Decals look excellent now, my friend @gblair!

It really paid off to stare at the problem and think it through George (@gblair). Glad to see you were able to find a work around that didn't involve masking or cutting the decal.

I spent most of my modeling time today prepping and installing a lot of the small stuff. These are all the tiny things that I really like to work with (just kidding). I lost two of the small parts and then managed to find them both. The pylons that hold the bomb panniers were supposed to be a butt joint with the wing, so I drilled a hole in each pylon and added some wire to help hold it to the wing. Hopefully the holes I drilled in the wing to receive the wire are close to where they should be. Installing the engine and cowling was fun, but worked out in the end.

I was a little amazed at the position lights on each wingtip. There is a cutout in each wing where the clear glass pieces go. I decided to wait till the end to install the glass rather than install early and mask. I am not real sure why I decided to do this, but as the build went on I started worrying that it would require a bunch of sanding and fitting to get them to fit, which might potentially mess up the paint on the wing. In the end, it only took a quick swipe of the sanding stick on each wingtip to make them fit perfectly. Yeah! Another ill-conceived plan actually worked.

There are several PE pieces still to add, including a bead sight in front of the canopy and the pitot. I also need to add the antenna mast just behind the cockpit. This piece is plastic and is actually designed to butt join with the fuselage. I will need to figure out an alternative, because there is no way that a butt-jointed mast will support the antenna wires to come. Cheers everyone.

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

This looks really good, George @gblair
Good idea to use that wire to hold it in place.

Why is it that it takes longer to prep and add the small bits that it took to build the rest of the model? I spent my time today adding the small bits. When I used my sprue cutters to cut the antenna mast free of the sprue, it shattered into pieces. Glad I found out now rather than after I added it to the model. I cut a new one from some thin brass (hopefully not too thin), and then prepped it for installation. I determined its position on the spine of the plane and drilled two small holes that matched the size of the base of the mast. I then used an Xacto to cut the space between the holes, thereby making a slot for the mask. A little super glue and the mast is attached. I hope to finish in the next day or two. Cheers everyone.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent save, my friend @gblair!

N0 rush George (@gblair). The brass antenna is a good idea and will aid things if you add an antenna wire.