Fuselage & Wings

Next, and the "heart" of the model in terms of gluing plastic together, is the main fuselage and wing assembly. This usually proceeds pretty rapidly, and I often make the main wing sub-assemblies at the same time as the cockpit in order that they are cured before putting all the bits together, which also minimises cement fingerprints on the plastic! Not much to say here really, except to always dry-fit everything two or three times before applying cement. I also tend to masking tape the model together before cementing to check the models centre of gravity, which is especially important in tricycle undercarriage models, but is a useful last check on any model. After the model has fully set, I fill any sink marks, joins etc with superfine white Milliput, which you can be quite sloppy with and then simply use a damp tissue or cloth to wipe off the excess before it sets. Once dry, the model may be sanded along seam lines and filler areas using fine grade wet and dry paper. If there is delicate detail to preserve around the sanding site, I mask off these areas to confine the area I will need to re-scribe these lost details. If I'm dealing with raised panel lines, I tend to reduce these down by sanding, but I don't always rescribe them - this depends very much on the model I'm making.

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