I ran into a little problem building this kit (1/35 UH-1C by MRC). When I dry fitted the cockpit with the hull: there is a gap between the instrument panel and the hull itself. I can't find any reference photos showing that particular area, and I don't remember seeing this gap in the real-life Charlie. (I saw two. A year ago.)
Is there a gap in the real thing? If not, how can I fix this problem?

Some photos:

Looks right to me. The instrument panel should not touch the fuselage under the canopy area. There is a gap there. Looks like you may have the instrument panel angled too far back (towards the seats) though. It should angle forward (towards the nose) more.

Thank you - I'll fix that. I have been playing around with the angles, but the photos I have weren't much help, and this seemed to be the best for the fit.
(I thought the instrument panel touches the fuselage and really freaked out when I found out it didn't. And since then I didn't have the chance to see a real one in a museum. It has been standing by for at least four month now, then I came to realize that I might as well ask someone )
Thanks again. So far I have spent many hours on the rotor mast, engine and the cockpit, and though it might not seem very much to an experienced modeller, I'm kind of happy with it. A few more months and I can attach the fuselage halves. One thing for sure: for the AH-1 I will close up the engine panels. No more scratchbuilding.

Glad to help. Good luck on it.

Finally the hull is together. There are serious gaps and misallignements everywhere... (Probably it's just me.)

Looks pretty good to me. I don't really see the gaps you are talking about. The side armor on the seats is too low though. They should be even with the top of the rear plates. Looks like it is coming along nicely. I like the detail you added to the engine compartment.

Thank you. I'm still learning the trade (somehow this is the first kit I actually like after I touched it).
The armor plates are going to be a problem to fix: after coming off all the time, I used epoxyglue. Probably the hardest part of the kit now.
Fit: the wall of the engine compartment does not fit to the fuselage - I'll have to fill it with Aves sculpt. And there are 1 mm gaps around the hull... It is a very nice, detailed kit (especially OOB), but it just didn't "fall together", like the Tamiya MiG-15 did.
The engine is not ready yet, unfortunately, nor is complete - it only looks like if it was an actual turbofan. I tried to replicate it but gave it up in the begining. I guess I'm not enough for that. So it looks busy, and that's fine with me. And I will close the engine compartment on the AH-1, that's for sure.

Anyway thank you for the encouraging words. I'll post some more photos when I come back and hace some time to work on it.

(By the way, can you see the photos? For me only the missing photo icon shows up now.)

Can't see the photos now either, only red "x"s.

I'm willing to bet the "gaps" will close up once you attach both fuselage halves. 1mm. isn't really that much of a gap though. The kit is a great kit. No, not a Tamiya add-glue-and shake, but I like it better than a simple Tamiya kit. Makes you improve your skills a little as well.

Good luck finishing it up. Post more pics as it comes along.

I'd like to see the pictures as well. good luck.