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Hmm, it looks like it should work - it makes sense... but unfortunately it doesn't really work. When I try to pivot the canopy down, the metal rod just gets ripped out of the canopy. There isn't enough of a surface for the epoxy to hold onto, and there is just too much torque when the canopy is pivoting. The rod and ball of epoxy just comes off - luckily without damage to the canopy. It can't hinge, but it may be able to be stuck in at an angle for ether open or closed. I am going to try to cut the rod shorter and glue in a piece behind the two sheets that will allow the rod to ether go in straight (closed) or at an angle (open position).

Just checking to make sure everything closes up tight.

A shot from behind...

Don't know what it is - but it looks like it could belong...

At least the space behind the seat now doesn't look so empty.

A shot with the pilot in place.

I brush painted them grey to blend into the cockpit - I don't want them to stand out - just a little texture when you're looking directly in. I brushed a little metallic grey over top to pick out some highlights.

Here's a shot with one side of the handles done with the black stripes.

I'd thought I start to put some "gak" in the back behind the seat to make it look more technical. Thanks David for the heads up - I will try to restrain myself These parts are left over bits from an old 1/48 scale Apache helecopter (monogram I believe) that was being mined for spare parts anyways. (FYI the pilot for the 1/48 Apache makes a really good rebel pilot for the AMT X-Wing with minimal modifications) I tried to keep it to the edges.

here they are on a piece of masking tape (so that I don't lose them, they are so small after all) and I painted them with orange.

I thought I'd use these tiny little puppies...

Now, I wanted to do something about those circular discs near the head rest. The molding didn't come out too sharp - and they seem to be fairly prominent in most of the anime shots and are definetly unique to this plane. Plus the supplied red dot decal by Hasegawa just ain't right - its orange in most of the anime. I decided to use one of these discs that came in a wave option parts that I got from HLJ a long time ago (you can see its the mini U-vernier kit). These guys are great, they are cheap (200 yens or something) and really adds extra detail to the model.

Here's a shot with it painted yellow. A usually use a black gundam marker or a fine pigment type pen to draw the black stripes on. On such a small scale 1/72, its best to just draw vertical lines (or as straight of a vertical line as your steady hands will allow ). I don't bother with the spiral pattern unless its at least 1/48 scale.

Here's a shot with the canopy in place - notice that I bent it into a tighter radius and into an angular triangle shape. I had to make sure that I could still close the canopy.

Here's a shot with the pilot in - just to make sure that it doesn't hit his helmut

I got took a screen capture of this shot - it shows that the handles are not circular like the F-14s, they are angular.

I drilled two little pilot holes to locate the wire with a small pin vise. This is my first attempt at it - its too big. Unfortunately the diameter of the wire is a bit big also, but my next guage down was too fine - and I don't want to go out to just buy a new diameter wire for this - I'll play with bending the wires smaller.

Well on to the seats, I looked around for a suitable diameter wire for the overhead emergency pull handles. This was the closest I could find. Its some spare electrical wiring I had lying around, which I'll strip and use just the inside solid core.

I used a lot of MicroSOL decal solvent for the forward control panel so that it would lie tight against the raised details. I might dab a bit of Tamiya smoke over the CRT displays, they are a bit bright. I love the fact that Hasegawa even provided a HUD display decal!! I brushed on future over top of the decal after it was dried.

I love the decals that Hasegawa provides, they fit really well, I had to use a bit of MicroSOL decal solvent to get the helmut piece to conform to he curved helmut.

I don't know much about that spray system - but like most things, you get what you paid! I'd just hold off and save up for a real airbrush - you won't be sorry. Here's a shot of the cockpit pieced together for now, I brushed on a flat coat on the pilot and clear gloss coat on his helmut.

I then drilled a small pilot hole and epoxied the metal rod (paper clip) in place. My biggest worry is that there isn't enough surface area for the epoxy to make a strong bond with the metal rod, there will be a lot of torque at this little point. We'll see in 5 minutes Meanwhile, I'll decal up the pilot and control panels.

Here is the piece perfect before the future floor polish dunk. You can see that some compound got trapped in the recessed line of the canopy frame, just take some water and a gentle toothbrush and you can get that out. I like this extra step because it allows you too check (in a dry state) that you did indeed take all the scratches out. This is not a long process, it took me 5-10 minutes from beginning to end (but I've been doing this for a while now but I wouldn't spend more than 30min on it - then you're just being too precious ) This is a great way to remove any scratches, paint, spilt glue (as long as the damage isn't too deep) or solvent fingerprints on clear canopies. Its restored canopies that have fogged due to excess crazy glue as well. Argh! I just noticed that the forward windscreen also has a seam - oh, well just rinse and repeat!

Here's a shot with the paper towel while I'm polishing it, you can see that if gives the overall piece a nice shine, it can take out some minor scuffing of the part while it was in the box shifting around.

This next step is often skipped by some of the more experienced modellers out there - but I always follow this one step further and would recommend it too anyone who ask my opinion. If the water test shows a clear canopy, one can just take it out, dry it and dunk it into future floorpolish and let it dry - it should dry perfectly (the way it looks underwater). But skipping this step relies on the future filling in all those microscopic scratches that results in the fogginess. What I do, is use Tamiya rubbing/polishing compound. It looks like toothpaste, and I just squirt some onto the canopy and take a paper towel and rub/polish it down with this compound.