Bulldog - instrument panel

 This is a job of two halves: one much more fiddly than the other, and the other much more fun. First of all you have to cut out the instrument panel itself and make it fit inside the fuselage mouldings, then you have to add the instruments and various controls.

You can probably work out which stage of the job is which.

When it comes to making the basic panel shape, one obvious solution comes to mind: you get an impression of the fuselage with Plasticine, and then just draw round it on a piece of plastic card and cut out. But Plasticine is rather a blunt instrument for forming a tiny part like this, and it would be difficult to get an accurate outline. I think there are purpose-made moulding compounds available now for doing this kind of thing, but I decided just to do it by trial and error, using the following rather ad-hoc technique:

1. Cut out a rectangle of plastic card the right height, that exactly matches the width of the framework.
2. Cut little rebates so that it drops into place (this matches the design of the original)
3. Roughly shape the panel
4. Repeatedly, slot it into position into the framework and offer up to one fuselage half or the other, until it fits exactly

And this, as you will have worked out, is the fiddly bit. One of the problems is that it's difficult to hold the panel in place as you do the fitting. Another is that it's easy for the panel to push the framework out of position when you're doing the fitting, so you think you've got a good fit but in reality the panel is still too large. You've got to be on the alert for this.

Here you see the fitting in progress. You might notice that somewhere along the way I've added the engine bay bulkhead, with a location tab so that the framework just drops into place. This makes the whole test fit procedure much easier and less error-prone.

 And in the end, I got a reasonably good result. This is the basic panel I arrived at:

At this stage, I can be fairly sure that the starboard side is a pretty good fit, and the whole thing is the correct width because it fits into the framework. When it comes to final assembly, I will glue it into place in the framework and then glue the framework into place on the starboard side. Then, when everything is set, I can do a bit more shaping if necessary to make it fit the port side.

So, onto the fun bit.

I have decided to use a two-pronged approach for attaching the instruments and controls.

1. For the larger ones (above 1mm), cut discs of plastic rod and sand them between two pieces of wet and dry. Then cement them into place.
2. For the smaller ones, drill a location hole, push through a length of plastic rod and then cement on the reverse side. When all is set, trim off the excess. To neaten up the ragged cut end, either sand down or just douse in liquid poly. I can decide later about that.

 Also, the build will be a two-stage process. The panel and most of the instruments had a black finish, so I can do all these in one go before painting. Some other things like the brass switches I'll add after painting.

Here is the panel almost ready for painting:

There are still a few additional bits to make:

1. A compass, to be mounted behind the circular cut-out
2. An instrument to be mounted below the panel (an inclinometer?)
3. A boost gauge, to be mounted on the framework
   

 You may notice that the cut-out for the compass is slightly off-centre. I will have to decide whether to do anything about this. I certainly don't want to start again.

Anyway, one way or another, more soon.