The tail section is now in place. The horribly large gaps have now been filled - whether they could have been made smaller with more careful surgery, I have no idea but a concoction of aforementioned Squadron Green Putty and Revell liquid poly did the trick. This mix works very well for me as I find that the putty on its own is a little too inflexible and dries quicker than I can apply it effectively. The poly not only thins it down (and you can control the viscosity by putting more or less poly in) and makes it easier to fill gaps with but slows down the setting time AND ensures it dries very hard so is much easier to sand to profile. This was a tip passed to me from one of the Havixbeck Model Club members.
Once the mix had dried overnight, I gave it a good sand down and then applied Mr Surfacer 500 to any obvious areas that I had missed with the putty/poly mix and when dry, rubbed it down and gave it a blast with primer. As you can see, there are still a few small blemishes that need attention but that's the whole point of the exercise isn't it! On the whole, I am pleased with how the tail looks, particularly as when dry fitting it throughout the build I know what it WAS like at the start. Again, this process serves to boost my confidence in my modelling. I am hoping that this will be finished in time to be brought to the club meeting in August and that the version B, with the twin tail, well under way.