Gazing at the completed model, I can tell you that most construction is pretty straight forward with little real trouble. However, there are areas of real concern. First is the intake. Fujimi gives you a great intake that is nice and long, unlike ESCI and Hasegawa. However, it is a nightmare to eliminate the seam. It takes multiple applications of filler and you have to be real creative about sanding off the excess as it isn't easy to get to. Best results are from rolling a tube of sandpaper around something like a paint brush handle and using thin sanding sticks.

Another area of concern is the canopy and windscreen. These are very thin and I've broken more than my share as they are rather brittle and can't take much stress. Adding the RWR antenna on the tail tip is also not an easy fit, being a bit too large and either needing filler once attached or some gentle sanding to make it narrower. I also ran into some trouble with the wing pylons in that I don't recall them having any positive locator pins, just some outlined areas on the underside of the wing for a butt join. Since one almost never saw this plane without all three pylons, it is imperative that they fit well and are properly aligned, not an easy task for most. Fit of the ordnance is also a butt join, making things even more complicated. No nose weight is needed, but it doesn't hurt to have a bit installed!

All of the schemes in the kit are in the SEA colors of two greens and a tan upper and light grey undersides (FS 34079, 34102, 30219 over 36622). The aircraft later went to a wraparound scheme without the underside color, then to a modified Euro 1, and finally ended its career in a two greys scheme, also a wrap around like the Euro 1 scheme. As I was heavily into Gunze acrylics at the time, those are the colors I chose. I was unable to get a nice tight line free-handing the scheme (a problem I still have with acrylics) and so masked all the colors. It was the usual hour of masking for five minutes of painting deal, the Gunze doing an excellent job as it always does.

For markings, I went to an old ModelDecal sheet that had one of the early Myrtle Beach schemes. Basically, the only difference between this plane and the hundreds of others was the tail code and the unit badge. But it was something different from the norm. I note now that the decals were a bit off register as you can see with the insignia. I didn't clear coat the model ahead of time as Gunze dries semi-gloss anyway and Modeldecals are not as prone to silvering as some others, despite their being a tad thick. I did flat coat it somewhat at the very end of construction, though not as matte as I'd have liked and it seems I forgot to mask the canopy when I did it. Well, I was young(er) and cranking out about a dozen models a month at the time so was in a hurry to get on to the next subject.

As you can imagine, I left off the pylons, ordnance, gear doors, wheels, pitot tubes and other 'fussy' stuff until after all the painting and decaling had been completed. I used super glue for the gear doors and other things that might break off and good thing too, as much of that was broken off during the several moves that this kit has made since inception. Last bits were the usual paint touch-ups and replacing stuff that I knocked off handling the kit.