Adding up to quite a difference since last seen, including the last major structural work:
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Meantime, continuing research brought me back to the subject of the machine guns:
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Additionally - though none of my reference pics clearly show it - the literature convinced me that the later-model Do217k2, such as in this build (with advanced belly well) also had a quartet of tail "stinger" MGs - depicted most simply by chopping the handles off of 4 additional castings (center, at top), bundling and then mounting them with barrels extending back from the tail (center, at middle and bottom). However I subsequently decided only the muzzles must have protruded, so, after lopping off the cluster of barrels (right, at top), the tail cone was restored - the stem of a 430-scale (Revell Arizona) lifeboat serving nicely as the replacement (right, at middle) - and the muzzles of yet more spare MG castings (purple) inserted through it. (Oiy Vey! )
Also completed - and of course, improved somewhat - were the engines:
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Definitely-noticeable improvement was obtained by the exhaust stacks (right), immediately on drilling open their ends - all 26 of them, total - so that they no longer looked like (solid) spare-ribs (or banannas )!
Over the weeks, the build also sustained some damage, needing repair:
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--FULL RES-------------------------) used the upper surfaces as a testbed to experiment with masking-cutting, which accordingly left them deeply scratched (left), and refinishing involved tedious protection of the (remaining) panel-line detail aluminum tape - though in the process I learned this can be done much more quickly around panel lines if they are simply restored/extended periodically during the resurfacing.
A casualty, in turn, of all this elbow grease was the tail wheel (right) which, twice broken, was finally repaired with the brass reinforcing shown.
Everything then got a coat of silver:
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Note also the round hole in the underside of the port wing: the location of a landing light, whose OOB clear part could never have come unscathed through all the CA-filling and grinding in that area. Instead, a reflector was scratchbuilt and installed both in the same steps (right): first, by hollowing-out a cone and "fishing" it in (right, bottom-left), using a thin plastic dowel mounted through its center. Once hardened, the surrounding glue/filler was smoothed/resurfaced (right, bottom-center), and the rod cut down to just a tiny stub, with glue droplet added to its tip, to make it into the light bulb! Sprayed silver (right, bottom-right), the reflector will be filled with white glue, drying clear and shiny, to make the lens. Easy - and better than the kit part - this light should be (yet) one more little gem of detail, on the finished build...
And that pretty much brings you up to date on this build - already seeing yet more progress even this weekend - and will be ready to get the main camo/paint job pretty soon, now.
Cheers,
-Matty
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