Finally, photographic evidence that I am indeed building a model for this group build.
Sorry for the blurry pic, but here's the fuselage. Almost ready to glue on the flight deck clear piece and lower wing section. After forcing the warped halves together, it didn't really require much filler.
Here are the CFM-56 engine pods and main gear trucks.
Here are the Yellowgate ESM wingtip pods. These were a pain in the rear. Even though the kit is an E-3D with the option to build an E-3F (French), the E-3F would be an easier build because Airfix requires you to cut 1/2 inch off the wingtips to mount the pods. Even worse, they really aren't accurate, as one reviewer noted, the wings should proceed straight to the pods, not sweep back as on the model. At least Airfix scored the inside of the wing to make cutting easier.
Here's the rotodome. Took twice as long to paint than I anticipated, mainly due to my having to touch up after getting white paint smudges on the black areas from handling too soon after painting.
One more of the tail section, similar scale F-104 added for relative size. Note the crack near the top of the vertical stabilizer. The panel broke here while trying to straighten out warpage. As a matter of fact, one outer wing panel is warped slightly up, the other slightly down. I'm afraid to try and fix it, though, given the brittleness of the plastic. I'm just going to live with it and hope that it won't be noticeable once the engine pods are glued on and the kit is complete. With the model's size, the wingtips will be pretty far apart.
Pressing onward with the wings next. Probably still several weeks away from being complete given my limited work time.
Cheers!