to follow.

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.

A shame that the glass will not pose open, but that huge greenhouse does offer a quite a bit more than a glimpse of the innards.

Before getting started on the landing gear. First to finish the prop.

Which comprises of 5 parts. The spinner, backing plate, bearing, poly cap and the prop itself.

First to insert the poly cap into the spinner. Then the bearing cover over that.

Then slip the spinner over the front of the prop while attaching the backing plate behind the spinner.

Then paint the spinner and backing plate Red Brown.

Next is removing the fowler flaps and get them prepared to install once the landing gear is in place.

Now to work on the main gear. Starting with the strut.

Next is the retracting actuator arm and the wheel brace.

The wheel assy which is weighted, is placed loose on the strut (it will spin for now), then the inner wheel spindle brace. and the upper outer gear door. Will leave the lower door cover off for now.

Being the LH side main gear assy is then installed into the LH wheel bay using the retracting actuator arm to keep it in place . The fit here is very good and will have a long lasting shelf life while parked among it's brethren for years to come.

Now both gear assy's installed.

Nice positive contact points for the main gear will last for years. Nice. The inner gear doors are installed as well.

Once the cement is set, the Jill is now standing on her own.

Sturdy gear for one good sized torpedo bomber. This is not a small airplane, a bit larger than a Dauntless.

Next up the torpedo, more to follow...

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.

@uscusn, you just beat my reply to the previous post by 27 seconds it seems - but this latest post with her on her own legs just add a lot to understanding the size of the plane. Great progress.

That's a nice looking torpedo, my friend Chuck!