The resin ejection seat was painted separately and left out until final assembly. The cockpit is much improved with this lone aftermarket part and I highly recommend it.
The nose gear is a straightforward build. The kit gives you the option of an extended nosegear. If I’m not mistaken, the nose gear takes on that form when taking off and landing.
The kit also includes both opened and closed options for the main landing gear doors. Looking at photos online, I saw both instances so I went ahead with the open option. The air brakes are also left open.
The main landing gear are quite detailed. The door is connected to the strut with 2 (very) small levers. Exact placement is not very clear in the instruction sheet so I did some guessing. I’m not sure I got it correct though. The connection is quite fragile so I added some diluted white glue around the joints.
The arrestor hook was painted in black, masked then sprayed white instead of using the included decal.
Since I have a resin seat, the canopy will be left open. The canopy struts needed some trimming to fit into the cockpit. They do however, friction fit so I’ll only cement them into place after I have installed the canopy.
I modified the included AIM-9 to replicate an inert training missile. I wasn’t sure an ACMI pod was in service at this time (1970s) so I left it off.
Almost done!