[JohnReid]

except for a few minor adjustments the flight controls are finished.Before assembly I painted all metal parts with gesso flat black using the method I described earlier.I weathered all the parts with pastels in shades of grey ,brown and a little black.Try to be subtle and weather in areas where dust and grime would gather.Put scuff marks on thr floorboards where the heels of flight boots would leave marks etc...The joystick assembly was installed as one part(see Fig4-4)complete with floorboards.The elevator bar assembly was glued and installed complete with turnbuckles and control wires.I decided to use the kit supplied silver-grey nylon cord for this.All controls wires were cut extra long and coiled for future installation.I encountered no real problems with the flight controls installation but it does require some patience and forthought as to the sequence of rigging.

I decided that I would go back to step 11 figs 17,18,19&20.These fuselage clips help to hold the structute together and on the real airplane are bolted on.I just used glue as per the booklet as these bolts would never be seen when the aircraft is installed in the diorama.These clips in the kit are supplied as photoetch copper parts.Rather than trying to paint these tiny parts ,I used an old shipbuilders method of coloring copper plates.Heat the copper parts red hot(I used a butane lighter) and then immediately quench the part in cold water.The copper will age to a nice brown-black patina. Bend as required and install. to be cont.....

I am not keeping an hour by hour log of this build as I did in my shipbuilding days but I can say that I devote about 800 hours a year to this hobby based upon past logs.So for those who are interested how long it takes (roughy, in hours)to build a diorama on this scale you can figure it out by the months it takes to completion. I started this project about 12 months ago so I estimate about 800 hours so far.Cheers! John.