This and that

Front landing gear

At long last I attached the second support bar into the front landing gear's structure. This time, instead of leaving the piece to cure on its own, I was smart and set the pieces in their final positions before using the glue. Of course the landing gear unit is not glued to the hull, just to make the painting process a bit easier and simpler for me. Perhaps I'll find out that I was totally and utterly mistaken once again. Perhaps my idea was an awesome one instead.

Cones

The engine exhaust nozzles were first painted with Vallejo's Oily Steel and only after that they were assembled. I chose this order to avoid those always enfuriating (and mercilessly revealed by cameras) unpainted spots just on the edge of the area you can actually see. To try my new stuff out I applied a coat of Vallejo's black wash and then wiped the excesses off, as instructed. These buggers will now just sit and wait until I'm done with the painting of the hull before they get to their proper places on the model.

Decoration

To finish up this session I attached the enormous pitot tube. Of course I had tried to clean the part up as well as I could, but still I was left with a feeling that even my own femur would be more elegant, should it find its way on the nose of a jet fighter. I guess one has to pay a price for not being a master of scratchbuilding.
After that I also dropped the odd transparent, lumpy item next to it, the thingie that's on the "neck" of the plane and the seagull-impaling device in front. The last one even seems to be properly straight and all, but despite my cleanup efforts it too looks a bit improper.

Is it the time for violence already?

I believe that my answer is finally going to be: yes. The weapons should be the next ones up, whenever I get to sit down with my model. At least I have to customize a set of racks for them, but I guess it's best that I do that only when I have the carriables ready for good measure.