The fifth step in the build is the air intakes. This step took 3 hrs 49 mins.
I divided the work into sections: air ramps, air intake covers, priming/painting/assembly.
Air ramps
I’m clueless as to why these were separate pieces, as by the time you glue them together, those ridges on the right piece are invisible.
Air intake covers
Each air intake cover has four prominent injector pin marks that are recessed into the plastic. I chose to use cyanoacrylate (CA) glue (aka: super glue) to fill them. After I had sanded everything down, I found a video online that used water-based filler putty instead, which looked much simpler. Lesson learned!
Why CA glue? Unlike putty that shrinks as it cures (meaning you typically have to apply more putty later), once CA glue cures, it’s basically plastic that doesn’t shrink. I’ve seen several professional builders use CA glue as filler.
This is the part that took me the most time, using four progressively finer grits of sanding sticks. Four injector pin marks on two parts = 8 times the elbow grease.
Those probes were tricky because there’s a slight raised portion on the air intake cover where they attach (as opposed to a pre-formed hole).
After seeking some help from /r/modelmakers about how to pull this off… Someone suggested not using plastic cement, but CA glue with an accelerator (aka: kicker) that cures the glue within seconds.
Priming, painting, assembly
This next part is a bit subtle, as the intake cover insides are painted with Tamiya Medium Gray (XF-20).
The air intakes were painted with Tamiya Medium Gray (XF-53) and then attached to the fuselage. The test fit was good, but I needed rubber bands to keep things in the place while the cement cured overnight.
The overall fit left much to be desired. One side fit better than the other, and both sides will need sanding and filling later.
Really looking forward to dealing with gaps and raised areas on the port side. (Sarcasm, in case you hadn’t picked up on that!)
Something neat about this kit is that you can see the engine bulkhead by looking into the intakes. I wish the kit maker had made the lower part of the intake line up because there’s a huge chunk of plastic missing.
Next step
Step 6 involves assembling the rest of the wings.