The above is where I made the cut to drop the nose. My original intention was to make a WIP out of this but that got tossed quickly.
Fast forward 4 months I finally decided to dig the kit out and work on it here and there. I wanted to finish it in the Hawaii Air National Guard markings since I see the raptors flying over my house every day. The only problem is that the markings for that air wing is next to near impossible to find, so I made my own.
the paint is a mix as follows for the "raptor Sheen" 3 parts MM steel non buffing to 1 part MM black graphite. the Darker grey is 3 parts MM black graphite to 1 part MM steel. These were thinned to be airbrushed on. the final dullcote was tinted with a drop of dark gull grey to give the kit a little color and depth. Overall I am happy with the result.
I will definately build another raptor in the future, just not the italeri one 
