Heres some progress pics, although i've since taken the tube apart again, because its angle wasn't right.....but these are pics from Friday:

The new cockpit tube is now 45mm diameter.... the same as the front of the jaw box

I used a tube from a stationary tidy, I bought 2 of them and Im going to use this second one to enlarge the docking rings, which should match the diameter of the cockpit & jaw box

Before priming

Primed...just to see any blemishes

Front shot

And here's when I noticed the wrong angle...which I have to correct

J