Thanks Norm, and thanks for all of your help with this project.
Here's progress so far:
The kit is assembled and primered, with the exception of the fenders and foot 'pads'. I want to paint the undercarriage before attaching the fenders, and the footpads will need to site under the rider's feet. Also the front fork assembly isn't attached yet.
Here's an overview -
primer is Vallejo German Panzer Grey
As for 'tweaking', here's what I've done;
Added a brass collar to the rear of the round intake, drilled out the rivet detail around the round intake and did my best to eliminate the seams on the body and rescribe the panel.
I hinged the rear flaps and added rivot detail to the top of the hinge (not pictured) using rivet s from a 1/35 tank wheel.
I opened all of the slots in the controls & adding a blank underneath - so you don't see right through, but there's a 'dust cover' like my car's shifter. This just adds depth to that detail, and a good place for dust to accumulate.
On the rear stowage area I added 4 plates, rivets again and paperclip U tie downs. There will be stowage and straps added later.
Finally, I replaced the throttle cable with guitar string, and replaced the handles with cable from a car's remote mirror. The ends of the handles are from guitar strings as well (the anchor on the end)
Not pictured are 4mm springs that will replace all the kit hoses. I also thinned the thickness of all 4 front steering vanes and replaced the kit's gun barrel with rod and tube.
Time for this to get a good night's cure. Base coat starts tomorrow....and then there's that figure to deal with ....