Ha'la'tha Resistance Fighter build - 4.

Subtitled: sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling.

Lots and lots and lots of sanding.   The main kits fit together well, and in reality, the overall curves where they join worked out pretty well.  The biggest issue was the huge gap where the wings were removed and the underside of the engine housings.  To fill this, I decided to work with something I'd not really used much: FreeForm Air from smoothon.  I really do like this stuff.

For the most part, it goes on pretty well, although it takes fiddling to get it to do what I want it to.  Of course, that's probably just my skillset.  Either way, the best thing in this case is the weight.  The stuff is very light and I have a ton of it going into this model to fill up the huge holes and gaps.  So this is not going to add a bunch of weight, like other stuff could.

After that set up, the sanding started again. The long, tedious process of getting the curves to go together. You don't need a thousand pictures of sanding. : )  Once I got the main curves done, though, I did add the intakes, vertical stabilizer and the nose build up strip.

 That strip is pretty much there just for the lines of the fuselage and so I could get that step right at the cone.  On the step, I put in the ports for the nose guns.  All it was is the insulation off of wire.  Saved me from having to drill that out. 

I also have been thinking about the under-wing guns.  I really do want to give the thing that look that comes from the engineering that gave rise to the Vipers.  It dawned on me that the Stuka Tank-buster gun pods might work.  I like them, they *might* work.

We'll see.  I also played around a bit with the Photoshop, and wanted to get a feel for possible decals.  I doubt I'll be able to hand-paint the specific markings for the affiliations, although I will use the F4 kit decals for most of the placards.  I just might try printing my own.

I've also been toying with conceptualizing the camo scheme.  I really like the yellow/tan look of desert camo, and I think it's appropriate for what I see Tauron's greater landscape to be like.  I expect the Ha'la'tha resistance, at least the part of it that has fighter planes and controls territory, would be out in the countryside, away from cities, and would want to blend in with the terrain.  We'll see, but I really do like the look.  I think it gives the planes a meaner look. 

So that's where I am so far.  more to come.