Accommodation for two
I’d bought an Eduard PE set for this kit, but didn’t end up using much of it except the seatbelts and a few levers in the cockpit, as the kit parts are pretty well spot on. I simulated the switched off MFDs by painting the panels black, then covering them over with clear paints of different colours. Looking closely you can just about see the green or red tinge to them. Dry-brushing and a panel wash brought out the highlights and lowlights in the cockpit respectively, and I added the oxygen hoses from coiled wire.
Nose Job
The parts fit is excellent, with just the well documented step as the nose section is joined to the fuselage, but a bit of filling, scraping and re-scribing covers this well. Everything else was perfect, and even the finely engraved panel lines matched up on both sides of the joints. The only other place filler was used was in the conformal fuel tank joints, as these have a sealer around them in real life.
Round Bits
The undercarriage is well done, even having flats moulded into the main wheel tyres so I added a few hydraulic lines to the oleos with fine wire according to my references, gave it a pastel wash and left it at that. The main wheel wells are closed up when the undercarriage is down, so no detailing is required here. The exhaust nozzles were pretty good too, and all I added here was the photo-etched afterburner ring inside, as the moulded details on the outside did away with the need for any PE parts. Each can had a total of 21 parts in it, making them a mini kit in themselves. The ceramic insides were done in simple white primer, with airbrushed brown and black streaks. The outsides were done with Alclad2 Steel and a pastel wash to simulate the grime and oil.