RichieB

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Glorious work, love it!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Hi folks, hope you're all keeping well. The wing tips required quite a lot of work to prep for lighting. Lots of thinning required to allow the electrics to fit and some careful carving of the lit areas that will be visible. You can also see the wingtip nav light in the prep stage as discussed previously. The good thing about EL panels are they are quite thin but you need to be quite conservative with how much you use as a 3v coin battery doesn't drive a large amount of it (typically <25cm for good brightness). I had to use two strips back to back so that the top and bottom illuminated but wasn't sure what it would look like side on or whether it would just short out! That arrangement made for quite a bulky wiring connection but luckily the Revell plastic is quite thick so can take a fair bit of hacking. Before assembly I sprayed the wing insides black as the thinness in some areas would easily let light bleed through and make it look like a ghost ship!

Once trimmed to the right size, I added thin clear plasticard on top of the EL tape so that I could scribe in some of the distinctive panel lines you see on the wingtip slime lights. I scribed a single longer sheet of plasticard with the same lines so that even if they weren't quite perfect they would all line up when I cut each of the 4 sections (2 wings, top & bottom) out. I wasn't sure how to make sure the wingtip slime lights blended together (rather than look like 4 layers sandwiched together) so I used CA glue to help create the final shape and seal the EL tape (hoping it wouldn't short the ends again!). I'll need to lightly coat the lights with the right colour to stop them looking so green.  On this photo you can also (just) see the fuel dump amendment I made by adding a squashed bit of copper tube and the modified ECM bullet which looked too small so I removed the original, added a longer bit of sprue and shaped accordingly.

 
And of course the fingers crossed moment.....

 
And breath. Next, it looks like I need to return to the forward fuselage area for some more rivet love. 

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

Happy New Year everyone!
Hope you're enjoying the festive period and able to find some time to keep your projects moving, like me!
Finally, I've managed to complete enough sub-assemblies to start pulling this thing together. The exhausts caused the biggest headache as they had to line up with the tubes that will hold the acrylic rods and the bulkhead which I'd previously drilled out and copiously glued in place as this structure will take a lot of the load when this is put in its in-flight pose. The trickiest bit was getting the exhaust rings to sit flush top & bottom as I had to putty them in place to be secure enough. Normally you would add these at the end but with the in-flight mode this was not practical. In addition, I added the intakes trying to make sure that the front ends on the intakes fitted snuggly with the fuselage bottom otherwise the intake front ends will be difficult to fit.
 
Once the main structures were secure I added the wiring which has been split into 3 powered sections (electricians look away now!). The first set, between the intakes, is for the slime lights which require a high voltage hence the bulkier wires and connectors. The wiring between the exhaust tubes is that required for the remaining 9 LEDs. Luckily the F-15 is a big aircraft so lots of space to put them all. 

I've also been playing with the technique of black-basing using the tailplanes and drop tanks to practise. My plan is to use different lighter and darker shades of grey/blue to put down a varied mottle and the overspray with the primary Air Superiority Blue colour. The MRP paints I'm using for this work really well as they spray very thinly and you can keep going for a long time without the airbrush clogging up.

I'm using a mix of airbrush mottling and stencils to see what effect they have. I'll probably end up using both just for variety. 

Its just nice to get some paint down on the main surfaces after what has seemed like ages!

New tail extension parts - in glorious 'Kermit Green'.
 

 

 
With the wings, tail and tailerons assembled it was time to do a full test fit:
 

 

 

 

 

 
And, finally, with Tim's own test mule:
 

 
Blue skies!
 
Iain

Rear section cut from upper fuselage - ready for fitment of tail extension. Follows panel lines that were extended from side to side and cut apart using a fresh No 11 Scalpel blade:
 

 
And lower fuselage - same process - plus another cut-out at the front to accept the new, 3D Printed, forward fuselage undertray:
 

 
One weakness of the Revell 1:32 Tornado kits is, well, their weakness!
 
