Okay, I've been working on Monogram's 1/72nd scale Shuttle off and on for about four years. The reason for the long stretch is I'm replicating the tile pattern by using plastic strips of 0.010 X 0.080" Plasti-Strut cut into tiny tile shapes. There are 10 strips per pack; one strip will yield 126 plastic tiles; I've used 10 packages of strips. I tend to burn out quite often so I put everything away for a few months until I feel up to the task again.
Obviously, with the loss of Columbia, my desire to complete my shuttle has been re-kindled. The only tiles that have have left to lay are around the main engine bases. Afterwhich I turn my attention to the Nomex blanket material. Since the real vehicle carries different weights of material, I'll be using different methods to recreate the same look and feel (tissue paper, embossed paper napkins, etc). Then I'll finish-up the exterior by attaching the carbon-carbon leading edges and nose piece.
I have the RealSpace resin cargo bay set. What a beauty! Too bad that I filled in the model's flight deck windows will plastic card and cut open new windows of the proper size and shape. The RealSpace set includes photo-etched windows to wrap around the cockpit. All the thruster locations have been drilled out and backed-up with plastic tubes.
The Main engines are completed. I cut away the molded on plumbing and added new pipes with copper wire and solder. I feel that these look better than the RealSpace resin engines and they're cheaper as well. Last night I finished adding the para-brake housing under the vertical tail.
My goal is to model Shuttle Endeavor during the first Hubble repair mission. Plans are to scratch-built the Hubble as the Skilcraft kit is slightly larger than 1/72nd scale and won't fit in the cargo bay. RealSpace is talking about making a set of Hubble repair accessories for the cargo bay. If this happens soon, that'll be great. But I'm prepared to scratch-build these too as I don't expect RealSpace to have these out anytime soon (I'm still waiting for their CSM which is six months late).
Anyways, I'm curious as to what anyone else is doing to their big scale Shuttles. I feel as though I'm building Endeavor in a vacuum as nobody else that I know is working on a Shuttle in 1/72nd scale. I've got some current photos of my Shuttle sitting in the camera. As soon as I shoot off the rest of the roll, I'll post and share my work with all of you.
Best regards and let me know what about your Shuttles.