I've started from the cockpit. The most problematic part of this was painting – looking on the photos I've realized, that instruction doesn't give any correct information, except some "neutral gray" color.

As you can see, the main colors are light blue, darker green-blue of instrumental panels and a grey color. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything for the first two, so I did my own mixture of Hataka paints. If somebody is interested, here it is:

• Light blue is 6:1 of C709 (RAL 6027) and C284 (FS35520)
• Green-blue is ~2:1 of C228 and C284 plus white
• Grey is Vallejo 71.046

Kit comes with good decals for the instrumental screens/monitors (I'm not sure how it's properly called, so please correct me), bit everything the rest was brush painted – buttons, knobs, seats, etc. It was not that easy, but I've had some fun. Also, it's convenient to apply base colors with lacquers, and brush paint with water acrylics – in a case of a mistake you can easily use acrylic cleaner to remove it without touching the base.

It looks really good!

I really like the looks of this plane and I am looking forward to seeing it completed. Your cockpit looks awesome.

That's a very ingenious method of molding the fuselage and wings ! I like it.

Looks like you somehow managed to shrink a life sized plane down to 1/48 🙂

After almost eight months I've decided to get back to this build – I had put a lot of work into the cockpit and intakes, and it would be good to finish the model kit. I will try one more time, but previously I was somehow disappointed.

I've re-started the build with engines, and it was frustrating, because I've screwed up the heat resistance pad detail while I was trying to bend it to fit the fuselage. I made a replacement with a 0.5mm white polystyrene plate - you can see it on the photo.

Next, I've installed ailerons, elevators, flaps and slats – no issues here. And the most critical thing – gluing together nose cockpit part and fuselage. Not that easy, I was using rubber bands to fix some parts at desired position, and it will require some putty.

An interesting aircraft design, nice progress!

Thank you friends! Hope to finish the kit with your help. Since the last posting I was preparing the model kit for priming and painting. All of the issues with seam lines and similar things were discovered and eliminated, but it took some time. I've use Gunze Mr.Surfacer 1500 black primer, because the next thing was marbling:

I'm not sure about the final effect – how this would looks like after the base blue color, but still worth a try to my mind. And it was a kind of meditation – slowly painting that random splashes of white, panel by panel.

I was also working on the canopy, and it's most inconvenient part – imitation of an explosive cord. I still can't understand why it's not a separate part or just a recessed "panel line", so you can use wash to fill it with a needed color. Instead, it's a raised element on the internal surface of a canopy. Also, there is alternative clear part without this cord. And a decal. You can choose to paint the cord or apply a decal and which clear part to use. I've tried to paint the cord by hand with acrylic paint – no way, so I've applied the decals, removing the clear film whenever it was possible. After that I've added a layer of a clear gloss coat. Canopy was also painted from inside using Eduard masks:

Next is the base color