PAINT SHOP UPDATE
After spraying on Mr. Surfacer Primer I shot the Wyvern with two light coats of Vallejo Model Air UK Sky S acrylic but forgot to take any photos. In this next one the plane is masked off and ready for the second color, Extra Dark Sea Grey:

Which looks like this when painted with Tamiya XF-24 Dark Grey:

Then came the scary part - pulling off the tape. I used three different kinds - and hoping none of the paint came along with it. Success! Only in a few minor areas is there a problem. I must have not sanded that area thoroughly when I prepped it. E-Z to fix. Here you go:



Now it's time to touch up the area around the exhaust fairing and rescribe and detail the rest of the Wyvern before going back to the paint dept for a coat of Future.

Now that I look back at using Mr. Surfacer Primer 1000 for the first time here, I think next time I will thin it a tad more and give it a light sanding after it has cured. My go to primer has always been Alclad II because of it's ultra smooth finish but I have had a fair amount of trouble lately with paint pulling up.
Mr. Surfacer Primer seems bulletproof to me and I will certainly use it again.

Thanks Spiros and Erik for stopping by.

Looks very nice

Great work. If I might suggest for future FAA projects in this scheme, it's a lot easier to paint the upper surface color first and mask it, then shoot the Sky color. Yes, that violates the "lighter to darker rule," but it works and also doesn't require so much tape.

I like it! Need to build my 1/72 kit soon...

Awesome! The FAA colours fit this beast perfectly. Having built the Trumpeter 1/48 Wyvern, I find this build very refreshing indeed. Can't wait for the final reveal.

@eb801 - don't proceed further with the decals! I have the leftover Trumpeter sheet, which has the "Royal Navy" the right size, and also some interesting non-Suez squadron markings. PM me with your address.

Thanks for the offer, George, but Tom found those Trumpeter leftovers that will work great. I was just about to create and print my own when he emailed me.

In the meantime I'll be painting the anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen, polishing up the rear canopy and figuring out how to correct the angle of the landing gear. I bet TC has a trick up his sleeve how to go about this.
Here's where I am now:

Should the problem arise again the fond for the letters can be sourced online and printed on either laser or ink, but good stuff that the correct size has been sourced. I suppose you have the fond, printer and sheets to make some yourself for future purposes as I recall some homemade decals in another of your builds Eric. It does indeed look great with the color and decals advancing!