Bashing for looks is lots of fun

When you cut off the cheek cowls... pin the firewall in by drilling 1/16 dia holes appx 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep frm the side into the firewall then epoxy round toothpicks in the holes. (break off the point before inserting the toothpick)

Tacking on shaped wingtips and reshaping the tailplanes maks the thing look very nice. When shaping the tailplanes... add on a little to make up for what you are cutting off.

triming the plastic canopy so it sits a little lower makes the plane look sleeker. Cutting a 28 oz or 2 liter soda bottle you can make a longer canopy for a bit more fuselage side area... which gives better knife-edge performance. (lemon-lime sodas come in green bottles... nice looking tinted canopies )

Also... the choice of colors and the pattern of application can make or break the appearance of the model. Scan the 3-views from the instruction book into the computer and play with it in a graphics program. (edit the 3-vies to match your changes to the model)