Stearman A75 Aircraft

Putting pieces together and painting stuff now.  All the holes for the rigging are drilled, and the interior parts of the fuselage are ready to close up.  Everything is just assembled
without glue in the photos, except for the magnetos and all the parts of the fuselage interior.  I shaved off the kit's molded on seat belts and put in some Eduard belts.  I also
shaved off the outer half of the locating ports for the seats as I was worried they might show later on.  Other things I have noted is the location for the tail brace wires is
incorrect on the stabilizer lower side, they should be the same as where the upper wires are shown, not further outboard.  The rudder pedal footrest/runners are located
a little more outboard than they should be, next time I will replace them with wood and move them in some.  It will not be easy to carve the plastic off.  Likely the location
is due to not being able to get everything right in scale and end up with a model that most people will be able to build without excess frustration.  I put some .005 styrene
squares in the lower wing center section to get rid of a couple injector pin markings the easy way.

I see that there may be plans to issue the Lycoming PT-13D/N2S-3, as both types of fire extinguishers are supplied.  Any other changes would be firewall forward,
and some changes to reflect an electrical system, which was not installed om most PT-17's, and when it was it was sans generator, just a storage battery in front of the
instructor's feet.  There is an electrical panel included for the right side of the rear seat but that is for a restored airplane as it looks nothing like wartime equipment.
 I will be sanding off all the position lights on my model.

On the engine it says to paint the induction pipes burnt metal but I have always seen them black.  The exhaust pipes are on the dishpan which
I painted Buffing Stainless Steel Metalizer and then rubbed with a little SNJ aluminum powder.  The little exhaust pipes were painted burnt metal, overcoated
with a little jet exhaust.  There is no wiring harness, I'll have to work something up for that.  I painted the pushrod housings Floquil Old Silver, but they
 probably should be black but then who would ever see them as they are buried in back on the W-670.  I painted the cylinders Floquil weathered black, then
 put several very thin coats of Testors Gloss Black until a little sheen built up.  The crankcase is Navy Gloss Grey, I wish it had a touch more blue to it.  

So far the fit is excellent, but I am wondering how the engine will fit since it is on the engine mount and has to be located just right so the dishpan fits well to the side and
bottom cowls.  Probably will have to assemble it all at once.  I hope to keep the right side panel removable