Whilst I was perusing the instructions I came across a little hand symbol next to the pitot tube where they show it being fitted to the nose. I thought that it must have meant metal part. Upon inspecting the symbol legend at the start of the instructions, I almost choked on the nice Belgian chocolate that HpH provide in these kits when I saw that the hand symbol means `scratchbuild'. Now, I will scratch build stuff till the cows come home and usually find myself making parts for most of the kits that have passed over my bench. The thing is, this is a damned expensive kit that has left me still unable to bring myself to view my bank account balance, lest I find myself once again under my desk in the feotal position, mumbling about crappy Trumpeter kits! C'mon Hph, pull your finger out guys! there is alot lacking in this kit that I feel should be there. More of that to come.
Anyway, I hunted around and came up with a very likely candidate for a pitot tube being one from the excellent Master model range. The Tornado unit in 48th being almost an exact replica of one according to the reference pics that I was viewing online.
Here it is, fitted to the now modified nose.
I also got a few years supply of primer, clear coat and white spray cans, which should be just the ticket to painting this beast when I ordered the pitot tube.
I have started to assemble the cockpit by fitting the floor and rear bulkhead. Now I am not sure how the person who did the test assembly on the prototype of the model fitted these pieces into the fuselage, nor could I work out the way the instructions directed a series of twists and turns to get them in there. One thing is for sure, and that is that neither the rear bulkhead or the floor do not fit into the fuselage through the opened nose of the model. I had my great mate Brent over who acted as a second set of eyes on the problem and he came up with a solution of cutting copies of each part from thin plastic card that would allow each part to be bent as it passed through the opening. Great idea!
After retrieving the bulkhead from the rear of the model by shaking it back out through the front one too many times, I needed to devise an even more devious plan. Using the plastic copy, I cut that part in half and worked out what could be done using the original part, and some lateral thinking did the rest.
The first date was almost a disaster! It just wont fit!
Lets go a bit easier on the opening with something a bit more flexible
Here is the fix. Cut the rear bulkhead into two pieces, just below the shelf that the floor sits on. Shave the rear corners off the floor where they will be covered by cockpit parts.
Fill the fuselage with expanding foam just behind where the rear bulkhead will sit (to stop it from falling back into the fuselage when you are trying to fit it.)
Fit the two parts together once inside the fuselage
Fit the floor and once glued, I used some more expanding foam under the floor to give it more support.