Cheers guys, thanks. I've been cracking on with it today but there is no way it will be ready before I go back to work on Monday. I've got the cockpit installed and the two halves of the main fuselage are (hopefully) bonding together nicely.
I was wondering, does anyone have a 1/35 cockpit fire extinguisher they want rid off?

Thanks Ramon. I've just finished the rotors although I didn't attempt to bend the blades back. I was a bit scared that they wouldn't have went back perfect and would have looked somewhat warped and unnatural. I don't think many people will notice the error though, just people like yourself who really know there stuff! Or anyone who has followed this work in progress for that matter!

I would actually really like to secure the rotors with the red ties like the photo you showed me, I'll have to have a look at making that myself with some ribbon, see if it is worthy of the final model.

I have pre shaded the rotor blades and then gone over the top with a shade of very very very very very dark grey, then dry brushed the edges and rotor head to bring out the detail.

Man alive! Thats some beautiful work there Richard, and great progress. I look forward to more posts and the finished article.

Looking nice Richard, take care up there mate.
A wait your next update.

This is going to look terrific, Richard, can't wait for more progress.

Back from work now so time to crack on! I've installed the cages from the Eduard set onto the air intakes. I assume they are to stop organic matter being drawn into the engines, but if I'm wrong feel free to enlighten us as to the real purpose, I can only find one reference photo where they are used.

The exposed areas are now masked with sponge and tape and ready to go so wish me luck. I found a little tip in a magazine actually which might be of interest. Instead of washing the sprue plastic in soapy water, apparently spraying pure alcohol on through an airbrush achieves the same results. I'm going to try and clean this up a bit before painting so I'll give it a go and see if it works.

Been watching this one from time to time, Richard. Your wear along the console edges is very convincing, and the addendum items have come up well, especially around the rotors. Did Revell do this kit? I'm sure I bookmarked a 1/32 build of theirs, with a LOT of aftermarket, and it looked superb. Naturally, yours is a smaller scale, but as I think I mentioned in a previous post, these craft are deceptively big even in 1/35. Keep up the good work.