Thank's Rhaven, to be honest it is the feed back I have been getting from this group that has given me the courage to take the extra steps to make this model stand out. Before I joined this group I hadn't even thought about a model in 12 years. It's a steep relearning curve to get these skills back. Just the little scratch built pilot I made is something that 15 years ago I would have been scared to attempt. You can see in my post above how I messed up the baffles in the engine bells, but even messed up they look better than the stock ones.
More updates to come as the build moves onward.
I would have to either buy another kit, or scratch build a whole pod to have both.I would build both so that you can change them out for a diorama.
The regular transport pod also has the "easiest" paint job, masking those red stripes on the pod sides would be a challenge. Everything I've done with this build has pushed my modeling skill set, I am leaning toward the rescue pod just because the paint scheme will be a challenge that I don't know if I'm up to.As for which pod to make, I would go for the transport pod. It was the most commonly used through out the show.