Boris, that looks very familiar. I finished mine a while ago and had many of the fit and alignment issues as well. Mine was partially built when I got it, but I did not notice any problems with the rear cockpit sitting too low.

What impressed me most was Special Hobby's customer service. The kit was missing several of the smaller resin parts, and after emailing them to ask for replacements, they sent the entire resin package, including the cockpit!

If you're interested, here is mine. It's in the standard US Navy training scheme from a unit in my home state of Texas.

North American T-2C Buckeye Special Hobby 1/48

Don't think I've ever seen one dressed up in anything but the orange/white training colors such as Jaime's. Yours looks like it's gonna be a real "eye-catcher" - looking forward to seeing the end result(s).

Thanks guys!

Jaime, that is an excellent job you did there - I love that white/orange scheme! Yeah, the rear cockpit floor sits a bit too low (about 2mm), resulting in the rear seat sitting too low as well. Easy solution would be to shim the seat with some sheet styrene, but stupid as I am I had to alter the whole cockpit...

Craig, I plan on doing a whole line of US Navy trainers, as far as kits are available. And I'd like to have some paint scheme variation, so the aggressor scheme came quite handy!

Anyway, some progress has been made. Before masking off the areas to be painted black or white, I gloss coated the whole thing with Tamiya X-22, thinned with Gunze Levelling Thinner. I found that masking over a glossy surface reduces the risk of paint creeping under the masking tape. The whole masking process is somewhat tedious, but worth it.

The leading edges got a coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, the walkways on the wings XF-85 Rubber Black, and the wheel wells X-1 Gloss White. The decals went on without any issues and where sealed in with another coat of X-22.

Next up: Weathering with oils and Mig Panel Line Washes. I love that part!

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.