Here is a bit of progress from the last few days. Everything you see here is directly from the kit box with only seatbelts added.
Several trial fittings of the two cockpit tubs were attempted before assembling and revealed that the only trimming needed was to narrow the floor of the aft cockpit just a little to allow a tight joint of the fuselage halves. There are five parts that must be glued to one half of the fuselage before gluing together--the radiator outlet bath, exhaust, forward cockpit, aft cockpit and tailwheel well. Don't forget to add the exhaust to the other half (I know this from experience.....and you can't reach it after gluing!).
1/48 Fairey Firefly
I must comment on the exhaust assemblies--these are resin parts and are quite wonderful! You'll notice too that I painted the area around each exhaust to make masking a little easier later.
After filling and smoothing the seams on the fuselage halves it was time to install the wing. I followed a different method here since trial fitting indicated that the upper wings would need some extra work to fit properly. So, the excellent wheel well resin part was glued firmly into the lower wing and allowed to cure. Next the lower wing was glued carefully onto the fuselage making absolutely certain to keep the centerline of wing and fuselage correctly aligned. After the glue was dry each upper wing half was fitted and some sanding needed on the wing-to-wing root joint. When this was satisfactory each upper half was glued in place and the next step will be some filling and sanding, mostly around the wing root.
1/48 Fairey Firefly
