Thanks my friend @uscusn!

Indeed the shallow intake is a major drawback of many older mold Falcon models (yes, even 1/48s, not as shallow as here, but, still, evident...Yes, flat black will the rear wall be painted, attempting to somehow provide a sense of more depth.

Here is the "intermediate tone" gray applied, at the top front, a tad at the sides of the intake (as used to be the norm back in 1991, not sure if they do it nowadays, the intake color looks uniform...), the strakes' outer surface and fin. One more area should be done, the vertical sides aft of the wing, then onto the underside lightest gray (talk about braking the lighter towards darker modeling painting rules!)

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And here are the undersides and the wing tanks painted:

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Thanks my friend @luftwaffe-birdman! Yep, the tonal difference is minor, especially between the (let's call it) "intermediate" and the final lighter grays. Let's see how they will turn out!
Need to improvise regarding the stands...
The magazine's front cover advertised a kind of Top Chef TV series... 🙂

Beautiful paintwork, Spiros @fiveten
I agree with Walt @luftwaffe-birdman, the tonal difference is subtle but still noticeable. And after weathering it will come at perfectly.

After a coat of Future, decals started to be applied:

The decals present some off registration /off color problems (they are the older style Airfix/Heller type), but nothing really serious. They do adhere very well and snuggle onto the surface, though.
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Thanks my friend @johnb!
The decals are not excellent, but "better than expected", so all is good!

Looking nice Spiros @fiveten.
Nerves wracking process to get all these small stencils applied.

Looking good, Spiros! It’s nice to see an older kit built to a high standard.