Also, I'm not going to change the position of the Phalanx (Mod0), since they are in their natural zero-position now! Any change per, in my mind, an outmoded rule, when SB still was in its infancy, would render a very bizarre impression, as can be seen as evident on Colosseum's original - and that, it must be emphasized, is none of his fault, since he only followed the rules. As for these ships, I possess a huge collection of photos from various periods of their active service life, and in none have I ever seen the Phalanges be positioned as per this SB-rule.
My 5 cents in the soup cup, and this is only a modest, humble suggestion/petition from a simple member, is that this rule ought to revised as to permit the depiction of realistic positions as per actual installations.
Then push for this to be changed in a different thread, not in a drawing thread.
When it comes to the SPS-49, yes, I can see your point in your suggestion of the retention of the black lines; however, do remember, that IRL, this installations were always painted in the same light Haze Gray tone as the ship itself, not black as was usual on conventionally powered ships (including gas turbine-powered ones) - that's what I've tried to more accurately represent, since IRL, they would show up this way.
And now it looks blurred. I'll wait to see what others say, but I'm not convinced. At the very least you need to seriously tone the effect down.
As for the front of the SPS-48, I've pent hours with it, and, I think, with all due respect, I managed to come very close to its actual appearance.
Yeah well I don't think you have. Every images I have seen shows a much darker front than what you have shown.