This will hopefully answer my own question above!
First a shout-out to the "STORMO!" web site! Vince Tassone kindly put me in touch with a friend who owns some original factory drawings. While not available for publication, the owner has graciously allowed me to share related information from them.
The 202's fuselage was built around an internal core structure, consisting of 19 individual frames, numbered "0" (the firewall) to "18" (tail wheel and tail cone attachment). The main fuselage skinning run the full length of this core, with no intermediate vertical joints.
Establishing the relationship of the panel ends to the frames, i.e. the vertical panel line locations at each end, thus seems critical to correctly scaling the fuselage. Length dimensions of the other major fuselage sections seem reliably established, but not this main structural length.
The factory drawings provide center-to-center frame spacing, and many other useful detail dimensions, including thicknesses of critical structural frames. After studying photos of the front and rear frames - both of which are complex, with smaller structural members and fastener attachment flanges attached, and various panel overlaps evident - it appears to me the panel lines align with the faces of the frames. Dimensional notes:
+ Adding up the individual frame spacing shows the distance between the centerlines of frames #0 and #18, is 5175 mm.
+ FRONT: Frame #0 is 78mm thick. A panel flush with its front face thus extends 39 mm forward of the frame centerline.
+ REAR: Frame #18 is 51 mm thick. Its rear face, rounding up slightly, thus extends 26 mm rearward of the frame centerline.
+ TOTAL LENGTH:
The space between the two critical panel lines is thus: 5175 + 39 + 26 mm = 5240 mm. This translates to 163.8 mm in 1/32 scale; 109.2 mm in 1/48 scale; and 72.8 mm in 1/72 scale.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
+ The drawings show an additional dimension of 35 mm aft of frame #18's centerline. This may indicate the jog in skinning at the rear of the fin, an interesting detail that published drawings and kits mostly miss (front of aircraft to the right in the photo).
+ The factory drawings similarly show a dimension 52 mm forward of the centerline of frame #0. I am not sure what this represents, but my interpretation of photographs indicates it's not related to the fuselage panel lengths.
+ The forward fuselage panel line appears to align precisely with panel joints across the wing root fillet, and top surface of the wing.
Thanks to anyone who has actually read this far! These notes are of course strictly my interpretation of the information that I have on hand. Questions, comments, and corrections are absolutely welcome.
