I love the external views on this ship however I can't get on with the forward view because the lower part of the screen is taken up by the ships hull, is there anyway of changing this? Perhaps maybe giving it a different hud too, maybe like the asp explorer?
You could go into the shipdata file and move the forward view coordinates yourself.
I like the Python ET myself and it's got the same kind of thing, I adapted to it pretty quickly and just accept it as part of the experience now. Kinda like looking out over the hood of a tractor trailer.
Is there anyway I can add a cargo scoop to this ship and modify it to take some cargo?
Yes -- buy a cargo scoop and a cargo extension!
I'd recommend that you don't mod the ship too much. Try to earn what you want in the game, rather than just editing the file. If you want a bigger cargo hold, then you want another ship.
Buy one? Its not an option, I cant for some reason, it doesn't come up on the purchase screen.. I just assumed because it had no cargo capacity that it could have a fuel scoop either. I only want it to fuel at the sun.
Not every ship can have every item of equipment fitted. The items the ship can have are specified in the shipyard file. You can change this, but it is cheating really!
OXPS : The Assassins Guild, Asteroid Storm, The Bank of the Black Monks, Random Hits, The Galactic Almanac, Renegade Pirates can be downloaded from the Elite Wiki here.
I dont want to cheat just like the look of the ship, and wanted a fuel scoop on it. I'm suprised it doesn't have such a basic component. I dont want to mess with it for fear of ruining the game.
Asps weren't built with cargo in mind, they were originally built for the Navy. They're the fastest non-mission ships in original Elite, and still pretty decent now. Rumor has it Zorgon Petterson Group were working on a model with similar specs, plus a little cargo space, but the project never made it past the prototype stage.