Fixed a multitude of small things and some bigger things. Corrected the triple booster section that NWerke pointed out, along with correcting a proportional error with the mid-rear section, pretty small but I could see it wasn't right.
Reworked the the upper engines intake scoops as I could see they were a bit off which resulted in my re-doing the inner wing also. it's a really awkward piece of 3D geometry but it now looks right from all angles, it's gratifying to see it finally look right.
I call this the "poster shot" as it's the pic that appeared in posters and reviews at the time, and I have a big photo quality poster of it
Also changed the contouring of the fuselage behind the cockpit using the panel lines as a guide. The fuselage has rounded peaks at the edges of the faceted front with a nearly flat top just behind the cockpit, the peaks narrow together and the cross sections turns more to a smooth arc before the wing roots, stays fairly similar to where the intake scoops start then the curvature gradually reduces to the point between the engine pods.
Discovered something interesting that fits with the hero mould being used for the RC versions. The anhedral wingtips are tilted forward when viewed from the side, it's around a 1.3 degrees rotation relative to the main wing such that the leading edge is lower than the trailing edge. I didn't know the term but it's called washout and prevents the wingtips from aerodynamically stalling before the rest of the wing, which can lead to spins (thanks NWerke)
Had a rethink on producing kits directly as 3D prints. After spending so much time on this getting it right, I would want the finished articles to be totally correct also. Due to limitations with home 3D printing I think printing and perfecting a 1/24th master then moulding it will be the way to go. This is also partly down to the estimated printing time which looks like around 5 days if all goes well, which it often doesn't...
Details like panel lines and small features get tricky at smaller scales like 1/48th (around 40cm or 16" long) but I looked into bureau printing and it's nowhere near as expensive as it used to be. So it might be feasible to get most of a 1/48th master bureau printed without breaking the bank. I have to finish and section the model before I can know for sure.