Brendon Laureau
Thank you everyone for your compliments, it's much appreciated.

James C
That is an awesome way to display the model
Do you hang them on the wall like a picture?

Brendon Laureau
Urban Gardini I had considered adding an SMD but this would have the wiring visible through the afterburner flame, so therefore did not go for that option.
Regarding your question of the pitfalls or problems with the kit: this is the old ESCI kit & the newer italeri kit has been updated in detail. In particular the extra ejection seat, the added insert of the exhaust nozzle with afterburner details, refueling probe & some extra stores. Another noticeable difference is the panel line details on the ventral & dorsal sides of the fuselage are a lot more defined on the italeri kit. The quality of the plastic is way better than the brittle stuff that ESCI used back in those days.
No major fit problems, just lots of test fitting the fuselage halves & wings & work slowly when applying glue - you shouldn't have any major issues.

Brendon Laureau
Thank you for your compliment James C. Yes this is mounted into a picture frame. I removed the glass that came with the frame & used it as a template to cut a piece of clear acetate/Perspex. After determining where the flame/tube will be, I drilled out the hole using a hole-drillbit & sanded the edges smooth. I then light sanded both sides with 600 wet sandpaper & wiped clean with IPA - this gives a slightly hazy / blurry look that you sometimes see in aerial photos. Paste your desired image facedown using PVA glue around the outer edges & a little around the circular opening. Stretch the page out by forcefully pressing your hands from the inside to outside edges to minimize folds or creases of the image & places a good stack of books on top to dry for at least 12 hours. Once dry flip it over to the side that will be displayed & cut out the opening using a sharp cutting tool. I then airbrushed black around the edges where the frame meets the Perspex to blend the frame with the background image.
The rest is a matter of inserting the flame & attaching the aircraft to that. Warning do this in stages so as to give the glue or in my case epoxy enough time to set & cure so as to minimize movement & stresses of weight of the aircraft.

Urban Gardini
Thanks mate for the info!

Neuling
Very cool presentation!

Jos Jansen
Very great idea to display the model like this... !

Brendon Laureau
Thank you Neuling & Jos Jansen for your kind words.

Mark Medwell
Hey Brendon, cool aircraft... interested to see how this italeri kit goes together...

Treehugger
Nice camo. I like the non-festive ones, and more the useful patterns. Btw, you can always mix two shades of panel wash colors to try find one that is neither too dark, nor too light.

Brendon Laureau
Thank you Treehugger & regarding your suggestion regarding mixing different shades for Panelline wash - with this kit I've used the Tamika Dark Grey Panelline Accent for the entire aircraft. When that was dry I then added Dark Brown Panelline Accent over the dark grey diamond area's.