Then there's that stubby fillet between rudder, tailplane and fuselage which was designed by a sociopath.
At the risk of continuing the hijacking of the Pe-8 thread with ICM I-16 chatter, the second time I built (okay, started) this kit, I found an easier way to deal with this odd little cone-shaped piece that Ioaea refers to. The problem, for anyone not familiar with the kit, is that the rudder and elevators interfere with filling and sanding this piece if you assemble everything in the order described in the kit instructions (why the fuselage halves weren't just extended full length, I have no idea. This was one of the things I was thinking of when I said the kit was overly-complicated). Anyway, if memory serves correctly, the better way is:
(1) Assemble the fuselage halves, but *do not* add the rudder and elevators.
(Edited Mar.30) - I forgot something - the stabilizers! These can be added now, because they don't interfere much with the sanding of the tail cone, or they can be cut apart and installed in their appropriate slots after the cone is finished. Sorry - I should have had the kit in front of me before I posted yesterday!
(2) Add the cone piece and fill/sand it. Make sure you keep the hole on each side clear - in the original instructions, the shaft between the two elevators is supposed to be trapped there when you add the cone (which makes sanding the cone joint difficult, as I said).
(3) After the cone is blended in properly, add the rudder (IIRC, there's a pin at the bottom which can just be cut off).
(4) Cut the two elevators apart at the midpoint of the connecting shaft.
(5) Insert the pin that remains on each elevator into the holes I mentioned, and glue and position the elevators, being careful to give them both the appropriate angle of "droop" which all I-16s seemed to have when parked on the ground.
A bit on the long-winded side, but it's easy to do, and I hope this helps anyone else who wants to have a go at this pretty little kit!
John Thompson