Opus flight wing update

I realized that I had not updated the progress on the fliers for the Opus flight wing. This is something I have been working on in the background through out spring and part of the summer.

Last time I mentioned that I had remade the wings of the fighter bomber so that they folded a bit better. I was very pleased with how this worked out, but I still thought that the wings were a bit skinny so I decided to add some leading edge flaps to give them some more area. I think they turned out ok, perhaps not as neat as they were in my head, but I guess that once I get some paint on them they will look ok.

Once the wings were sorted I added two hard points on each side for the weapons (these can be removed and switched out for other loadouts). The kits that I use for these builds does not come with any separate missiles so I decided to use the missile pods instead. In the kit there are almost parts for two types of pods so I built the missing parts so that I can have two sets, one for the fighter bomber and one for the close air support ship. The pods still need some work, as I am thinking on adding some extensions at the back to represent some longer missiles in the pods.

Once the fighter bomber was sorted I started with the close air support. This was supposed to be the closest to the original model and I thought it would be a quick build, but the folding wings once again took way more time than I thought. These also got two hard points on each wing to carry missile pods or other weapons (I am working on some twin linked assault cannons to go on the outer points). I also decided to add some skinnier versions of the heavy bolter to the side mounts were the original pods sit. I also need to fix the shin mounted assault cannon. I was going back and forth on if this should be twin linked or not. In the end I think the profile looks better with a singel gun (not in these pictures, so I will have to get back on that).

Basically the build of all the fighters for Opus are now done. I need to clean them up, make sure all wings are symmetric etc and add some details. Then I can start to paint, and that will be interesting as I need to switch to air brushing (as I am not brush painting 14 aircrafts +4 landspeeders) which is something I have not really done before. Perhaps getting some paint on these will motivate me to finish of the Opus build itself so that also can go to paint.