Lost of words, my friend @coling! Having followed this thread, all I can say is that it was excellent in ievry aspect: not one point is noted that work done was anything less than spectacular, the result obviously showing this.
Congratulations! Looking forward to the headlines posting!

Thanks, guys. I am just adding a brief update on the antenna wire, which I fixed after all. It seemed silly to put off the very last thing that needed doing. It was quite interesting to figure out what it looked like with no period close- ups of Buffalo antennas and no surviving museum Brewsters (except the Finnish wreck). I suddenly thought of looking at my F-4F Wildcat Walkaround book , as the Wildcat would probably have been similarly fitted out, radio wise. There indeed was the close-up I needed, obviously the same antenna/insulator arrangement but on the F-4F radio mast.

I did the insulator with stretched white sprue. Since it was obviously white plastic or ceramic in the original, this obviated the need to paint it. The rest of the operation involved covering the model with TP to avoid glue accidents from the super sproingy EZ Line. Just thought I would share this here as it won't be part of the finished article and may be useful, techniques-wise.

Thanks for sharing the last bit on your amazing model, Colin (@coling). Great solution for the multi-part antenna. For me, antennas are the absolute worst task on a model. Now that I don't build for contests, I often don't add the antenna at all. The people who see my models in my house don't know that they are missing anyway. Of course, I know they are missing and sometimes (especially on 1/32 planes) I will add the antenna. Great job.

Thank you, Spiros, George and John for following this through to the end and for your generous words of support. I am happy that the techniques shown have been of interest to you.

George, after so-so experiences with stretched sprue and fishing line, I do all of my antennas now with EZ Line. In case you don't know it, it is made for railroad modelers for power lines and is super forgiving, in that its elastic nature allows you to accidentally snag it from time to time without breaking. As long as I use the technique shown, antenna rigging is not so stressful. I attach one end to the main mast first, preferably before attaching the mast itself to the model. When the mast is firmly glued on with EZ line attached, I stretch out the line with the jig and move the model itself to line up with it. Lots of control and a simple drop of glue to secure it. No need to hold it tight by hand. I trim off the excess later on with nail clippers.

Anyway, thank you for your kind words about the build. I hope you will stop by the Headlines section for a more complete photo set. The only thing about the GB is that by the time the complete model is posted it is almost to familiar to notice. 🙂