so this is what I did to create the latching mech.on the gun hood.
first I made a guide at the gun slots where the guns slide under the hood
I then centered some holes for piano wire to slide into, the wire will work as the lock and double as the gun core I used this same idea when I made the mech. for my ESM FW190 next was to glue in a guide on the gun hood to anchor the guide tubes in photo#3 this was tricky because I needed to use this to hold the tubes in place.
to do this, after gluing the wood in place with some med CA, I used the full length wire to make marks in the wood rib using the cowl indentations as a guide and the length of the wire for a reference.
I then removed enough wood to allow the aluminum guide tubes to slide in the grove and align so I could tack them in place with 5 min epoxy, the guides are slightly past the wood rib so the epoxy would not become a problem, I then flared out the receiving end of the tube, and also made a slight point on the wire to make the wire find the tube easier.
I then slid the wire through the wood guide, placed the tubes over the wire, and tacked the aluminum tubes one at a time to the gun hood, a little trial and error to get them aligned properly and with the tubes set I applied more epoxy to really secure the tubes in place once the epoxy was hard the hood had zero play and I am confident it will stay put.
on the exposed ends of the wire I will build some guns for decoration and scale looks