Thanks John.
Some light panel line work has been completed, and the radome painted, along with some re-touching here and there, and I've got the majority of the decals on, with another 30+ stencils, and the under-wing serial numbers yet to do.
The 46 Squadron markings were made using red decal stripes from an 'Xtradecal' sheet, laid onto the (glossed) white-painted 'fighter bars', the serial numbers are individual letters and numbers, again from an 'Xtradecal' serials sheet, and the 'B' code letter on the fin was cut from the word 'Caribinieri', from an Italeri decal sheet !
The kit decals were used for the national markings and stencils, with the roundels having separate red centers - always a pain.
These were produced by 'Microscale', who have been 'Superscale' for many years now so, having had experience of older 'Microscale' decals breaking up, or sometimes dissolving into many fragments when immersed in water, the kit's decal sheets were given an aerosol- sprayed coat of artist's satin varnish before use.
Overall, they performed quite well, and I was quite surprised, and relieved, that the larger, one-piece 'walkway' stencil lines went on fairly easily, and without 'silvering' beneath the quite large clear areas - these are still settling in the pics, after giving them a fair dollop of Micro Sol, to ensure they bed down over the blisters on the inner wing panels.
One of the red centers for the wing roundels kept lifting on one edge, even an hour after applying it, but after a stern warning, and the addition of some Micro Sol, it behaved itself and settled into place !
The larger 'walkway' decal on the inner, starboard wing was damaged, with a small section of one of the black lines missing, and this will be repaired with a black stripe decal (from that Italeri sheet again) once they have settled and set properly. The slight 'fogging' visible in the pics, around the black lines, should disappear after a sealing gloss clear coat.
All being well, I hope to get the remaining decals on by the end of today (Wednesday), then let them fully bed down and set, before spraying the model overall with a semi- gloss clear coat.
Once that's done, the remaining parts can be fitted (I hope without problems, in the case of the undercart !), the canopy masks can be removed, and any areas needing it can be cleaned - up.
I've still got five usable days in which to get it finished, so, fingers crossed, I should make the deadline.
Thanks again to all for following the build so far, and for the positive comments - back later tonight. And now, to bed, as it's 03.50 hrs here !!