I got the canopies fitting nicely and did some sanding and filling on the nose section. All of these pieces are now ready for the final coats of Duratec once the weather cooperates.
me being the inpatient person i can be, i used some un-thinned DuraBuild primer and brushed it on the tail section pieces and got to sanding those smooth.
unfortunately i sanded through the rivets in a few places. Since rivet visibility on full scale aircraft can vary based on there installation and finishing methods over the entire aircraft, im tempted to leave it how it is to add to the scale/ness of the model. Anyone have any thoughts? Adding them back on wouldnt be a huge undertaking if need be.
with the rudder sanded smooth, i placed 1/4” masking temp centered over the rivet rows and any “bonded” internal stiffeners. Fyi, the rivets in the rudder were near impossible to see in numerous photo’s, so i placed them in what i would “expect” to see based on other jets.
i then made up a 220 grit sanding sponge and sanded away the primer between the masking tape. I then removed the masking tape leaving a subtle “waviness” to the rudder. This waviness is very difficult to see in primer, but is easily felt. I am hoping that once the final paint is applied, it will be more easily seen, especially with semi-gloss color schemes. My plan is to mold the rudder first and see how it comes out before proceeding to far along this process with the wings and fuselage. The horizontal stabs had very little waviness to there surface that i could see in photos, so im less concerned about adding this feature to them
