Hi, guys... at last, I am able to make a contribution to this group build. Having had some time earlier today, I really enjoyed looking through the contributions so far - many aircraft kits, at least one submarine and an airship amongst other wonderful subjects. I think this GB will be very interesting indeed.

So, I'm in the early stages of my build and although this kit is marked as 2008, therefore making it one of the earlier WnW offerings, it is of typical excellent design and the pieces look very good indeed. As ever with any model, the proof will be in the fit of the parts, so I hope it's up to the usual high standard in that regard as well.

I started with laying down a white, then pale tan enamel undercoat for anything that needed a wood-effect finish. Once dry, I applied a thin coat of burnt sienna oil paint to the relevant parts and after it looked dry a while later - the emphasis being on the word 'looked' - I carefully drew a pointed-tip paintbrush through the oil paint to get the effect I wanted before the paint dried fully. These parts were left to dry overnight and I was pleased with the outcome. The pilot's and observer's seats, along with the circular gun mount, had burnt umber applied and worked in the same manner.

Afterwards, the pieces needing to be finished in grey-green were painted up, mainly the small access hatches and louvres as well as both the cabane and interplane struts, with the attachment brackets and sleeves on the latter two picked out in black. Then the engine was assembled; the top and bottom sections were painted seperately before being brought together and the lower areas were blackwashed to tone down the metallic shade that I thought was a little too shiny.

The latest bit of work was to apply the small transfers to the instrument panel and one to the side of the cockpit framing; these were done last night and left overnight to dry thoroughly.

So, that's the state of play so far. I'll have more photos to add as I go along - thanks for looking in... ;-).

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent entry and ditto start, my friend @paulh!
Looking forward to your next steps!

Wow - where did you find this at a price that didn't force a change in the national debt? This kit's been made of unobtainium for years!

Hi, guys... back with a further small number of photos; these are mostly showing the cockpit from different angles once the fuselage has been closed up. I found the fit very tight, especially when I tried to get the bulkheads to settle into position. I don't know if being one of WnW's earlier models, the fit of parts wasn't quite what we came to expect later. The upper coaming - not shown here - was also an area that needed some firm pressure applied and then taped up to hold things in place while the adhesive dried out. As it is, you can see from the photos the 'glue and tape' process on the rear fuselage.

The interior seemed a little open, that is to say, I have built WnW kits where there's a lot of parts to add in, but when the coaming is attached, the visible areas are much reduced and look just about right. The instrument panel has the customary small decals to attach; I lost the handle from the control column so I had to fashion another from stretched plastic - not really how it should look but better than nothing.

I've already dry fitted the engine and cowling covers - pretty good, all things considered. The edges of one of the cowlings had to be manipulated slightly to improve the fit. The last image showing the underside of the fuselage also has some gapping at the edges, and these have been filled and are shortly about to be sanded smooth. If that all goes well, then an undercoat onto the fuselage can be applied ahead of starting the colour scheme, which will be a camouflaged fuselage, with the wings being lozenge-covered. More to follow in due course... ;-).

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Ian, thanks for your comments... ;-).

This is a wonderful interior, my friend @paulh!

Even WNW kits have fitting problems , but you have remedied that quite well Paul. Paint job looks great as well.

A very nice approach to solve the issue, Paul @paulh
Great paintwork.