Hi all,
Little update.
Now have got cockpit inset trimmed and sanded to shape and reduced the gaps significantly. The Instrument panel assembled, and a brace fitted to support it as the attachment points are quite small. The nose has been filled with a mix of Plasticene, some lead .22 pellets, and some aquarium lead sheet under the cockpit. I checked that there is enough by doing the fingertip balance, by balancing the fuselage between the fingertips in line where the main wheels will be. In my case there is plenty, no tail sitting with this one.
The wheels, legs and cockpit parts all cleaned up, and then given some primer. Whilst primer out, the intakes got a blast, and generally all is good, just a faint seam to rectify during final assembly.
The jet pipe installed and primed. Some pictures follow:-
Thanks for looking Kevin.

I spoke to soon. Unlike Kevin my next attempt at thinning using the Humbrol acrylics ended in failure and meant an hour or so of cleaning the airbrush at a later date!!!!! So it was back to the hairy stick. Firstly RLM 73 was applied and once dry this was masked ready for the RLM 72 which is the darker of the two greens. Has anyone else noticed that at times side and plan profiles for the painting guides don't match up? This caused a bit of frustration in the area of the middle engine. Once dry the masking was removed and because I'd used the hairy stick there were some ridges to be removed using one of Tracy's old nail buffers. Some touching up of the paintwork is needed in places before I can varnish ready for decalling.

Thanks chaps,
Back to it with this one.
Now painted the airframe. The upper surfaces were painted first, using Tamiya Light Ghost Grey from a rattle can. This sprays very nicely if you give lights coats until an even finish is obtained. When fully dry, the uppers were masked off and a couple coats of Intermediate Blue were sprayed on. I mixed my own shade using Tamiya Middle Blue, White, and some Tamiya Clear. My mix was roughly 30% blue, 60% White, 10% Clear thinned appropriately using Mr Hobby Levelling Thinners. Because of the Clear being added to the paint mix, I ended up with a smooth semi gloss finish.
The undercarriage bays were masked and given a blast of Tamiya White.
When I painted the airframe I painted the main undercarriage legs the same under surface colour, only to find an unnoticed seam line running the length of each leg. This was filled and sanded and will need repainting before final assembly.
Some pictures follow:-
Thanks for looking, back soon.
Kevin   

It?s coming along nicely.

Bob c

Yes, some nice painting there.