Thanks a lot Lewis and Evan, glad you like it so far.
Made a little bit more progress over a period of around six hours!
The kit jet pipe is reasonable, in as much as it has the rear of the engine and 'grill', but lacks the variable nozzle. Whilst hunting for some bits in the spares boxes for Andy and Harrison, I came across a jet nozzle from a wrecked model, I think the old Monogram Super Sabre, which has been filed down and adapted to fit, and is now in place 'up the pipe'.
Some heat staining has been added to the exterior of the jet pipe, and some plumbing added to the wheel bays, based on reference photos.
The tactical numbers (26) have been overpainted to get rid of the stencil breaks, and then I found out, via Wojtek, that stencil numbers had also been used!
PIC 1 Shows the jet pipe as per the kit.
PIC 2. The variable nozzle fitted and the basic colours added. The area has yet to be cleaned up and some detail painting done.
Pic 3. the jet pipe area was painted in various mixes of Humbrol enamel metallics and solid colours. Once dry, thin 'damp brushed' streaks were added, with variations of the same mixes and, once hardened, key areas were treated to some streaks of Tamiya acrylic 'Smoke', all applied by paint brush. A clear gloss coat has been applied, which has yet to be toned dowen with a final semi-gloss clear coat.
PIC 4. The overpainted tactical numbers, and the 'Excellent Aircraft Award' badge, which I finally decided to use.
PIC 5. The fuel and hyrdaulic lines and other bits added to the wheel bays. These are cable sheathing, copper wire and lead wire, and plastic rod and tube. The various lines and pipes will be picked out the in the appropriate colours once the bays have been painted.
PIC 6. the next step is to add the missing details to the front area of the cockpit, including some wiring, the gunsight, and internal blast screen etc. The rear bulkhead will also get some attention, with the ejection seat rails and wiring etc being added from plastic strip, rod and lead and copper wire.
PICS 7 and 8 are how the model looks to date.
Thanks once again for your interest and compliments, and I'll post another update soon.