So at last an update! Spent the last 5 days without heat so taking care of that took priority, so I am a little bit further behind than I would like, but it's all good. So anyway I have finished the cockpit adding details from the Eduard Zoom set that came with the kit when I got it in a trade. Also finished the wing assembly as the interiors of the radiators were RLM-02, so while I had the paint out I figured I take care of as much as I could.
All the wires were added from Milliput epoxy putty. worked pretty well, you can roll out a piece as thin as you like and shape it with a wet paint brush. Because the Milliput reacts with water before it cures, once in place just brush some water on it and it will harden in place attached to the model. I also played around the chipping in the cockpit as well just for fun to see how it would look.
The opposite side, same processes used.
The floor and seat, I had to drill and shape the slot in the seat back to accept the Eduard harness. Added a couple different colors of pigment to the floor and rudder pedals to simulate dirt and dust carried in on the pilots feet. Also, I replaced the foot straps with pieces of Tamyia tape as the etched ones were very small and fragile, and I lost one when I was looping it around on the pedal.
The instrument panel. I used Future to attach the top panels to the backs as the Future gives you time to adjust the parts, and also, most importantly, does not affect the printing on the panels. When It dried, I added another drop of Future to each lens to simulate the glass. The levers in the Eduard set have you fold over the knobs on the ends to make them a bit thicker, but I added a drop of Krystal Kleer to each knob to make it more 3 dimensional, the touched up the knobs with Tamyia paint.
From here the pace should pick up as most of the finicky fussy stuff is done. A little test fitting of the cockpit and then everything goes together
Ernie