I wish I could of put in some 6 oz tanks, but because of the retracts, there's absolutely no way of cutting out N2.a (renamed after I put in a second former which I baptised N2.b
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For the nose, I went the other way from FallDown, I kept the plastic nose cone, but I placed a big block of balsa over the front of the fuselage (the instrument console) and shaped that to shape. I simply hate planking. Using the dremel, It was easy to then hollow out that big balsa block and there you go, a perfectly shaped 'deck' and instrument console. Incidentally, that's the same way I did on the wing just behind the cockpit, a block of balsa sanded to the correct shape.
I really doubt the muffler cutouts will cause any problems with strength. The leading edge "spar" was only cut done by half it's thickness, and in any case, I added shear webs all down the main spar. Plus, the cut outs are filled with lightwight spackle and reinforced with a layer of epoxy. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not actually stronger