I reached an impasse. As long as the two halves of the ship were mismatched, I couldn't finish the inserts/panels for the forward recesses

...or work on the cockpit, or the interior of the cutaway sections, etc.

Whenever I thought I had the right fit, something would shift and it was too much aggravation.

The first problem was the keys at either end of the pylons.

They were mismatched, ridiculously close to the edge, and I had to knock both of them out just to get the two halves somewhat aligned.

The second problem was the cockpit opening, where the plastic had warped inward.

I tried to find something spherical to re-shape the plastic and discovered that standard lightbulbs are a perfect fit.

I taped my way up either side of the hull, starting from the back, where things seemed to align better.

Then, I ran everything under hot water and coaxed the front section together.

[ATTACH=full]49116[/ATTACH]

It'll take at least one more pass, perhaps with hotter water next time, but it's off to a good start.