Painting the model with the sponsons on would have been awkward, but filling was needed where the arms attach, to the sponsons, especially the front arms.
So I filled in the big oval shaped recesses in the sponsons where the rear arms slott
ed in and cut the ends of the rear arms down shorter.
I drilled a hole all the way through the rear arms to the inside of the model and drilled a hole in the filled in area on the sponsons. Brass rod now runs through the rear arms and into the sponsons.
I also drilled a smaller hole all the way through the front arms and into the nose section.
I cut the very ends of the front arms off and glued the small cut off sections into the recesses in the sponsons and did all the filling work that needed doing where the front arms join the sponsons.
I drilled a little further through the glued in pieces into the sponson itself and added long brass rod through the front arms.
The rod running through the front arms lines up perfectly with the little end pieces that are glued and filled into the sponsons, because the hole was drilled before the ends where cut off.
This method has shifted the joint of the front arms to the sponsons a little further in and without the need of filler, so I can paint the model and glue the sponsons on last.