Giving this kit a chance since I've read so much good stuff about it. I started out by gluing all the flappy landing gear in place and filling those in. Pretty straight forward there.
The major mod I did was fix the angle of the bridge. As built, the bridge is parallel to the trench, it should be parallel to the superstructure. I removed the sliver in the picture below. This angles the bridge down just right.
Next, I opened this area up so the front of the neck could drop down a bit. Keep in mind that this brings the bridge a bit closer to the superstructure, but it still looks good.
Looks much better so far!
For this build, I'm only lighting the main engines. I'll keep the tedious fiber optic work for the larger Zvezda kit that's coming my way. So with that, I have the engines wired with 5mm white LEDs.
Stand is also mocked up. The wood base is just temporary for now. I still have to decide what to do with it.
All in all pretty happy with this kit. It's growing on me and will tide me over until the Big Z arrives!
As far as the paint goes, I'm thinking grey primer followed by Tamiya fine white primer. Maybe a dark grey wash to finish it off.
Engine lighting test. Ditched the included electronics and replaced with 5mm white LEDs. This is as far as I'll go on this. Saving the fiber optic work for the Big Z.
Here is how I did the engines.
For painting I'll just remove the clear insert.