As the aircraft I want to do has the anti-spin strakes fitted to the rear fuselage, Airfix supply an alternative tail with them moulded on however some surgery is required to the fuselage. Airfix supply a jig that fits over the rear fuselage with the idea that you sand down the area however I found it easier to score it with a modelling knife and remove the section of fuselage that way.
A word of caution here as you need to tape the jig (DO NOT GLUE IT) to the fuselage otherwise you may end up with an uneven cut that will lead to a lop-sided tail-plane.
Before fitting the tail I lightly scored the elevators and cut the top rudder hinge line so that I could offset them.
Before the lower wing was glued into position I removed the moulded detail ready for the etch replacements then the wing was glued into place with some filler being needed after it had set. The struts were glued to the top wing and left to set and before the two venturi's were glued to the fuselage, holes were drilled either end of them to improve the look.
With that I scraped off the moulded detail and made new plates from thin styrene sheet with a slot engraved using a pin and a straight edge, triangular pieces were cut from the same size styrene sheet for the rudder cable mountings. Remembering that I off-set the rudder, the cable mounts were off-set too then these assemblies were glued to the fuselage sides.
At the risk of over thinking this model (like I usually do) I have to say I have really enjoyed it so far as it is has been a really pleasing kit to work on and not become a chore like other recent builds, however this may change when the time comes to fix the top wing in place.
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