Okay first up, here are the results of my recovery effort. I applied 9 parts thinner to 1 part XF-71 as suggested, reduced the operating pressure of the airbrush to its lowest setting and applied that mixture to the floor pan after masking. I used a total of 0.18 mls of this mix.
There is some touching up here and there, but I think that looks reasonable enough.
A task not too far away is beginning to loom. How to deal with the IP itself. The IP panel is basically a flat panel, not surface detail, onto which I attach a clearglass piece at the top. ive dry fitted that piece in the following photo;
At least that's how I think it goes together. Lots of clean up to do and not a lot of detail either
now for the fun bit. I actually have two IP decal sheets to choose from, one is a partial set from what I believe are the original decals, the other is a Hasegawa product of higher quality, but the dial positions are not as accurate. Nevertheless I'm tending towards the Hasegawa choice.
I don't think scratch building or modification of the IP back board is advisable. I would have to pre-drill aand then recess these decal images. The tolerances to the edges of the IP aren't enough to safely do that, plus the images posted earlier in this build thread show th gauges to be a raised detail more often than a recessed one. I will have to think about this a bit more
Anyway here are the decals I have to choose from......
The kit supplied decals
The hasegawa alternative