its been a bit, but ive been plugging along the last few weeks when the family and work lets me.

first up i rectified the overly thick and blunt trailing edges on the wings. They are now T38 like at around 1/16” thick. I also applied the vinyl cut surface detailings but ultimately was unhappy with the commonality of the top/bottom cuttings and pulled all it back off. My vinyl cutter software doesnt keep the sizing data when importing the DXF file the surface details are cut from, so getting the top/bottom imported files fo match was near impossible, and i tried... alot... cutting over 50’ of vinyl trying to get it “just” right. Oh well... i’ve got a new tool coming that will hopefully rectify that problem.






next up was some sanding and body filling to the fuselage. I filled in the rectangular cooling scoop openings using the previously 3D printed scoop defects.







i then brushed on some Duratec Base primer. I didnt really care about what it looked like, hence the plethora of runs and was to lazy to spray it because i wanted to be able to paint all of the surfaces in a single day. Ultimately this stuff sands super easy and it wasn’t a problem. I’m glad i built my downdraft table now!







at this point, it was just alot of sanding. Again, the downdraft table i designed and built became a HUGE commodity and im glad i took the time to make it.









With everything sanded, i glued on the previously 3D printed fuselage spine correction filler pieces to the fuselage and engine hatch.







Then began the process of body working the fuselage and engine hatch so they flowed well from one to the next.









With the hatch flowing well with the fuselage surface, it exacerbated the joint and i just wasnt happy with the fit, so it had to be fixed.

i placed HVAC tape on the fuselage to act as a release (i should of waxed it to.. oh well) then applied a significant bead of reinforced body filler onto the hatch flanges. I then










I also 3D printed the fuel tank plugs and brushed on alot of the Duratec base primer.