Thanks for links and pictures, Ruben! I had already looked at your great model a while ago in prep for my attempt. We had the same issues with the engine mounting to the wrong spot and leaving a huge gap! I wish I'd have seen your post before I messed that up!
Today I got the prop and hub done. For the main prop, I sanded it down to remove the paper ridges and this left a pleasing, natural "white" color of the paper between the laminations. I then airbrushed a bit of Tamyia "clear orange" over the blades to knock-back the stark white and I think it looks ok! Much better than I thought. Last night I was ready to ditch the whole thing.
Trouble was, the hub is way too skinny and looks kind of lame. So I cut off the blades and used a chunk of Prisma Color Pencil for my new, thicker hub. It's an almost perfect diameter! Lucked out, there. The blades were then glued and blended in and looked ok.
Finally, the prop retainer needed to be re-done. I used a paper punch of the right size to cut it out and added eight little holes with a tiny drill. The whole thing was "painted" with a silver Sharpie and attached to the hub. I then put a small piece of pulled plastic sprue in the middle to approximate the main prop shaft area.
Then I cheated on my radiator cap...I had an old WNW sprue and cut a piece from one of the wing-mounted air speed indicators and it adds some interest to the paper cylinder radiator tube.
Overall, going quite well. Ok...wings tomorrow...I promise.
Dan