The front fender sub-assembly is constructed and added to the chassis in step 9. Fit is perfect as the exhaust pipes, air cleaner and radiator pipe all line up perfectly with their mates on the fender assembly. The radiator fan also fits nicely and few pieces of PE are added in this step. I'll have to hand paint the air filter after final assembly of the engine compartment.
The only problem is that once installed as I have done here, it will be a bear to paint without alot of masking of the chassis. Because of that, all the remaining body assemblies will be built and given a primer of Mr. Surfacer 1200 and a basecoat of Tamiya German gray prior to gluing to the chassis.
The assembly of the body and fenders is carried out in steps 10,11,12 and 13. I'm sorry for the scribblings on the instructions as there are lots of small pieces that can be added in these steps, but I usually leave them for later so I don't knock them off during handling and assembly.
The rear deck/fenders and driver's compartment are assembled in multiple pieces.
The spare tire compartment is also built on the underside of the rear decking. The spare itself is still masked here.
The instructions then show the assembly of the engine firewall and dash board and call for gluing this to the rear deck/fenders. The steering wheel support is molded solid but can be easily drilled out using the appropriate sized bits.
The dash itself has some fine detail in the guages, but I'm planning to use some Archer dry transfers to detail the guage faces. The dash supports are a bit fiddly; line them up and let them dry thoroughly before continuing with the dash plate itself.
The vented side engine panels are also molded solid. I used a sharp dissecting needle to undercut each vent to give them a little better definition.
As stated above, the instructions call for gluing the dash assembly to the driver's assembly prior to fitting to the chassis. But dry fitting the rear deck to the chassis suggested that this would be a problem if done as per the instructions. I'm not sure yet whether this arises from something that I did or is just a very dificult fit, but I found that I could more easily fit the rear deck and then fit the dash/firewall afterwards. So for now, proceed with caution here and I'll try to get a better grip on what is going on as I do the final assembly.
Don