Starbug Model and CG Starbug - WIP

OK for those who know and associate the name 'Starbug' with the UK TV series Red Dwarf then this isn't that ship. :)
I built this model from kit parts and junk around 10 years ago, the main body of the ship is the engine from the 1/24 Scale Airfix AV-8A Harrier Jump Jet. Seen as the grey part in the pic where I'm constructing the model this part is also used on the underside of the AT-AT's in The Empire Strikes Back and on the back of the Jawa's Sandcrawler in Star Wars, sorry that's the geek coming out in me, some people spot trains I spot kit parts ! :) The 2 sides pods are exactly what they look like, Ping Pong balls, now when I was a kid they used to have a visible seam around the middle, these days they're totally smooth and the seam appears to be on the inside if you hold them up to the light, this makes them better for modeling with as you don't have to cover the join. Detailing was done with styrene card and kit parts and the cockpit/eyes were done with 2 EMA Plastruct domes. Once I'd stuck the domes on I thought this had an insect feel to it so I decided 'Starbug' would be a good name, the fact I also painted this green which is the colour of Starbug in Red Dwarf was purely a coincidence. For anybody who hasn't seen Red Dwarf then a piccy of their 'Starbug', which is a great design and miniature can be seen here. http://tinyurl.com/3azwsd
The only part of the model I didn't really like after I'd finished it were the engines on the back of the ping pong balls, they came from the Airfix Saturn V Rocket kit. I had a picture of this ship published in the UK magazine Sci-Fi and Fantasy Models International in the late 90's.

So here we are in 2007 and I was looking through my old art folder and happened across the pics I'd taken of the model and thought I'd have a go at building a CG version, I say version as I'll be making changes to the ship, mainly trying to rectify that engine problem. The other thing I've been able to do is give the Cockpit/Cockpits a compound eye look which I never really attempted on my original model. This is all I've done up to now, texturing as I go. Any suggestions for the engines would be appreciated as I'd be quite happy to dump the whole ball and engine if there's a better solution.

For fans of the Red Dwarf 'Starbug' take a look here at David Sisson's site, a guy who does amazing scratchbuilt models of the Gerry Anderson models and other stuff. When I say miniatures he builds them at more a Studio Scale size so these aren't just things like look like Airfix kits. http://tinyurl.com/3coqep