Stormbird scratchbuild - progress update

I haven't made too much noticeable progress but have completed a couple tedious tasks that were outstanding.

The engine nozzles we're foremost in the list tedious items to build. Again, taking lessons Blackadder's Thunderhawk scratchbuild, I started with some generic Target brand mouthwash caps. After a little sanding I measured the cap into three segments and made a guide mark every third ridge of the cap. Then about a weeks' work of meticulous cutting and gluing of 1mm by 1mm styrene bar, first in half inch pieces down the length of the cap followed bending and wrapping with the same size styrene around the cap at the base of these half inch pieces. Yeah it was as tedious as it sounds.

I also added a cone to the inside of of the completed nozzle, just in case anyone looks in there. Eventually there will be some LED effects so this may be seen at that stage.

Finally, I was able to get the pivoting arm for the front landing gear built and integrated into the gear housing. There will need to be an arm that runs the length of the vehicle and ties into the rear gear so I can control it with one mechanical operation. Bearing in mind that this finicky piece may have problems down the road I decided to make it removable via screws. I built some recessed screw holes for the outside of the gear housing and wrapped the nuts with styrene so they could be glued in place with plastic glue on the inside of the Stormbird. 

Not a lot to looks at but this stuff sure took a long time to get together. The next tedious task is to build the rear landing gear which will be a lot harder since I need to make the same components twice and keep things as exact as possible. Hopefully I'll have that and the final engines build before the new year.