I replaced the reinforcing strips I had sanded off the bottom of the booms. I also filled the area where the booms join with the center wing section with acrylic filler. That was it for today, but I hope for more progress tomorrow.

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Getting together real nice, George @gblair

I got everything ready to paint today. I got some canopy masks from Special Hobby, but discovered they didn't fit very well and there was no mask for the rear window. I cut the masks until they fit, and used some of the extra mask material to fill the rear glass. I used AK Real Colors for the RLM 70/71 on the top. I painted the demarcation free hand. Clear gloss tomorrow in preparation for the decals. Cheers.

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Talk about progress! Impressive! Ditto what Spiros said about your workbench, George @gblair. What do you use for acrylic filler? Can you smooth it with a wet Qtip or something? Shrinkage?

Thanks for stopping by, Spiros (@fiveten), Eric (@eb801), and John (@johnb). If you look at the bench, you see parts of the triplane, the Fw-189, and my Conquistador. Things will get better as I finish each one. I really like acrylic filler and use it for a lot of things. It is particularly good for filling small gaps and ejection pin marks. I use Tamiya White Filler for anything large or anything that requires strength. I use two different acrylic fillers/putty. For most things, I use Vallejo acrylic in a sealable container. I put on, let it dry, then use alcohol or water on an earbud or paper towel. Water works slower than alcohol. The problem with an earbud or paper towel is they tend to remove some of the filler in the gap that you want to leave there. I have started using wet/dry sandpaper used wet to remove filler from depressions. It only removes filler to the top of rest of the plastic. I use 600 grit for this, so it doesn't mess up the surface of the model. I also use an acrylic putty by Deluxe Materials called Perfect Plastic Putty. It is really thick, so works well when you want to put it somewhere and build it up. It removes and shapes using both water and alcohol. Deluxe Materials makes a whole bunch of glues, fillers, etc for hobbyists, and most are water-based. I haven't noticed any shrinkage with either one, although I tend to put plenty of filler in the hole so I don't worry about shrinkage.

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In the midst of lots of real life distractions, I have been working to push the 189 across the finish line. With painting complete, I started adding all of the small parts and sub-assemblies. Assembling the gear was very fiddly and didn't seem to fit very well. The entire complex gear assembly was completed off the airplane and then glued into the gear well on the nacelle. There were slots for the struts and an actuating arm to fit into, but the arm was too long to fit in the slots. I ended up gluing it to the bottom of the well just behind the slot. It all works fine. The replacement prop assemblies arrived today, so I painted them and will get them assembled and on the plane soon.

I added the decals using Tamiya MarkFit to snug them down. They seemed a little thick, so I was worried they would hide the panel lines, but everything worked fine. There was a large decal for the walk/don't walk areas on the wings. It was very large, covering about 1/3 of the wing. I was worried that the large clear area would silver, but no sweat, the decal folded irretrievably and is now in the garbage. So, no silvering. Yeah.

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Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). Getting close.

This one is progressing nicely, George @gblair