Time to bring things up to date.
The engines have been painted, assembled, and fitted into the cowlings, which were then fitted to the nacelles. The carb intakes from the kit were improved slightly, and fitted in place, as were the oil coolers, the latter having their front and rear faces drilled-out.
After a delay due to domestic things, and a visit from my youngest daughter, I eventually managed to spray the model overall in a dark grey primer, and check the joints around the resin nose, tail cone and the upper turret plug, which, although not perfect, are good enough to pass, given the ever-tightening schedule I need to keep to.
I experienced some problems when spraying, as the pressure kept falling, allowing around three to four seconds spraying only, although the compressor was still delivering air to the brush - just not enough to spray the paint !
I'm not sure at this stage, if this is a compressor fault, or the thinning ratio of the paint. When spraying neat thinners, everything works as it should, so it's possible that the paint, although thinned to my normal ratio, may have needed more thinners - Revell No.79 Ocean Grey enamel was used, a paint I haven't used before. Although marked as enamel, this paint, which was fairly 'heavy', had a distinct smell of cellulose.
When the primer has fully dried and cured, I'll do a 'trial run' with the silver finish, using Model Master 'Aluminium Plate', which I'll thin more than usual, and see if it sprays without the pressure loss.
If it doesn't, then it will be time to replace the compressor, and put this model 'on hold' until it arrives.
Meanwhile, the first of the Meteor kits can be inspected and prepared for building.
Pics below show how the model looks so far - some areas have yet to have a light rub down with 1200 grit wet and dry.