Hey there FSM!
First of all, thanks for checking out my build and all the kind words. Very much appreciated!
Second, let me address the kit itself. It is an easy build. The detail's a bit sparse in places like the landing gear wells, the gear themselves, and the cockpit. Also, the panel lines are shallow and inconsistent. They wouldn't hold a wash. The problems I had with the build were all of my own doing. The landing gear legs are engineered to go on backwards. One of the major problems I encounterd with the kit came from me trying to fix HobbyBoss' error. The other problems stemmed from my painting and decaling. The landing gear aside, the build went together fairly smoothly. If you choose not to mess with fixing the gear legs, your build really shouldn't have any hiccups.
I liked that the kit's fuselage halves have a friction locking system build in. The system does a great job of holding the fuse havles together. I also liked the way HB did the windscreen. Unlike the 1/48 Tamiya, HB designed the windscreen to include some of the forward panels, so you don't have to worry about any filling, sanding, or gluing damaging the clear parts. Kinda like Tamiya's 1/32 Mustang. What I didn't like was that the canpopy and windscreen are molded as one part. So, no opening the canopy. I get that it's supposed to be an easy build, so that detail didn't bother me much. I also thought that the leading edge gun bulges were a bit too big for the scale. A little sanding helped fix that, although they still look big. Overall it's a fun little kit. I don't know that I'd build another, but I'd recommend it for a beginning modeler.
Anyway, again, thanks for looking and for the feedback. I'm glad this one's done and on the shelf. Now that I have my modeling groove back, I'm looking forward to mashing plastic on my next project.
Cheers!
-O