Unfortunately seeing the 65 page instruction manual only made it worse. Suspect I’ll be into the construction within a few weeks, I am weak.
Just go for it !
It’s a really nice kit to build . Don’t let the instructions overwhelm ya . They are very detailed but easy to follow .
I’m building the kit myself , work on it for a while , then take a break and work on something else .
Really enjoy building Zoukei-Mura Kits . Have 6 Phantoms yet to build .
The quality and fit are top notch IMO !
You’re not making it any easier brother!
I’m past 90% finished on my M3A3 Bradley, about 75% of my P-38, and about 60% done on my F-4B. I’ve really got to finish these before I open up and start another 
This is my first experience with the manufacturer, I’m amazed!
The ‘Bauanleitung’ (I had to look it up, just means instructions) is 65 pages which was awesome but also a bit intimidating. Upon closer inspection, and actually starting the build it quickly becomes obvious that they are just very thorough, it is not an indication that the complexity is off the charts. See the example below.
These two pages, all of the wording and illustrations and photographs represent a small number of parts. In this case there are 8 parts on the left-hand page and 5 on the right. Each separate part number is circled in green. They just provide the builder with maximum information.
The mold quality is off the charts (with my limited experience), and this figure shows what I mean. Those belts!
I’ve started assembly. Above it looks like two halves of the engine, which is basically right. But who knew or would have thought that it would include pistons and connecting rods?
Which is kind of interesting considering no crankshaft, right? But of course none will be visible within the next page or so of the instructions.
One of my biggest problems with modelling is forcing myself to slow down. I’m hoping to use this kit’s inherent complexity to try and force myself to do just that. There’s a looong way to go, and many parts will have to be painted more than one color prior to assembly and then again after partial assembly prior to full.
Off and running !
I told you the instructions were detailed and thorough and the fit of parts is top notch !
Glad you got started and will be following your progress !
I’ve been working on this every day, but failed to give any updates.
The engine is mostly complete, need to add exhaust pipes/deflectors which insert into ports in the head which are barely visible in the picture, and shrouds (seen below) then some minor touch ups and a wash. Cockpit is well on the way to completion as well, really an amazing fit here.
You can see in the first pic that I could not decide which approach to take on the instrument panel, so, I’m going to do both and decide which looks better then.
I think the winner is clear, and I’m a bit surprised since I thought the decals behind the clear plastic made more sense, but they were too deep which causes them to look off center (some were) depending on angle, and it also caused them to appear dark. I also had a problem that I’ll blame on the manufacturer; these decals were normal, as in detailed side was up with the adhesive side down. So when I was putting them on there was no adhesive and they slid all over, took micro-sol to glue them in place.
So I went with individual gauges set on top of opaque/painted plastic. This picture shows it with a blob of clear-gloss on each face and a reminder that not all 1/32 aircraft are large.
The instructions are very thorough, the best I’ve ever used, but mistakes are always possible. Here I have the wrong part assembled, the one I cemented is for a G-14, but not the “White one” or U4 variant. As easy to fix as it was to miss.
I was going to refine those 30mm shells and add some warheads to them until I realized the next step was to seal them up tight. Totally invisible, so I’ll just say I painted the links and be done 
Their Do 335 kits are the same way, using the pistons for alignment of the cylinder block halves. The How 229 kits have a similar ‘disappear inside the model’ detail — in the Jumo 004 engines, you thread compressor rotors on the central shaft, fit the stator disc halves into the compressor casing halves, then close the halves around the rotors — at which point they disappear inside the engine and you never see them again.
I am a fan of ZM. I have heard grumbles by some about having issues at various points. I attribute this to very close tolerances. I would dry fit and make sure of the fit. Otherwise you might have some issue getting the fuselage halves together. I have their F4E and am looking forward to jumping on that.
I’m so tempted to try this, thought it was wiring but looking closer it appears to be fluid lines. probably under pressure. Yes, I know the vapor filters and some rubber bits needs to be painted black.
The book that picture is from is the “Walk Around” series on the Gustav.
Excellent progress on your model.
I know very little around aircraft and if I saw that photo just randomly somewhere I would have thought it was some sort of sound system.
But anyway, never mind, back to your build 
I’ve not been updating the progress, but I’ve been working very slowly yet steadily. I’m still going to say that the detail of this kit is about as good as anything I’ve ever seen, and the fit is very precise, in fact a coat of paint (x2 - on both sides of the part) was enough to make the fuselage halves not quite meet. Easy to remove the paint from those surfaces, needed to anyway for the glue. Just saying it is an example of the fit. I did find what I consider to be a flaw though, made worse by my lack of skill, but bad enough to make me say this is for a more advanced builder, certainly to the advanced side of experienced.
I had minor issues with the rear vertical stab, if you count the horizontal stabs, the elevators, the rudder and actuators…there were 19 parts involved. Yes, just the exterior tail surfaces, I’m not counting the control rods and actuators hidden inside the bodywork. It all fit, so that is not the problem, but without spending a lot of time dry-fitting it would have been a mess.
But the bigger problems I had were in attaching the wings. The wings themselves went together great.
The main spar of each wing extends far enough (along with some hoses and lines) into the body, this makes locating them pretty easy, but they make for a very wobbly assembly while you attach outer skin parts to solidify everything.
So not counting the cockpit assembly shown above, or the wings and landing gear struts, there were seven (!!) separate pieces of external sheet-metal to seal it up. I think that is just too complex for an intermediate-skilled builder to handle.
I got the front of the cowling, the oil-cooler exhausts, the flaps and the ailerons done too.
