Thanks Brains Trust!
We were able to significantly reduce our risk profile by briefly taking our joystick out of the equation. Since the wings and hull were yet to be mated, the underside of the cockpit floor was still exposed. This allowed us to punch out the joystick the way it came in…
The pilot still couldn’t be pushed past the instrument panel column, so we were forced to resort to hot warfare and fired up the wife’s trusty hair straightener. Forcing the manspread we wanted with our tweezers, we held the pilot over the tongs (on the lowest setting of about 150°C / 300°F). About 10-20 seconds was enough to destress the plastic and allowed our deformation to become permanent… Plastic deformation rather than elastic deformation as we say in engineering materials science parlance
Both joystick and pilot are now where they should be, confirmed by a canopy test-fit
