I finally made a start on it today by doing some work on the ejection seat. The kit part is not the greatest in the world and I thought about ordering a resin one but with the shipping it would have cost as much as the entire kit so I'm going to make this one work. Here it is compared to the real thing. Still needs some work, but with some fixing up and a home made harness, I think it will be acceptable under closed, tinted canopy .
I agree, and remember that only the top part (above the cockpit sill) and the top of the seat pan will be seen properly, so not a lot of point adding loads of detail to the sides of the bottom half.
It's been almost 2 years since I did any work on this one. At the time I was very busy buying a house, but also I just couldn't get past the very plane looking cockpit that would be exposed under that large bubble canopy. The seat is usable the way it is if I add a harness but the side panels were just bare. Every once and awhile in the last 2 years I would look at the box and consider getting a PE set for it but just couldn't see paying as much for the PE as I had paid for the model, then today I saw an Eduard colour zoom etch set for just over $9 including shipping at Lucky Model so I ordered one. With a little luck there should be some progress here soon.