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Today I worked on the first assemblies, the lower body or “hull,” and the lower engine that shows between the front wheels. The first photo shows all the parts to date, with the belly of the hull turned upward. The second photo is a detail of the engine.
Part 1, the lower body, fits pretty well after adjustments. Parts 3 and 3a are the lower engine, and they also needed trimming (and 3a still doesn’t fit the printed outline on the bottom of 3, but I can live with that). Part 2 and 2a form a kind of engine well and close the bottom opening. 2, the part that wraps around, is a hot mess; I had to rescribe and re-crease in several places. The second photo shows the large gap that I will need to fabricate a filler for. That shouldn’t be too hard. It does look like the engine and well assembly will fit onto the hull well.
There’s something terribly wrong with the structural reinforcements, which are the two white pieces at the top of the first photo. The smaller one gives shape to the hood and engine area, and the long one makes a kind of floor for the open aft compartment. I can put in either one, but not both. My current theory is that the “floor” is about half an inch (!!!) too long. But I’m not going to trim it until I make some more assemblies and see how everything goes together (or doesn’t).
Today’s main lesson was that I should not score any creases until I cut out the parts and dry-fit. But I intend to soldier on and see what other surprises this kit has in store.
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