bmerigan

I have put together a list of what I ordered from the Lego shops for you, as well as the prices for all the parts they carry. http://merigan.tk/lego/lego-parts.htm You can see what I ordered. You may end up with a slightly different list depending on availability via Bricklink at the time you want to order. I also added extra to Pick-a-Brick to get the total above $150 for free shipping.

I used plastic modelling paint; Humbrol #196 satin enamel. It comes out very close. I painted small black levers rather than buying the grey. Took forever, 2 coats of paint then cleanup so they still hinge nicely. Stickers are great. My printer doesn't have a transparency / sticker setting so was having lots of trouble getting it to print on the sticker sheet during testing without becoming blotchy. Luckily the radar pattern is a fairly light grey so doesn't need much ink, so it didn't blotch anyway. I printed the other cockpit images on normal photo paper and glued it on the bricks. Large version: http://merigan.tk/lego/images/stickers.jpg

For those following this thread, here's a pic of the stickers I made. Very happy with how they turned out. Printed the radar dish pattern on inkjet sticker paper ($10 ebay.com.au). I could not find a paper type setting in my printer (Canon MP610) that worked properly for the shiny sticker paper in testing, but because the color of the grey pattern is quite light the ink didn't blotch. Lucky. The control panels were printed on photo paper and carefully cut out and stuck on the bricks with craft glue. It was REALLY hard to stick the sticker on the dish because of the concave shape.

Your engine mod rocks! I've assembled the long 'chain' of bricks and it doesn't feel flexible enough to follow the engine's curve but we'll see once I've got something to attach it to. The only bit I wasn't sure about was how to join it onto the model. Came up with my own idea, then worked out yours (part # 41532). Will see which works best when the time comes. Again, congrats on making such a stand-out improvement to the model. Ahh that inkjet paper looks good. Not sure about the price though. I went to Officeworks here but they didn't have anything like it. Am going to call a sticker printing business nearby but I'm not sure they will print just 1.

I have just finished my parts ordering for a UCS 10179. 21 Bricklink orders, 1 Lego pick a brick order, 1 Lego bricks and pieces order. Total parts cost $917, postage $170. I live in Victoria, Australia. I found shipping from UK is barely any more expensive than Aus. Shipping from USA was a bit pricey. You can read about my part substitutions, etc., here: http://merigan.tk/lego/blog.php Last delivery should arrive tomorrow YAY! One thing I did to find the cheapest price was use Brickficiency. After the first run I removed all parts which were available in less than 80 stores. That then gave me 3 stores where I could order 3/4 of the parts. I have drawn the radar dish sticker in Adobe Illustrator but am not sure where to get it printed yet, since the aim is to be printed on a clear sticker.