And flap handle in place. Partially completed flap, undercarriage and trim panel. The not so cleanly cut hole is for the undercarriage and flap position indicators, and will have a slotted etch panel over the top. Still a fair bit of work to go, but most will be once it is fitted to the cockpit frame.

Not happy. I've fitted the almost complete undercarriage, flap, and trim panel, only to discover the various details seem to be somewhat overscale. This means they sit too high, and the further forward they are, the further they are out of position, meaning the flap and undercarriage position indicators are almost invisible to the pilot. Especially disapointing as I had positioned them to show flaps up and undercarriage down!! Ah well. Unless I replace it with an entirely scratchbuilt panel I guess I'm just going to have to live with it.

Hi Chris

I'm not at all one to talk about just living with stuff that bugs you, and your commitment to getting it right is truely inspiring, but... it looks really great. Just saying. :)

Awesome work all around. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

-J

Thanks Johnny1000!

More progress! The frame behind the pilot's head is now complete, as is the fuel tank with armour plate attached. Still to do the radio tray though.

This is looking awesome. I love all the scratch work. Can't wait to see it come along.

-BD-

Thanks Brandon

You certainly have an eye for all the details!  Looking good.

Amazing attention to detail!

Your friend, Toshi

Keyda81 and Toshi, thank you. I find with a lot of detail that you often don't really notice it is there, but you sure notice when it isn't.

Ok, further progress with the cockpit. Instrument panel is completed and some representative cables fixed behind. Unfortunately there's a knob missing from the panel as it was too close to another knob to solder without a resistance soldering rig. My iron is a bit basic for that! A number of Boomerangs flew without a reflector gunsight, mine being one of them. I believe some were fitted with an intervalometer instead for photo recce work. So no gunsight. Just the seat and a couple of details to finish off. Please excuse the crap photography!!

Holy horsepucky!

That's an incredibly detailed and sorted pit. The work you've done for this build is really inspiring.

No, your photography needs no apologies.

Everything looks great to me, really nice work! 

Thanks 1943Mike and Gamera! If anyone ever sees me eyeing up one of these again, please shoot me!!

Ok, major disaster!  NOT HAPPY!! Turns out my beautiful aftermarket etched armoured headrest is too tall to fit, and as I built the whole frame structure behind from it, that is too tall too! Should have checked for fit a bit sooner, but you don't expect your aftermarket goodies to be wrong! D'oh! To be fair, it isn't impossible that the part is actually dimensionally correct, but regardless, it doesn't fit the kit! Fortunately, I have a spare armoured headrest (long story) which I can shorten, so I will just have to remove the whole structure and build a new one. I am determined to have as good a model of this Boomerang as I can as it is one of my favourite aircraft, and then I'm never building one again!!!! Well, probably not!

Cockpit finished at last!

That is a work of art!  Wow

John

Thanks Falconmod

ChrisJH666

Cockpit finished at last!

Congratulations! Looks really great. Completely worth the effort (easy for me to say, but it's true). 

Well done. Looking forward to seeing the rest of it come together.

-J

Gee if the PE set is designed for the kit I'd think that if the kit were a little off the headrest would be designed to compensate for this. 

Great job on the cockpit, you're doing a great job dealing with the problems.

Thanks guys. Not exactly impressed with the aftermarket PE set or the PE which came with the kit. The kit instructions, for example, tell you to fix a PE part to the middle of the seat back, but the seat as provided is close enough to use without modification bar making the angled panel in the join between back and base, and the PE part is completely the wrong size and shape and less detailed! It is rather frustrating! If you have PE parts they are supposed to be more accurate, not less

Your example really puts to shame my little Airfix 1/72 that I scratch built.  But it was fun doing it.

Gotta love that little plane.  I got a gold medal for it at our contest last September.

John

Looks good! I remember making that kit many years ago, and it was definitely a bit basic. You made a really nice job of it

Nice work Chris,  you have done justice to an Aussie CAC built aircraft.

Well done, look forward to the next instalment.

I decided to replace the kit engine with an Aires one, but replacing the gearbox at the back with the correct kit example. I had started assembling the engine when I glanced at a photo of the front of the aircraft and realised something wasn't right. It didn't take long to spot that the mounting blocks either side of the engine centreline at the front had to go, as these components were not located there on the Boomerang.

Well played, Chris, dealing with those curveballs the aftermarket bits threw you.  I think that's par for the course, though-AM sneaks around to sock us in the head, every time, unless we're really on our guard.

Ok, spent an age putting together the Aires engine, but now I'm at the wiring harness stage, I'm just not happy with it. So now I have a Vector engine on the way which should be far better judging by the photos and info on the website! Having the correct bits and bobs on the back will help with fit issues too

Ok! Finally completed the engine, and what a job that turned out to be! The Vector engine is great, but as you can see the cylinder heads got massaged with the Dremel to get it to fit. The inside of the cowlings got the treatment too. The other big issue was the lack of the harness on the front of the engine. I had to remove all the stubs from the ring, then drill out for each piece of wire. The effect of the stubs was acheived by overpainting the ends of the wires over and over with silver paint! Strictly speaking each pair should be clipped together, but I suspect the resulting nervous breakdown might have been counter-productive. I really wasn't too fussy with the bits that cannot be seen. Managed to paint the P&W badge and the data plate though

Nice result on the engine, worth the effort.