I used the Aires wheel-bays and cockpit, The Quick boost engine (undersized nightmare) and a beat set of Aires slats.. all the slide arms were busted off I filed out all the notches and replaced them with scratch made ones. the pitot tube was fashioned from hypo needles. Decals from spares folder.
finished last week just in time for the Orlando Modelpoloosa. I used the 1/48 tamiya kit plus resin aftermarket and basic scratch building fundamentals.
Looks pretty good by George! Those squadron vac canopies are a pain in the A$$. I've always have trouble with them but if you manage to get em on right they are a big improvement over pop bottle canopies.
Thats funny I'm building the Hasegawa kit and did the same thing with the nose weight. On the other hand I've built several of the Eduard 39's all of them had the nose weight included IIRC.