Well, went back to the drawing board on the nose. After looking at dozens of pictures, I couldn't get the profile to look right. Finally, I ended up cutting off what I had, shortened the nose by almost 1mm, thinned it a bit and used a metal BB. It now resembles the ball nose on the real deal.
I also went and hollowed out the vectoring thrusters, so those look a ton better than before.
And she finally went in for paint, today. What a nightmare black paint can be. First, I painted it a really dark grey (poly Scale Tarnished Black). Then I masked of a few panels, not really following any particular pictures of the real bird. Then over sprayed with Tamiya Flat Black (XF-1). I tried to do that in a sorta blotchy manner, to look like random paint fading. Then removed the masking and sprayed over that to tone down the contrast. Then I made a lightened version of the black by adding a few drops of white and did some random spraying. Not a total cover coat, more like zig-zagging, just to break up the color. Now, she's got her first coat of Future, so I'm just waiting for that to dry. Then I'll do a second coat and when that's dry, she goes for decals and weathering.
-Fred