Now, where did I leave off?

It’s over a year since I updated this blog. There have been around 50 views, but no comments. Can’t blame them for that. So, what’s happened to that lovely lump of plastic?
I’ve found the enthusiasm to have a bash at Concorde again. Since the last post my modelling has not progressed. I haven’t been busy with other model projects, honing my skills etc. All my kits have been sitting in their boxes waiting for me to be bothered to take them up again. So, as I’m on my own for a little while here’s a new installment of the Airfix Concorde…
One day, long after I’d forgotten about it, a replacement clear sprue arrived from Airfix and I set about fitting it. I was faffing around with clear sheet to scratch build a new screen and visor, but the new, unbroken parts looked a lot less work and would be a better starting point. Over the last few nights I’ve basically taken apart the cockpit/nose section and started again as I’ve pieced together this tricky jigsaw.
This is where I picked up the project. I was trying to close the gaping hole under the canopy. In trying to get everything to fit I could see that the best way forward was to strip things back and start again.I removed the droop nose and split apart the front fuselage to access the side windows and also to add a little bit of detail to the cockpit, as it was visible from the outside. Not much, just some foil seat belts and the instrument panel decals.
The side windows do not have the correct profile or framing, so I wanted to blend the glass and the fuselage seamlessly in order to mask up and spray the correct profile later. I cut the side window/windscreen in half so the clear pieces would slightly protrude and used my wonderful micro-mesh sheets to flatten and re-polish.

I used a few tiny spots of cyano to fix the clear part and then used filler and Kristal Klear. The cyano didn’t fog at all.A coat of Future was applied inside and I set to work on the cockpit. The front console was too high and had to be removed, sanded and refitted. I inserted a styrene strip to fill the gap between the windscreen halves. Looking at reference photos of the cover that closes the gap under the visor, I added styrene to the windscreen. This would also provide a good, strong area to attach the cover.

I then made a new cover (using the first attempt as a guide) and attached it. I taped on the nose and offered up the clear visor. The fit was poor (of course), but with a bit of fettling I achieved a reasonable fit.
Before I could fix the visor I had to paint the windscreen and cover as they will be inaccessible with the visor fitted.
The nose could now be fitted. As the locating lugs had been filed off I added a section of sprue to support the back end of the nose and then blanked off the front of the cockpit with a piece of styrene. I did this to prevent dust from entering the cockpit, as there is a lot of sanding on the horizon…
The nose was glued on and the gaps filled with styrene strips.
I’ll leave that overnight to cure and then set about the visor.