Really moved on this one Spiros. Might have to get one or two of these. A tip for your putty and removal. You'll also need nail polisher remover for this. I use Sally Hansen brand. Others don't like it because of the acetone content but I've stripped the entire paint off of three 1:48 fighters without issue. I use 3M Glazing & Spot Putty in the black and red tube for filler. Way cheaper than Squadron Green putty and doesn't dry in the tube if you look after it. I'm sure this technique will work with Squadron. I run masking tape on either side of the gap to be filled, put this as close to the gap as possible. Spread enough putty to fully fill the gap and scrape off the excess. Immediately remove the tape. Now comes the time/panel lines savings part. With a Q-Tip dipped in the nail polish remover, run it along the filled seem removing the last remaining excess putty. No panel lines damaged doing this. The trick is to do it before the putty begins to set. If you are worried about the nail polish remover damaging the plastic, rinse under water. As I said I have yet to damage plastic doing this but there is always a chance. This method saves tons of time with sanding and rescribing panel lines

Thanks @airbum! About softeners: GREAT stuff! as in every Hasegawa kit, there's at least one down side (if someone is carelless...like yours trully quite a bit o' times). YES, you got it: The horror movie starts when one accidentally touches the decal when the softener hasn' dried...

Talk about a quick build, you've come long way baby. Looking good.

Spiros @fiveten, can't wait to see the finished product - looks like a real product of its time - GR8 b/w picture!

George @blackadder57 great tutorial - thank you! Perhaps you should introduce the Blackadder groundschool in the General Modeling group . . . . 😉

wow - knocked this out quickly! Looking great!

You sure have this one "almost" finished very quickly ! A few more little steps that you mentioned, and it's done, (and very well done my friend)... I'm looking forward to seeing the completed model. It looks fantastic as it is now.

Agree, it’s a fast build but a very good work with no or few compromises to quality. I really like the way the decals conform to shape and the Color match the painted engine cowling, thumbs up Spiros! I also have this kit in the stash but never had serious thoughts of building it until now 😉

Did some pastelling to simulate engine stains, dirtied the wheels and spats, affixed the pitot and glued the tail skid that I typically break at the very first stages of my constructions (...). My bird (check photo above) did not carry the antenna mast, me happily not installing it. Filled the corresponding cut at the fuselage with white glue in multiple sessions and painted in the fuselage color. Few things remained before heading to the paint shop for the final coating which, checking at the photo, should be more or less in the satin region.

Keep up, EoJ GB!

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.