And it gets worse when you start cutting it up to make an F. Mk. 3...
 
Tim's set includes a new bulkhead that fits where the kit one goes, but is a lot more substantial. A few cuts to remove sections of moulded location strip and in she drops.
 
Note two things: I got it the wrong way around at first fitting - and Tim recommends this is bonded to the intake trunking before fitting in situ. I deviated as I wanted everything as stiff as possible, with the gear bays in place, for me to do final fitting of the front end.
 

 
The intake trunking placed in situ (no engine faces - yet:
 

 
There are 'layering' marks internally from the printing process - I've made a first pass with a flat brush loaded with solvent for initial smoothing - but more to go.
 

 

 
As you can, hopefully, see - the design work Tim has done is quite exceptional - and the fit of the new 3D printed parts with the existing kit is quite superlative. Far better than any resin conversion could be, with the bonus that the new parts are Polystyrene - just like the kit parts!
 
Iain
 
 
 

Hi Geedubelyer and thanks for watching, this version of the exhaust nozzles has the turkey feathers still in place.
Good point though the original lip would have looked out of place (probably a scale 1.5 cm all round). However, I think I've left enough to give the impression of a small lip but we'll see!
 
Thanks Maru, I hope your patience will be rewarded (eventually)! 

Interesting to see this come together.
The peek down the intake trunking looks good.
 
It's not easy to tell from your second to last image but do the exhaust nozzles have the turkey feathers modelled? 
 
Also, a bit late for you now, but the real aircraft has a step from the end of the nacelles to the engine doughnut. Possibly something to consider if you should ever make another. 
 
I'm eager to see this all in place. Keep at it. 

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

About time for an update...
I've reassembled both intakes having cut them in half to making seam removing and painting easier and added the engine face at the rear. Have to say that bit worked out quite well and made the internal painting and a bit of light weathering (these were pretty new jets after all) pretty straightforward. Sorry the picture is not great, trying to find a depth of field where everything was in focus was the trickiest bit! 
 

 
In test fitting the resin exhausts I found the Revell kit back-end to be a tad wide creating a small but noticeable step. My somewhat crude solution was just to file the back end down a bit and rescribe any lost detail. I've also been spraying primer as I go to make sure there aren't too many surface flaws and yes, I found quite a few!

 
The exhausts themselves are going to be sprayed a blend of Alclad metallics but first a bucketload of masking.

 
The exhaust internals where weathered using panel line wash and sand coloured filters to capture the slightly tinged ceramic look of the PW engines. I then added some soot pigment trying to mimic the images I'd seen the Jake melampy and DACO books. The bands on the outer  rings are two shades of Alclad Aluminium tinged with some Tamiya weathering pads. The rear exhaust has a clear hollow rod attached which will assist in creating the in-flight mode. This will need careful reinforcing as a lot of weight will get transmitted through this rod.

(Very) Slowly coming together!

Unbelievable scratchbuild - Bravo!

Unbelievable scratchbuild - Bravo!

One of the fixes you'll need to adress is the canopy. The only F-15 that had a tinted canopy was the demonstration a/c, the box top one you have.  Revell issued the kit at one point with a clear canopy and so did Revell of Germany.
 
Bruce
(from Parts-R-Parts)

Just a very quick update to prove that (some) progress is being made!
Gary at GT Resin kindly supplied me a replacement set for the exhausts as my originals had a flaw in them. New set looks great and is a leap above the detail provided by the Revell kit (far right). As this is an early bird, they still have the turkey feathers on.

 
Each exhaust comes in three pieces and includes a separate flame holder (not shown), for ease of painting. After a bit of tidying up and spot of primer on them I'm just about ready to paint them up.

This is the fun but slightly daunting part where you can bring a part to life .. or kill it stone dead! Not sure which method to use to weather them up as the images I've seen show quite a distinctive but complicated pattern. Much pondering to be done!