The quality control on this kit is something else. Look how the bottom part of the hull where the burner cans attach are prefectly smooth.
Speaking of the burner cans - check this out. Why would the open cans have surface detail and the closed one not? They are side by side on the same sprue! How could that not get noticed?
And the gaps just keep on coming. This picture doesn't show it so well but I has to add about a 1/4 inch wedge of plastic between the kit combing and the control panel. Otherwise the control panel would have been too far forward leaving a noticeable gap inside the cockpit even with the canopy closed up.
The control panel itself was pretty plain so I sanded off what little detail there was and added detail with plastic bits and finished off with acrylic paint. I think it is convincing enough for a closed canopy.
Here is yet another gap. When I was test fitting the canopy not only did the rear canopu come up a bit short it was also too high. I'll have to figure out how to fill that in.
Here I've filled in some of the gaps at the wing roots with plastic strip. I didn't find these gaps so bad - I've seen worse on other kits.
Another surprise was the angle of the tail fins. They look more like an F-15 or Mig 29! I'll have to fiddle with this to get the right (or at least more correct) angle. Note also the tips of the fins are rounded - they'll have to be flattened to be more like a CF-188's.
GB
The interior is full of beautiful detail but unfortunately most of it will not be seen. The problem is that you end up spending a lot of time working on stuff that doesn't really matter. Sort of like super-detailing a cockpit - at least you know it is there.
I'm very happy with the way this is going so far. At this point I'm ready to seal the two halves up.
