Whose...

... bright idea was this? I'm supposed to be a kit basher, and here I am trying to squeeze tiny little bits of plastic into tiny cockpits:

Still a little bit to be added to the harness, and then it looks, from a dry run, that I'll have to shave the cockpit floor to get the fuselage to close.

Now for the daft bit - the new horizontal tail:

I spent a good hour and a half creating the new bits on the right, and they still need work. But look at the difference in size with the kit parts. Of course, that size difference will mean some more messing around when I come to add the new tail to the fuselage. I'm not sure at all about this, maybe it is a step too far and I should just use the kit bits - the jury is currently out.

All that sanding of bits of plastic meant that I haven't had time to start splashing paint on my new garrison regiment for the 42s project. I've been thinking about uniforms for the new chaps. The casts actually look quite smart as they are meant to be Greek regulars, but, of course, a garrison/invalids/old men unit would, I suppose, look more like: 

The above fellows are a Serbian third line infantry company in 1914 (so, a bit later than my imagi-war). The photo is from the Osprey, Armies in the Balkans, 1914-18, by Nigel Thomas, Dusan Babac and Darko Pavlovic (Oxford, 2001). What is striking about these Serbs is how old they look, poor fellows, but they also look pretty shoddy in the obsolete M1896 dark blue uniform. However, I think my 42s will have to be in dark blue too, or, perhaps dark blue and grey? I don't know. We'll see which paint pot comes out first.