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This is really a lot of fun,the best part of modeling as far as I am concerned.It is great to see your ideas come together after such a long time.
It is always hard to know when to stop the weathering process,when enough is enough.I used pastels except for two places,the white ash at the plywood edges and the oil spots on the sled where I used some flat raw umber acrylic.I may still tone down the white ash with a little gray.
The U/C spreader bar shows a little smoke and heat damage and one panel has been left off to gain access to the controls.

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Like everything else, the fitting of the plywood sheets takes a long time and a little planning ,to have maximum access to the interior for gluing purposes.I first made up paper templates and cut the plywood oversize and sanded it down to fit,piece by piece.
Before heat bending with the curling iron,I soaked the plywood in plain water for about 5 mins and then dunked it in ammonia to soften up the wood fibers.
I will leave the cockpit area open for now until all interior work in this area is finished.I am a little tempted to leave a few panels off to show the fuselage interior but I haven"t yet come up with a good excuse to do so.
The pilot would have been removed before the fire really took hold and the rear part of the fuselage placed where it is by the rescue crew, in an attempt to get at the pilot.Therefore ,the tail section would have suffered some fire damage laying on top of the wing like that.The fabric tail surfaces would have had the same fate as the wings.The only thing joining the two pieces together will be the control cables joining the controls to the elevator and rudder.The horizontal stab sort of hooks on the the lower wing at an odd angle which makes for an interesting storyline for those who want to stop to figure it out.

The wood and the joints still require some work but only after I am finished handling the fuselage .
I will let the rest of the plywood go for now and concentrate on the cockpit area and tail.Once the pilot seat and related hardware is in ,the rest of the axe chopped plywood skin surrounding the cockpit will need finishing.The tail area could be even more heavily damaged by fire.It is a point where a lot of wood and fabric come together creating a concentration of combustible material and an ample supply of oxygen and wind.

Greetings John; Sorry for asking but what are the greenish blobs for on the longerons by the seat?

Hanging seat belts.
I made up some seat belts to get an idea of how they would look when hanging out of the cockpit.They are just mock ups until I can find some info on how they really looked.The blue stuff is just tack to hold it temporarily together
Anyone have any info on the seat belts? pics?
As you guys who have been following this thread already know,a lot of the emotional response to this scene by the viewer is the play between the empty pilots seat and the dog waiting for his masters return.It is very important to get this right as the success of the whole storyboard part of the diorama depends on it.

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Most of the combing around the hole has been chopped away during the rescue attempt.I will later add a little leather on the plywood at the rear and have a few remnants hanging down.
I will weather this area a bit and leave the rest till later.Next in line is the horizontal and vertical stabs and rudder.There cables are an important feature as they are the only connection remaining between the two fuselage halves.The horiz stab will determine the angle at which the rear fuselage half rests upon the lower wing.

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