Thanks Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). Today is game day with the kids, but I hope to get the cockpit done today.

Despite the kids day, you still had good progress, my friend @gblair! Cannot imagine how it would have been flying in this claustrophobic cupola...

I wanted to get the center section of the wing done today in preparation for adding the wings and tail booms. This involved adding the part of the booms that attached to the bottom of the center wing section. When I checked the fit for these sections, it was obvious that a lot of work would be needed to get them to fit properly. I suspect this poor fit is the result of adding a new center section for the wing. I would bet that the center section of the standard Fw-189 would fit the pods perfectly, but the new center section didn't fit quite as well. In the end, I think everything will be OK, but I won't know for sure until I try to fit the booms in-place.

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

You are progressing nicely on this one, George @gblair

After studying the instructions for the next few steps, I decided it was time to deviate once again. The instructions want you to assemble the two booms and the horizontal tail, and then add them to the center wing sections 7 or 8 steps down the road. I didn't really like this plan, and I went renegade again when I decided that I wanted a little adjustment available when I glued the booms and wing center section together. Before committing to glue, I did a test fit on the booms and the horizontal tail, as well as the fit of the booms to the wing. The fit to the horizontal tail was fine, but the fit of the booms to the wing wasn't very good. I spent a good deal of time adjust the fit of each boom till I got something in the ball park. I then glued the booms and horizontal tail, clamped them together, and then glued the booms to the center section. With the clamp holding the rear section together, I used tape to hold the booms in place until the glue dried. When everything was solid, I used acrylic filler to eliminate the small gap in the booms. When all of this is dry, I will add the stiffener along the bottom of the boom that I previously removed.

Next on the program was to prepare the engine nacelles. They will eventually be glued to the front of the booms. The nacelle halves fit well, but the nacelle front was a small problem. First, ICM really likes to place the sprue attachments on the face of the part that will be glued. This seems like a good idea to keep the exterior surface clean, but it leads to some really difficult part cleanups to eliminate the remnant of the sprue. The sprue attachment point on the front of the nacelle was the rigged section that fits into the nacelle sides. It wasn't that hard to get the parts prepped, just annoying. Following this exercise, I prepped and assembled the wings. The wings seemed to go together really well. Fingers crossed. Tomorrow I hope to bring all of these parts together.

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

This one gets together nicely, George @gblair
Its always good to have a thought about what is the best approach, which is usually not as described in the instructions.

Happy to hear the fun-factor is intact despite (or because of?) all the challenges. If nothing else, you will end up with a rather special plane in the end.

Thanks for stopping by, Erik (@airbum) and Eric (@eb801). I think the fit problems I have had all come from the new center wing section. The parts to create the entire Fw-189A/B are in the box. There are 2 new sprues to create the Fw-189C: a new sprue that contains the parts for the new center wing section and gondola, and a small clear sprue with the windows for the gondola. Everything from the original kit seems to fit fine until you have to attach them to the new center wing section, and then there are some problems. Nothing too difficult to fix, just annoying. I have heard that the GWH kit is also challenging, so I guess the good news is that the windows would be larger and perhaps easier to mask.