The Little World

Remember I mentioned that the disparate parts of the P-61 Black Widow fit well together?  Well that was before I tried to mate the belly pan to the rest of the fuselage.

The basic fit is fine, but tight. The makers have exercised computer machines to measure where the parts slide over each other – and the tolerances are tight. Basically, when you mate the posterior of the belly pan to the underwing it slots in fine – and when you mate the front of the cockpit to the same part, that slips in fine. But when you try to do both movements there is a bind.

It is not such a problem as to stop production but it does mean that the assembly will need to be under pressure for both areas to meet. I solved this with plastic clothes pegs, wooden skewers, and a good deal of tension. Once the main surfaces had approximated, I brushed in MEK and left the lot to set overnight. A final addition of the nose cap made sure that it was not going to pop open despite the internal stress.