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Well on to the seats, I looked around for a suitable diameter wire for the overhead emergency pull handles. This was the closest I could find. Its some spare electrical wiring I had lying around, which I'll strip and use just the inside solid core.

I used a lot of MicroSOL decal solvent for the forward control panel so that it would lie tight against the raised details. I might dab a bit of Tamiya smoke over the CRT displays, they are a bit bright. I love the fact that Hasegawa even provided a HUD display decal!! I brushed on future over top of the decal after it was dried.

I love the decals that Hasegawa provides, they fit really well, I had to use a bit of MicroSOL decal solvent to get the helmut piece to conform to he curved helmut.

I don't know much about that spray system - but like most things, you get what you paid! I'd just hold off and save up for a real airbrush - you won't be sorry. Here's a shot of the cockpit pieced together for now, I brushed on a flat coat on the pilot and clear gloss coat on his helmut.

I then drilled a small pilot hole and epoxied the metal rod (paper clip) in place. My biggest worry is that there isn't enough surface area for the epoxy to make a strong bond with the metal rod, there will be a lot of torque at this little point. We'll see in 5 minutes Meanwhile, I'll decal up the pilot and control panels.

Here is the piece perfect before the future floor polish dunk. You can see that some compound got trapped in the recessed line of the canopy frame, just take some water and a gentle toothbrush and you can get that out. I like this extra step because it allows you too check (in a dry state) that you did indeed take all the scratches out. This is not a long process, it took me 5-10 minutes from beginning to end (but I've been doing this for a while now but I wouldn't spend more than 30min on it - then you're just being too precious ) This is a great way to remove any scratches, paint, spilt glue (as long as the damage isn't too deep) or solvent fingerprints on clear canopies. Its restored canopies that have fogged due to excess crazy glue as well. Argh! I just noticed that the forward windscreen also has a seam - oh, well just rinse and repeat!

Here's a shot with the paper towel while I'm polishing it, you can see that if gives the overall piece a nice shine, it can take out some minor scuffing of the part while it was in the box shifting around.

This next step is often skipped by some of the more experienced modellers out there - but I always follow this one step further and would recommend it too anyone who ask my opinion. If the water test shows a clear canopy, one can just take it out, dry it and dunk it into future floorpolish and let it dry - it should dry perfectly (the way it looks underwater). But skipping this step relies on the future filling in all those microscopic scratches that results in the fogginess. What I do, is use Tamiya rubbing/polishing compound. It looks like toothpaste, and I just squirt some onto the canopy and take a paper towel and rub/polish it down with this compound.

Here you can see where the water hits the canopy, it completely fills in all the microscopic scratches that the 2000 grit paper made and it becomes completely clear again. Now at this point, if you still see any scratches underwater, then you should go back and go through the sandpaper grades again and work your way up to the 2000 grit paper to remove those scatches. If you can see something underwater, then even the coat of future later will not be able to hide such a deep scratch in the surface of the plastic.

This is a good test, I would take the canopy and turn it up side down, and dunk it into some water. Here you see the fogginess of the sanding (only on the outside - luckily there is no seam on the inside of the canopy)

Here's what it should look like after 2000 grit paper - you should not be able to make out any lines or strokes.

This is what it looks like after the 600 grit sanding, no seam, but a foggy fuzzy patch - don't worry, as you work up the grade of sandpaper the fogginess will start to become more translucent. Work you way up through the grades to 2000 grit. Remember the key here is gentle and keep the paper wet/moist.

Here's a close up of the rubber pad again with lots of water I gently sand the seam away. (Okay, I've been caught, the red sandpaper is not from the Tamiya pack, its actually a much coarser one around 600 girt - I was lazy and started out really coarse (this lessens the time required to eliminate the seam)) but if you're not careful you can put some deep scratches into the clear canopy. I've been doing this so often I kind of have a feel for how gentle to go - so I do not recommend using this coarse of grit unless you know what you are doing. I would recommend starting out with the Tamiya stuff at 1200 grit. It just means you sand a bit longer and lots of water. You want the fine particles of plastic to be constantly flushed away by the water.

Here's a close up of the seam.

A few updates today - I thought I'd outline the canopy seam removal that so many people seem to be worried about on most of the Hasegawa kits - its not a big deal. As most of you know, there is a longitudinal seam down the canopy as a result of a 3 part mold to achieve the "bubble" effect of the canopy. This bubble effect results in an undercut condition which makes it difficult to remove the piece after molding in a traditional 2 part situation. Most of the previous kits (20 yrs ago) gave us an incorrect canopy profile - so I'm not at all put off by this new process since it gives us a much more accurate to line art canopy and plus, it looks more like real modern day aircraft. Here are the items I use, a small container of water (essential as a lubricant for the sandpaper), the Tamiya fine sandpaper pack (you can see there are 3 grades in this pack, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit) and lastly, Tamiya polishing compound (its like a toothpaste whereby a fine abrasive particle is suspended in a paste).

I skipped a few steps to see if these sheets will interfere with the body attachments later on and trim them down accordingly. I am going to have to let the glue dry tonight before I can proceed any further. I have also put a black artist oil paint wash (thinned down with low odour varsol) in the cockpit and pilot. I will also let it sit overnight before I wipe it down tomorrow. I think I will sand and polish the canopy next to get rid of that seam before I try to epoxy the metal rod. Thats it for tonight.

Here is the underneath, I kept testing it with various sizes so that these sheets wouldn't interfere with any other parts later on in the construction process.

Here is my first trial attempt at a sort of "hinge" I thought that with that space between the rear bulkhead and the fuselage, I might be able to epoxy a metal rod (paperclip) to the rear of the canopy, then this extends down into the body being sandwiched by these two plastic sheets which should provide some friction to hold the canopy up. (Wish me luck )

I'd thought I get the canopy out for now to see how it will sit over the cockpit to start planning for the "hinge". Note the clear plastic is much more brittle than the opaque stuff, becareful when you are removing it. Try to trim/cut as far away from the piece as possible. I would also suggest that you trim along the flat side of the sprue with the length of the canopy (notice that the cutters are parallel with the canopy frame) this will minimize any "crushing" that might occur with the plastic.

A little test fit before a dark oil wash to pick out the crevasses. I need to see where the helmut sits so I can plan for the overhead yellow & black ejection seat handles. I am planning to make them out of wire.

Here's the same trick done to the HUD projection lens, I'll put a drop of white glue or Microscale Krystal Keeler over top when its dry to simulate the glass lens.

Here's the green transparent colour on... I was a bit anxious, so I am just using the white of the kit as the white of the helmut.

I'm using it for the pilots visor, I will put a clear green transparent colour over top of this - the silver undercoat and layering makes it look more reflective.

Here's a trick I use to get a good chrome silver going. I have yet to find any paint that is a reflective as this. I use a Tamiya paint marker (its a laquer I believe, because it cleans up with Mr. Color solvent) and I shake the marker with the cap on, and I use the brush to dab at the tip to get some silver.

Hey got a few hours in today... Here's the pilot with a few more colours hand brushed on after looking through the OVAs again. You can see I chose to go with the arm rest for now. I am leaving the area behind the seat blank for now until I can find a way of hinging the canopy - I don't want to put anything in the way of that for now.