Thanks very much chaps, it's appreciated. And thanks for the warning re the paint bottles, Andy and Evan.
I might actually divide the 'new' paint stock between Xtracolour (which really are excellent) and MM. The Xtracolour 'service' paints (i.e., RAF, USAAF, Luftwadffe colours etc) are in tins, like Humbrol, and are gloss, eliminating the need for a gloss coat, although this means a matt clear coat needs to be applied before some types of weathering can be done effectively. The 'non specialised', general paints, can be from MM, with maybe the odd bottle of matt military paint for high use colours.
I got an e-mail from Mike this morning, have sent him the pic showing the first decals in place, and I think he's pleased!
A slight confusion has arisen, although nothing serious. Mike found evidence to reveal that only a total of 11 'Ops' had been flown by LK789, rather than the final Op being the 12th. I therefore applied only 10 bomb symbols on the nose. But in this mornings message, it was revealed there had been an error, and there actually had been 12 Ops after all, the final one being when the aircraft was shot down.(Obviously, the mission symbol for this final sortie would not have been painted on the nose).
I'm just waiting to hear from Mike whether he would like me to change the bomb log, or leave it as it is. Meanwhile, I'm about to continue with the remainder of the decals, and have made the decasl of the decal serial numbers (if that makes sense?!), and hope to also get the matt clear coat sprayed tonight, then start some detail work on the exhausts, landing gear and wheels etc.
Thanks again for your continued interest and kind words, and I'll post another up-date very soon.