He only lost 1 3/8 inches of full-scale height during the operation to keep his head from interfering with the aileron pushrods. That's right, when I reinstalled the rear faux cockpit floor and fastened the wing on, the rods rubbed up against his precision-cut ginger hairdo.


As shown here.

At this point I was relieved that I had screwed, rather than glued, Shorty the pilot onto the floor. It took only a few minutes to remove the floor, free the pilot, trim 1/4" off his upper torso, refasten him, and reinstall the floor. Now there's plenty of clearance.


As shown here.