Upper and lower fuselage mostly completed.
First I had to fill in the large posts for the two nested canopies. I drew in the panel lines for my own reference, so I don't wipe anything out with sanding. You can really see the odd pebbly texture of the very resin-like plastic here.
So here's what I did with the cockpit. Cemented it to the upper fuselage, it's actually quite a good fit! Chopped the back of the seat, I'll rebuild that as well as cowl in the back, and add some details. Not too much, with two tinted canopies in the way, it'll be chunky to be seen.
This fuselage is the same for the Vic Viper 1, 2, and 3, and the hole at the bottom needed to be enlarged for the connector for the II's undercarriage to actually fit. Pretty much every part is like this, *something* needs to be cut, thinned, or modified to make it fit right.
Before,
and after cutting.
But wait, see those big gray things coming out the option bit bays?
They keep the bay doors from actually fitting flush with the cowlings. dammit. Also see that square peg on the landing bay door to let it be 'easily removed'? Yeah, that's gonna go away.
I see no reason to keep the option bay doors removable, so the gray things gotta go.
That's better! Need to clean it up a little, but it's well on its way. I just spot-cemented the doors from the insides of the bay, while it was sitting on a flat surface.
The intake cowlings needed a little help. Another case of oversize pins, oversize locator holes, it's like they're trying to make things not fit right. Well, that's taken care of easily enough.
Cowlings are on! once all the fitment issues are taken care of, they look pretty good!
but wait! The little fin on the belly has a huge plastic pin that's, guess what? Too big! That won't work. Chop and Glue.
That's it for today! Next I start on the weapon bay mandibles.