Well thats what I had to start with out of the box, the mission now begins

It's a neat kit and easy to build.  Here's mine, I think this is Mk 1:

Holden: that is the better quality kit. The original kit from '79 didn't have a transparent canopy. No pilot, no cockpit, no nothing. The canopy was a solid piece of opaque plastic that the instructions told you to paint the 'glass' portions gloss black. I'm glad Monogram reworked the kit.

Though I really wish they had included landing gear but hey we can't get everything right???

Awesome work, can I ask how you got the lighting set up in the engines?

Nice clean build but I have to ask, why is the pilot painted blue?

Should be brown jacket with tan uniform.

Not sure what he used but CulTVMan sells lighting kits for the Viper.

I bought the after market lighting kit from http://www.culttvmanshop.com/

Not sure if they are still available, though.

Pilot with some detail and mocked up to put arms right, plus a bit of cockpit detail has begun

Pilots body is finished ready for when the cockpit complete

His head to come when my Diabetes lets my eyes work again...

There have been 3 releases of the original Viper (I refuse to use the Mk1 nomenclature), 1979 which had a shooting missile out the nose, a reissue in the late 90's (99 I think) which removed the missile but essentially the same as the 79 release and the latest release which retooled some of the parts. They should have retooled the intakes as well as the ridge should not be there.  The cockpit is ok but not accurate to the full size film mock up.  Here is my Viper on a Launchrail.  The kit is one of the 90's re-release with a serious number of add-ons:  MMI Cockpit, MMI Pilot, prototype resin headless helmet, intakes, wings, fin & exhaust cans (all from MMI).  The Launchrail is also a MMI product.

Gamera

Holden: that is the better quality kit. The original kit from '79 didn't have a transparent canopy. No pilot, no cockpit, no nothing. The canopy was a solid piece of opaque plastic that the instructions told you to paint the 'glass' portions gloss black. I'm glad Monogram reworked the kit.

Though I really wish they had included landing gear but hey we can't get everything right???

I totally agree.

The re-issue appears to have included the once after market cockpit, pilot and canopy.

I also agree that its unfortunate that with all they added, they couldn't include landing gear.  Maybe it was a matter of not wanting to re-do the fighter's hull to make recessed holes and doors.

Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.

Also thanks for the pics, some awesome work there which has helped me work out some detail ideas.

I have been out of action with illness for a few months and hope to get back to models real soon.

Holden: Great looking pilot! Hope you feel better - I'm looking forward to seeing you building the Viper herself.

TimeScape: Great looking model! I've seen the launch rail and some of the cool stuff on other sites but have always been too cheap to pick any up other than a resin female pilot that someday will be painted up as Lt. Sheba.

Gamera,  Thanks for the compliment.

I noted a comment about aftermarket cockpits.  There were two companies that produced a cockpit for the Monogram.  The first was by MMI and was based upon the life size film mock-up.  It included an accurately shaped cockpit tub that fit well inside the fuselage and had a locator pin/plug that fit into the hole for the "firing pin" of the launchable missile in the 79 release.  The hole was not filled in in the 90's release but was in the 07 release.  The MMI cockpit included PE for the instrument panels and at one time the canopy.  Later releases replaced the PE canopy with a vacuum form canopy and later a clear resin canopy.  Also included was a grill panel for the nose intake.  The MMI cockpit required cutting out the cockpit opening and replacing with a cut out on plastic stock, template provided.  This was required to fit the accurately shaped canopy.   Besides the template for the canopy cut out, there was a second template for the prominent (at least on the full-size mock up) raised panel that ran from behind the nose intake to just in front of the canopy.  The instructions also included accurate painting references for the cockpit as well as the entire model.

MMI also produced a line of pilots male and female, seated and standing.  Each pilot figure included 3 unhelmeted heads and one helmeted head.  It also had about 6 different arms (3 right, 3 left) for different poses, separate sidearms, left & right holsetered & unholstered, data pads, pens.  A PE fret included jacket closures, belt buckles & shoulder patches. 

Other retail MMI offerings included dual-seat cockpit, landing gear, launch rail, corrected intakes and a Scarlet Viper conversion.  My model above includes a few of their prototype products, wings/fin, exhaust and the prototype intake.  MMI still offers their products, either through internet stores such as CultmanTV, SSM Store or Federation Models.  Of course these stores carry products that are popular which for the Viper is sporadic at times.  Thus, you can always drop John a line johnfleming@coldnorth.com

The other aftermarket cockpit from what I understand, was made to fit the fuselage as is, did not correct the canopy shape and the pilot was legless.

I just got their cockpit kit through Starship Modelers, they seem to be out of stock again.

The canopy is now resin frame with a sheet of clear plastic that you cut the panes our of to fit into the frame.

E...

TimeScape thanks for the run-down on the different kits and aftermarket parts.

My female warrior kit must be the MMI figure. Nice figure though I wish they'd molded her to look more like Anne Lockhart since I'm assuming the figure would be painted by most modelers as Sheba. And they list painting instructions also for Athena, Serena, and Cassiopia even though Cassie never flew a Viper!?!

The cockpit on the '07 version is close enough for me but I'd still like the landing gear. I've ordered Trek stuff from several of the guys you've listed but they haven't had the gear in stock for some time,