I started with removal of kit's main wheel wells, in prep for Eduard's PE bits.
Some wall thinning was done as well.
Eduard's PE bits installed. I added styrene shapes to strengthen the whole affair.
Some styrene shapes were added...
... as was brass rod and copper wire.
I added styrene to strengthen the top fuselage seam, and added supports for the front wheel plate.
I made few modifications to the PE seats.
Front wheel well assembly. Styrene shapes were again used to give the box some strength.
Rear cockpit tub assembly. The fit of the cockpit into the fuselage was not, in my humble opinion, very good.
Although Eduard's PE set came with lots of cockpit bits, I found them not very realistic looking, and went with styrene instead.
The kit's instrument panel is actually very good, but a bit too thick for my taste.
As the CS-92 flew without armament, the cannon exits were faired over.
Front cockpit tub painted and weathered.
The nose needed quite a bit of weight.
Cockpit tubs installed, and detailing added.
Checking for a tail-sitter... All good!
Main wheel well primed with Mr. Surfacer
Wing's portion of the main wheel well ready to go.
Main wheel well painted and detailed.
Checking for fit and look.
Finally done with all the interior work. I decided to install the windshield now, as a lot of filling was needed to make it fit.
Wing's control surfaces from CMK are attached. It took a lot of time to modify the wing to accept these, and it did not help that some were warped. I did not use the tail surfaces from CMK as the kit's looked fine to me.
The engine parts from CMK installed. The starboard side engine went in fine, but the mating diameter on the port side engine intake did not match the kit's part well and a lot of sanding was needed.
Squadron's vac canopy masked. I did not find pre-cut mask, so used Tamiya tape cut to size. I hate masking canopies...
Almost ready for primer. The bottom needed quite a bit of Mr. Surfacer and Squadron putty, as the wing-to-fuselage joint is complex. My kit had a molding fault on the bottom of the port wing that needed fixing.
I originally planned to use Smer's kit No.156 (Heller mold) in my stash. The kit quality is very nice for its day, but the raised panel lines just did not go with the amount of detailing I was planning. In the event, I went with the Revell kit as my cursory snooping suggested it to be superior to the Hasegawa release.
The kit went together very well. My copy had a casting defect on a wing, but overall it was a pleasure to build. CMK sets were very good also, although some warping was present on the control surfaces. Squadron canopies were ok. Eduard PE set was good, although I did not use most of the cockpit parts and a good portion was for the radar equipment not pertinent to CS-92. Kora decals were acceptable, but the resin wheels it came with were worthless (went with the kit's wheels). I used the national insignia from the Tally-Ho decal set, as Kora's were, per my sources, undersized.
