Thanks for the kind comments fellas, appreciate that.
Excellent corrections. Just out of curiosity, why didn't you just put in a strip of clear plastic (like that from a CD cover) into the slots you cut for the fuselage windows and then simply mask the clear areas?
Fair question, deserves a straight answer.
Mainly because I didn't think of it at the time, 'Course I could still do it, but I probably not. One, I like to use the kit windows, which will fit with minor modifications. The problem I have with using the strip of cd case would be the sanding and polishing and polishing and sanding required to achieve a job like Uros did on one of his models awhile back. I think it's probably six of one and half a dozen of the other, with the extra work required to remake the window openings being equal to the work required to sand and polish the one piece units. Also, when I install the headliner and cabin side panels I simply glue them to the inside of the cabin then cut the window openings out after the glue has dried.
For the seatbelts, I cut some Frog tape into strips of appropriate width, then painted them satin black. To attach them to the seats, I made some eyes by wrapping a short length of 28ga wire around a convenient pin...
...Cut off the excess wire...
...And bend the eye 90 degrees and slip the belt into the eye, making a loop.
The end of the seat belt attachment fits into a little hole I had drilled in the seat support. One lap belt down, one to go.
I made the inertia reels out of scrap metal and wire, then wound a couple of turns of belt material around the drum and glued it in place. I would have thought the reels would have been bare metal or black, but he who knows says they were olive drab.
Glue the reel to the cockpit bulkhead, make a shoulder harness from more belt material, glue the seat in place, then cut off the inertia belt to the right length and attach it to the shoulder harness. Viola! one down one to go.
The flap pump, flap selector and the elevator trim wheel are all mounted on a console immediately to the right of the pilot's seat. I made the whole shebang from bits of wire and plastic. Looks like Zorg from the planet Tharg. Greetings Earthling, shake? I had to cut the end off the flap pump handle and the flap selector, it was simply too long. I did that after gluing the thing to the cockpit floor, so the pic doesn't do it adequate justice.
Flap and trim console in place.
The airplane is equipped with deHavilland wheel skis. They can be selected down and will be 'blown' down by a pre-charged nitrogen cylinder attached to the ski itself, but they must be pumped up manually, against that nitrogen pre charge. The ski pump is located to the immediate left of the RH cockpit seat. If the pilot has to pump them up, by the time ski season is finished he will have a right arm like Popeye's and a left one like Olive Oyl. Vice versa if a cockpit crewman - swamper - is carried. I made the ski pump from bits of wire and plastic.
Ski pump in place.
And from a passenger's point of vue.
I have the instrument panel completed, will post more pix tomorrow.