ok, as promised here are some pictures
First up, the fuselage halves. For scale, that's a 16" ruler in the middle. The kit supplies resin dump tubes, but they mostly break. So on the bottom half, I substitued brass tubing. It's a shade larger than the resin tubes on top, but infinitely stronger.
A close-up of the Washburn Observatory's Star Tracker camera system. This is completely scratchbuilt. From cutting open the panels to designing the cameras. The doors are just in place for the shot, not attached yet. While flipping through the book Hypersonic, I saw a picture of the Star Tracker and knew I wanted to add it - and voila.
This is the ejection seat and cockpit tub. The cutout in the right hand side of the tub was going to be for wiring details - before I realized that the seat completely blocked it and wouldn't be visible after it was built. The PE pieces on the ejection seat were last minute scratchbuilt details I decided to add. They're supposed to be the hinges for the stabilizer wings. The only photo I had was a small, blurry picture, so I guessed as best I could.
And finally, the landing gear and bay. There was absolutely no detail in here - thank God for primeportal.com. I added internal structures and the piston that opens the bay door, as well as some prominent wiring. The insulation sheet is just made from tinfoil that I scrunched up real tight and then spent 10 minutes unfolding again :cry. They styrene bits on the oleo are scrathbuilt details I added. There's only one picture of these things, so it's a guess as to what they look like unfolded or what they do.
Next up, trying to figure out how I'm going to paint the main IP. This thing has about 42,000 buttons - all of which are of a contrasting color to the main fascia. I think I'll paint it black, for the buttons, overcoat with the correct blue/grey and then sand the high points to reveal the black - see you all in 6 months
lol .
-Fred