Since I drew up the 3d model for an interceptor nose cone, I let my imagination run with how a family of such rockets could grow. Of course, a pursuit/interceptor plane shouldn't stand alone. I went with an attack aircraft.

This is my rendition of a Thunderbolt.

These are the parts I made and gathered. The nose cones for the pods are readily available Estes cones.

The body was originally going to be 14 1/8" long for a shorter, squatter look. But, after I simmed it, and included how heavy the back end would be, I decided to go to an 18" body. I had already cut the body, so I added another section, and fashioned a coupler to join them. Eventually that joint would be under a decal, so no problem. But, that coupler got in the way of a baffle, so no baffle in this one.

Another photo shows the assembly of the Thunderbolt engines. They are distinctly separate from the model's motor mount. The Thunderbolt engines are tucked between the stabilizers and the wings. The motor mount is hidden in the back of the rocket, ostensibly cooled by the Interceptor's engine fins.

You can see the completed motor mount, Thunderbolt engines, and wing pods. (I mean, an Interceptor-class rocket needs wingtop pods in most cases.)

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Skipping past all of the building stuff, here's how it looks put together.

I traded the horizontal stabilizer with tip-mounted vertical stabilizers of a real Thunderbolt with the V stabilizer of an Interceptor.

The Thunderbolt engines were futurized, at least as well as I can see the future, and tucked them between the stabilizers and wings.

Since this is an attack rocket, I stuck forward firing plasma cannons on the leading edge of the wings. Those four on the front of the Interceptor nose cone are still there, because, geez, a Thunderbolt needs big cannons up its nose.

I went with forward hanging pods, instead of the trailing pods of the Interceptor, because I think it looks like speed this way.

No pokey things on the vertical stabilizers, just cuz, and of course the skids on the bottom.

And, of course, those cooling fins (or whatever they are) surrounding the motor mount.

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Slick. I love what you did with the guns in the wings.

How nice it must be to have a laser cutter.

Yeah, laser cutters are a nice tool to have. I think it might be why I don't have XActo knives any more. I just use a laser and Stanley knives.

After priming the rocket with the gray build-up primer, I hit it with the red filler goop. The nose, being 3D printed, got its own special coat of goop.

After that dried, I sanded it down and gave another coat of build up primer, and sanded it down too. Now, its pretty darn smooth, and ready for paint.

I went with an automotive metallic silver - one of the DupliColor spray cans. Two light and one heavy coat. Then , I put the clearcoat on before the decals. As I've mentioned before, on other rockets I had problems where the clearcoat changed the sheen of the metallic siliver, and the differences were visible under the decals. I clear before and after the decals with this silver.

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I did most of the highlighting paints with brush paint. I used acrylic with a brand new 3/8" wide soft artists brush. Light coats to keep the brush marks from showing.

After the decals (photos omitted) I applied the floor polish and hung it to dry like a carcass.

However, in the finished photos you can see the decals. I drew them up to be mostly in the grayish part of the spectrum, so they blended with the silverish background of the paint.

I was not sure that I'd paint the guns well enough, so I painted them and didn't care about painting a bit outside the lines. Instead, I made up some decals that surrounded the guns and covered any over paint. I think I'm pretty happy with the results. I got a visual highlight for the gun emplacements, and hid any painting blemishes.

Oh yeah, and a side photo with the Interceptor.

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Beautiful, really nice riff on the original Interceptor!