Was up till 3... caught up in an idea. PNG pages to print out and color before painting. The first bird I started on last night was of course the Guinea.
2.) Having flown in the real Sherpa/Skyvan... docile like the way I see the Guinea fly is about right. She's not a aerobatic plane, but with skill you can do some wild maneuvers when your in a spot.
3.) Thought reading your post. How about from the nose gear forward/tip, carve as one piece, back with the board the motor mounts are made of and glue in braces to hold the wire? With a slight 3/16th edge cut around it, should be easy to glue to rest of nose material. On the real Sherpa that section if you look at the pic again swings up for nose gear and cockpit equipment maintenance.
If you want when your done with the Sherpa/Skyvan plans, adding the distance bar, I'll try and knock out a 4 page "Coloring Book" of the bird as well. The only line drawn views I've found are a touch to detailed to print/hand draw/computer ink. And they are only of the top/starboard side/front. I hope people will print mine out and also use them to mock up mods with.
Here is the first to pages of my "FT Guinea Pig Coloring Book." The outline is done in a light grey and I hope will print well. There are four in total for this one, but had to stop and try to sleep. LOL.