All of a sudden I got the front wing insert sanded and I realized the wing was ready to be glued to the fuselage. Now it starts to look like an aircraft.

All fitted very well. The trailing end sits like a glove sandwiched between the fuselage and the radiator intake.

The lower front fitted to the engine area with distinction...except for a hair fine line that will be filled with a bit of Mr Surfacer. A slight sanding over all joints to erase any traces of glue will be done tomorrow.

The machine gun inserts fitted also very well, no problems here.

Thanks a lot, Louis. It does help a lot. I wasn´t sure and rules and regulations are a jungle out there. I have been looking at Mustangs, civilians from the 60´s-70´s and warbirds of more recent dates but most photos of aircraft are from side or sometimes top side, seldom from the bottom. I´ll probably have a reg reading NP51D, many have something similar. 4 inches are as far from the 50´s huge buzz numbers as you can get.

Re the gun ports... I´m not sure I´ll keep them. Many civilian Mustangs had them faired or at least capped. However, this one will be a worn one undergoing maintenance, perhaps being assembled from parts... It is a build review (most of it anyway...) and not a total conversion to a Cavalier Mustang II so I don´t have to be totally faithful.

Wow, what a great build! Very comprehensive and incredibly useful. Thanks for taking us along for your build!

Looking good and cannot wait to see the end results of your labor!

After sanding and final shaping of the fin extension I gave it a coat of Tamiya´s grey primer to check for blemishes. No worries at all. Scribed some panel lines but there is something wrong to the proportions apparently as the panel lines didn´t match up as per photos... never mind, it will be fine on this model.

Added the stabilizer. The fit into the slots are perfect but one have to get the angles straight vertically. No hanging parts here!

Dry fitted the elevators to be sure all was OK. Yep, all looks fine to me. Fantastic fit. Details on rudders and stabilizer are amazing and will suit most modellers I believe.

Your build is coming along nicely. Thought I’d chime in on that lower fuselage clamp: I’m having the same experience. The sandwiched radiator parts make the fit VERY snug. Discovering the resistance during a test fit, I was careful to clean and smooth all the contact surfaces of the radiator parts (scraping away overspray, etc) to get a true fit. But even then it required some real pressure to close the joints.

It’s not at all a poor fit; in fact, it’s just a little TOO perfect.

Thanks for your comments, gentlemen!

Louis, as I have no idea what antennaes I´m looking at I have a bit trouble replicate them. However, I think I will go for a backward slanting whip antenna in white on underside and a small blade on each side of the fin tip. Many have a wire antennae running from fin to fuselage, just beside canopy, on right hand side.

John, yes, it is as if they forgot to allow for glue.

David, I have promised myself to keep only kit I will actually build. The others will have to go.