Thank you folks! Life has been pretty crazy towards the tail end of this build, but here's some photos of when I did get the wheels and accessories onto it.
The Finishing Touches
The last bit of work was the add all the final bits I often forget exist until the final minutes. On the real subject we can see a pitot tube, but antennas are not visible and I imagine the aircraft probably didn't have a radio (at least not the one it would have if it saw service) as Japanese radios were problematic enough and not really needed for a 15 minute hop. Regardless, I decided to add the antennas as I think that quite honestly they look very unique, and with the cannons already an ahistorical addition I figured 2 sticks and a bit of rigging wire wouldn't hurt.
The undercarriage was added and finally glued in place, whenever I had placed them on the aircraft previously they would fall out during taking photos so getting them in place is satisfying. The gear doors all fit fine with no issues, though the nose wheel doors were a little tough to put in the recommended angle.
Also the wheels on the horizontal stabilisers were added, they are moulded into the model but naturally began to bend, so I cut them off and added them later with a touch of superglue. In the last post they were attached with regular cement but began to bend so superglue has solved this better.
Finally the canopy was just placed on, whilst the front and rear sections were glued on in the previous update, the instructions recommend you fit the sliding canopy without gluing and it does fit well. Some filling was required but this was largely where the rear of the cockpit meets the fuselage panel.
And with that another model is done, and the first one of 2022! Thank you all for following along as it's been a very fun build, but as mentioned I ran out of time to make updates as regularly as I'd like so at the moment the model has been sitting in it's shelf next to an A6M5 and N1K2 for a few days now. Overall this is a very fun aircraft to build and paint and the kit is very good, hopefully some more were manufactured as part of the 10 Year Anniversary of the Super Wing Series and so we'll see a few more of these kits being made. Either way, I'll need to add another Zoukei-Mura kit to the stash. Thankfully this kit isn't a tail sitter, but it's sure just on the edge of being one.
