Issue 9

OK, so next up is issue 9, with some nice bits & pieces and...hooray! Lights!

2 boxes, eight issues. That oughta hold me for a while :)

Issue 9 has some exciting bits in it, including the genesis of the lighting system:

So, wasting no time, I popped 4xAA into the battery box and plugged it in:

Voila.

Though I have to say with the back lit up like that, the side walls look kind of tatty with no lights and all. I am seriously considering the ParaGraphics photoetch set, and at least partially replacing the bits in here with it. At least the back walls, anyway.

Anyway, in the meantime, next step is to mount the lightproof tape. You have to hand cut the strips to fit past the mounting pegs inside the shell, as seen here:

Pretty easy to eyeball. Then you just put the tape down in each half, as shown:

If you want to mount the cockpit now, you can do that (but read the section below first). Just make sure the back wall goes into the notch in the shell, as seen below:

Then drop the side walls in:

And very carefully mount the top shell on, making sure to keep the back wall in the groove.

I wouldn't do all that just yet because it's time to glue some fiddly bits on. First for the top:

And now the bottom:

 Be extra careful. These are very fiddly bits indeed. I accidentally broke one of the bits when removing it from the parts tree, and had to perform some very careful surgery to make it right.

And....that's it for Issue 9. I think this may be the first issue where the majority of pieces get saved for future work. Look at all this stuff:

Well, I'm sure we'll get to it, all in good time. Til then, later!