It’s always nice when you get to a point in a model build where you can assemble completed sections and get a feel for how the finished kit is going to look. The thruster bells just need a dab of glue to hold them on.  After dusting on some more weathering, I added a light flat coat to hold it all in place, avoiding spraying the thruster bells to keep them glossy. I really like how the passenger pod is looking. I did some fine pencil work around the door to help it stand out. Moving on to the shoulder pods, I looked up in the reference material for placement of the grey panels so I could mask them. There are places where the reference is hard to see, so as usual, I just followed the established style through.  Now that the command module beak has been gloss coated, I can carefully do more weathering. The Tamiya weathering master goes very easily onto flat coated pieces and is hard to rub off. It’s harder to get it onto gloss pieces, but you can rub it off (with a damp cloth) if need be, and you get a bit more fine control. Time to glue the rocket engine section together. Now to gloss coat it in preparation of decals. After checking the masking tape was firmly in place, I put a coat of Alclad white primer onto the shoulder pods. The white primer goes on nice and smooth.I found attaching the rocket engines a touch tricky just to get the fit nice and tight, but with some drops of glue and hand pressure, it all stayed in place.  Taking the tape off the shoulder pods reveals the masking pattern. Because both layers of paint are good primer, any raised edges from the masking can be sanded off (as long as you’re gentle) and because over-spray can be a bit dry, the sanding will remove any bumps or grit on the surface too.  Time to put on more Tamiya Weathering master. I went heavy because another coat of Alclad white primer is next. Here with the white primer on, you can just see the panel work peeking through.  Time for a quick test assembly to see how it’s all looking.  Yes, it’s looking great!Now it’s masking time! The black crosses are an important detail and I decided to paint them rather than use the supplied decals. THe detail area is raised, so it’s easy enough to carefully cut through the masking tape to make the pattern.

I taped on a piece of paper around the rest of the part just so as to catch any overspray.  Once each piece was painted, I was able to use the paper again for the next piece. This really saved on masking tape and masking time! The large decals went on great. The black cross details came out nice and sharp.  The engine parts were flat coated with Alclad flat. Now time for the main rockets. They’re a very tight fit, so I filed their insides down a bit before attaching them. With luck this should be the final bit of masking for the kit. The base of the shoulder pods needs to be painted black. I gloss coated the parts with Future Finish before this masking stage as the black paint is quite delicate. Just as with the black crosses, I taped on paper to protect the rest of the part from any overspray. Once the black was dried, I went in with more gloss coat to the protect the finish. Time to see how everything is looking together. I added more weathering with Tamiya weathering master to the shoulder pods, concentrating the weathering towards the bottom of the pieces.
At first the command model beak did not come together right and fit properly. Although the magnet held everything in place, the alignment between the front and rear part was not right and left a gaping hole.

I took out my file and got to work, shaving off plastic over the magnet that is on the rear wall where the pilots attach until a good close fit was achieved and then re-painted just that section of plastic. Now the fit is good and I can continue with the decals and assembly.