The 1/48 Tamiya kit is of typical quality that we have come to expect. There are only three sprues of gray molded, flash free beautiful styrene, and one sprue of clear parts. The decals are comprehensive and include a smaller sheet of stencils. Now, on to the CMK kit. When you empty out the box the sight of all that resin is almost overwhelming. I had only one piece that had an air bubble that had to be filled.

I don't like resin. There, I said it. Let me be more specific. I don't like most resin sets. I prefer to scratchbuild most of the details in my models. However, some details just cant be scratchbuilt, such as the engine, access covers, etc. I enjoy modeling, but I am not going to spend 8 hours scratch building an access panel when I can use an aftermarket product. I guess I feel like I'm cheating when I use an all resin cockpit.

One of the first things I did was to make the necessary cuts to the fuselage. Using this set requires you to do some surgery on the kit. The right image shows how much.

After chain drilling the access cover on the tail, it was off to the cockpit. Now the CMK resin tub has really nice detail, and you could create a real gem by carefully painting all of the switches, buttons, etc. I chose to file off all the detail and use a Waldron detail set. This took about two nights to build and I am happy with the results.

I used decals from a ProModeler set. The side panels are from the Waldron set. Note the dry transfers. I was leery about using them, but they went on without a hitch. The individual buttons were punched out with a Waldron punch. If you are an aircraft modeler, you need one of these toys. I use it for nearly every build. I used Testors "clear parts cement & window maker" to attach the buttons. This stuff is stronger than white glue and has a longer set time than super glue. It dries perfectly clear. Once dry, you can give the panel a light mist of dullcoat and it disappears. The CMK kit provides no rudder pedals. You can use the kits, or buy aftermarket pieces. I used the kits.

The resin engine

On to the engine. The CMK instructions can be frustrating at times. Try to gather as much reference as you can. I had a hard time finding good reference photos of the BMW 801. The engine is pretty straightforward.

Do yourself a favor and keep track of the exhausts while you remove them from the cast. I spent way too much time fooling with the exhausts simply because I had lost track of what was what. I plumbed the rear of the motor with solder, wire, and different size brass stock. I used fittings that were made for model car motors. I can't recall who makes them, but I am going to go to the shop that I originally bought them from and get some more. If you want to know the name of the company, shoot me an email and I will get the name.

I began to dress up the firewall when I remembered the article in SAM. There are no Machine guns or ammo boxes with the CMK kit. Thank goodness for Squadron mail order. I ordered a set of Aires machine guns and got them about three days later. Everyone has a favorite vendor. Mine is squadron. The turn time is unbelievable. Next I began to scratchbuild the ammo boxes. I used a reference from the Walkaround book.

I used some assorted doo-dads from the spare parts box to dress it up. All of the assorted access panels were painted and the insides drybrushed to show wear and tear.