Above and 2 photos below: The model is carefully disassembled in preparation for the massive cleanup work and paint stripping required. Above is the front cage section. Note the bulkhead hatch which fits up to the back of the nosecone. To do the job properly would involve dismantling large sections of the model, a task that would have scared me to death a few years ago, but having done a similar job on the Overlander from Terrahawks I felt that I was on familiar ground, although this was going to be a lot more daunting. Luckily the job was made easier because the Eagle can be quickly broken down into a number of sub assemblies. The nosecone unplugs and splits in two, the passenger pod is just held in place by two screws and then comes apart, the shoulder pods simply pull out and the long top frame (spine) unbolts. The Engine section did unplug originally but the modifications for series 2 permanently joined it to the rear cage.  Each of the two cage sections are in two halves with no direct connections, they are held in line by the spine and the central corridor detailing. The first job was to strip down the spine and solder the joints that had come apart.  All of the pipes across the bottom had come apart, five were missing altogether, so it was only held together by the pieces across the top and several of those were either working loose or misaligned. One