I now turned my attention to the front end, to do what comes first of all in the assembly description. The front cowl is very complex, incorporationg the cowling itself together with air intakes, aerodynamic wings, headlights and instrument cluster.
It is not apparent from the photograph, but some of these parts showed considerable warping, and proved impossible to put together satisfactorily. I put them aside to have some light relief making the front forks and handlebars.
Coming back to the cowling, I remade the worst bits, using the first-time experience to adjust the assembly sequence to make it more manageable. Then I forgot to photograph the result before fitting it all to the front of the model(!)
After all that, the side covers were a breeze.