Thank you KL and Xan for the great information - very helpful. I was wondering too about the 112 Sqdn connection. But what was the connection to the Flying Tiger unit in China?
So the pictures are dated early May 1943 and with no white on the aircraft. That is a start
What was the camouflage on the nose before the sharkmouth was added? Black? and if so, was it black on both sides?
But I still have a model to make, and I finally finished the cockpit. It was a bit of a journey to get there and with the information received here, I think the result is acceptable.
The fuselage came together with a bit persuasion.
I fitted a new Eduard Russian steel harness which has harnesses for LaGGs and Yaks. But something just didn't look right
Well it seems Eduard is not only having scale issues when making kits, but also with PE parts
Left Eduard, right GoNzA - what did I say about scale, about 1/3rd too small so close to 1/72. And yes, I checked if they sent me the wrong scale PE, but it is the 1/48 set.
here the comparison on the seat.
What a difference. Sorry I had already removed the back harness before I took the picture. Now the GoNzA harness is maybe a tad over scale. But as the ModelSvit seat is a bit too large, they work well together.
I used Gunze Mr. Metal Primer for the first time (applied by brush) on the GoNzA harness and I am impressed - no paint pealed off when handling, folding and attaching the harness - a rather tricky venture in the closed cockpit.
Finally the Fuselage and wing with the cockpit floor was ready to go together
As with the fuselage assembly, this needed a bit of pressure to make it fit.
And here the finished cockpit.
I am glad I added the coolant pipes as they can be seen rather well.
I will fit the gunsight with mounting bar later in the build when attaching all the other small parts.
If I build this kit again, I would sand down the seat pan a bit to make it smaller and reducing the with of the edge, which does look too wide.
Thanks for watching.
Cheers, Peter