Project Thundering Lightning: bodywork

I am back at the bench, briefly, after getting some fresh air. More fresh air is on the way but meanwhile a fair bit of putty and primer has led to quite a sleek body for the ThunderPig. I've also carved up the chassis, mainly by removing the transmission tunnel, so the engine sits where it should.





I am debating putting some form of bulge over the engine, or leaving it as is to display the engine. A bulge, of course, can lead to a tail fin like a D-Type... with lots of room for rocket-shaped tail lamps, not to mention flaps and other aerodynamic accessories. A bit of a rummage through the box full of wrecked kits might be in order to see what I might have cut up in the past. There is also a hobby shop not far away that has a little corner full of somewhat battered second-hand aviation and military kits where interesting bits might be had cheap. The smaller scales like 1/72 probably won't work, but I could see the upper cockpit and tail from a Spitfire in 1/48 might be a good starting place.





I really like the canopy, which was, in a previous life, a plastic spoon. There are lots of plastic packaging items around which could surely serve to make interesting shapes.



The interior is pretty well done, as shown in this earlier picture. The instrument panel will be attached to the underside of the 'hood'; I'll cut up the console from the T-bird kit to provide a shifter and other controls to the right of the seat. I haven't decided whether to hinge the entire hood, or just the canopy, for access.



Next I'll focus on the chassis and getting the stance and wheels right. I've located an orphan Corvette rear end which will get cut in half and inserted into either side of the Freightliner gearbox, which I will then pretend is some form of mutant Hewland unit capable of handling 1500 hp. The little leaf spring would get twisted into a pretzel in real life, but let's just say this is a design concept and there remain a few minor engineering issues to sort out ... Stay tuned!

PS I am now posting things like this on Facebook, in one of several groups, but I will continue posting longer blog posts here documenting techniques and so on; on the other hand, while the statistics show regular and consistent levels of readership here, I have had almost no comments. This is the opposite of Facebook, where the feedback is usually pretty quick and complimentary. So I hope you are all enjoying this!