I love those belt cartridges, Pedro! Also the bombsight!

Hi Pedro @holzhamer.
This is a masterpiece of a cockpit!
Also the fuselage/wing joint speaks perfection.
Armoured glass discrepancy is hardly visible.
Try spot apply a TINY amount of future, only at the scar (with a 10/0 brush or a toothpick). It might help a bit.
All the best!

Moving forward with the build, I came to found that the radiator piece is a bit shy in size and needs to be enlarged a bit on the sides

To achieve this I added putty in one side only but still needs some refinement work obviously. Added some tiny details as seen on walks rounds of preserved airplane, namely an escape pipe and a tube running to the radiator inside

. A part that needed some thinning to be a bit more realistic are these slats the smaller one is partially reshaped unlike the bigger brother 🙂

Also completed the pilots gunsight by adding the small black rails on the side

these were made from cut to shape evergreen plastic sheet. Now I can glue the front canopy in place. It’s not much but it’s going there 😉

Thanks Erik, true what you say, often the details and sharpness achieved can give an edge on a finished model. I try to get there in each model, some are easier than others and this one falls in the medium category of work needed. I’m sure you’ll have fun building yours

A quick update
The airframe is almost at painting level. Just a few touch ups to reach there

The “mouth” of that big radiator in now glued and detailed the best I knew and could. Even with prior sanding and adjusting, including adding thin stretched spruce and putty there are still minor gaps to be dealt with. But the fit is much better than it was also considerably thinned these slats that are still unpainted because I’ll need to give them some weathering on the inside surfaces before glueing them

About paints- I realize having had a senior moment when I painted the floaters, completing forgetting that the undersurface camouflage grey came up all the way to the supporting structure.
As you can see I am re-painting both accordingly

I also changed the initial hue of the underside grey, going from a blueish grey to a more green grey. Apparently I was using a color used by the Japanese Army AF, not the proper color used by the Navy AF. You can see the difference between them, the flap still in the initial coat but the stabilizers already with the new grey green coat

a big thanks for my friend Louis Gardner @lgardner for helping me find what exactly was that grey green color

Finally am working also on the exhaust stacks. These are OOB and I dare not drilling them because the darn things are tiny

after some aluminum base, I applied a very thin layer of hull red. Now I’m moving to oils and pastel to finish them.
Cheers!

Pedro, @holzhamer

It has been a while since I have stopped by to look at your progress... WOW ! It is looking fantastic, and I'm glad that I could help you with the color choices. The small improvements you have added will definitely set your build apart from the rest. This is the first time that I have seen a coolant drain tube rendered in 1/48 scale. The thinning of the trailing edges of the cooling vents is also a very nice touch. I'll try to start doing that to my builds. It's a night and day difference. And your gun sight... well, it too is very authentic looking. Amazing workmanship is on display right here. Keep it up my friend, keep it up...

Pedro, @holzhamer What an amazing update - you rock big time on this build! I really have to get mine started one of these days. (the only way I can impress compared to this build may be those darned nav-lights, you take the lead in every other aspect)

I only just skimmed the journal, but failed to catch if the masks were your own design? They do indeed look great. Eagerly awaiting the next update.