My latest update - all of the exterior painting is complete, with the possible exception of some touch-up around the pylons that are next up on the docket. I've weathered this beast as much as I think it needs, with the thought that since this warbird typically operated out of the water, its underside would be relatively clean. To that end, I added exhaust stains and a few oil stains on the nacelles.
I was able to get the engine nacelles installed yesterday with very few issues. Another in a long list of issues with this kit is that there is, yet again, no positive attachment points for the nacelles fitting to the main wing, and the available surface space is miniscule at best. I cut out some plastic tubing, cut that in half, and installed it as a brace of sorts running the diameter of the nacelles (with the resin engine backing serving as additional support for this tubing). After that set, I was able to determine that I had just enough area now to be able to get a relatively secure attachment. Globbed on a bunch of really thickening CA (this bottle of CA was of medium viscosity, so I do think it is just about on the verge of going bad), and put the nacelles in place. I then rigged up a support for the 115 on the edge of my workbench using a couple of vise grips and some clamps, and was able to balance this big plane on the vise grips in a 90 degree position, giving those nacelles a full night to cure.
This morning, I checked the nacelles, and they seemed pretty solid and secure.
Next I turned my attention to the exhaust stacks for each engine. There is only one stack emanating from the back side of the nacelles per engine. The parts themselves are unremarkable. These type of parts are an on-going pet peeve of mine on just about every kit that I encounter - these are exhaust PIPES, not exhaust rods. There should be an opening at the end of these pipes. Alas, these parts were just blobs of plastic. I fixed that with a couple of different gauged pin vise drills and opened up the ends of these parts.
Test fitting these parts revealed another minor inconvenience. The lack of good fit of engine nacelles to main wing left very little space for the exhaust pipe to come through. I ended up tapering the ends of both exhaust pipes to be able to get them to slide into the narrow opening.
Then I painted the exhaust pipes. I opted to again use the hairspray method on these parts, first by putting down a coat of rust paint, applying hairspray, and once that was dry, putting down a copy of Model Master Metalizer exhaust. Once everything was fully dry, I used my trusty toothbrush to effect some decent looking wear on these parts.
Finally, I sprayed the entire 115 with a coat of flat clear, let that dry, and then removed the Montex Masks from the "glass" areas. Another disappointment here, as roughly 98% of the "glass" was left with adhesive residue. I'm pretty sure I can rub that off with some isopropyl alcohol, but I'm wondering if there was anything that I should have done prior to applying the masks to prevent this problem? Coat the parts with Future?
Next up - clean up the "glass" prior to getting the float pylons installed. I'm going to have to do a lot of test fitting on the pylons to floats to figure out the most trouble-free method to get them into place.
I also noticed that I managed to lose the front half of the nose gun, a MG.15. It's just gone but I do have replacements on order ... and I don't even have a carpet monster in my workbench. I do have an anti-fatigue mat out there that routinely gobbles up tiny parts (case in point, it took one of the wing edge landing light pieces this morning). I looked for the part, but after about 5 minutes, gave up and put some of the ultraviolet glue that I have into the space, formed it to a curved shape, and put that light on it. Worked like a charm. Take that mat monster!