It is fortunate that I can not only remember so much about building the kit, but that I actually took a few notes on it (for the next time I was to build a similar kit). As with all vacuformed kits, the first step is to remove the vac parts from the backing sheet. This is done by first drawing all-around the part with a soft lead pencil Then I scribed around all the parts with a sharp Xacto blade, holding the blade at about a 45 degree angle. When done, I simply flexed the parts and the backing sheet snapped clean. This left me with a pencil line showing where the plastic I don't want to remove is separated from the clean plastic that I DO want to remove. 

Next, I put a full sheet of 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of Plexiglas and then took it to the sink to start sanding. By gently running water over the sheet, it not only helps the sheet stick to the Plexiglas, but also the running water washes away plastic dust that would otherwise clog the paper.  The trick is not to take too much off. Naturally, I messed up a few bits. 

Once the bits are all sanded down, regular construction can commence. The first part was,of course, the interior. This was made of a form fitted cockpit molding and seats. There was no instrument panel or control sticks. No sidewall detail at all and the other pieces were a bit light on detailing as well. Fortunately, the interior is a nicely molded piece so sticking on the white metal parts wasn't a hassle. What was a hassle was getting the seats properly shaped as they were vacuformed and bit weak on the bottom. Because of the lack of instrument panels and sticks, I painted the interior flat black and the seats aluminum. The interior fit very well into the fuselage halves and the fuselage was then cemented together.

The tail plane installation was next and that went without trauma. It simply slid into the slot at the rear. A slathering of filler for this gap and a few on the fuselage were all that was needed. To add strength to the fuselage, the separate nose cap was then glued on and smoothed out with filler and sandpaper.

Standard training scheme for Chipmunks was red, white and aircraft grey. The upper fuselage was white, the aft section of the wings and tailplane were aircraft grey and the rest was red. I started by painting the kit white. Then the white was masked off and the red was painted on. I used Testors Model Master paints for these colors. Then the red was masked and the aircraft grey was painted on. Again, I used a Model Master paint that was close. This was a matte color, but I was ignorant of the fact that it should have been gloss so let it go. At this time, the gear legs were also painted aircraft grey. I was going to paint the anti-glare shield black, but for some reason, never got around to it.

Then, for some inexplicable reason, the kit sat for a few months.