Been longer than I realized, but finally got a little work done.
Lots of putty to get everything smoothed in and a coat of primer.
Let that dry (couple of weeks before I got back to it) and then added a couple of coats of red.
But discovered a small little problem with the paint. Looks like the primer and paint didn't play well together.
Just finished smoothing that out, and now in clear.
So a little polishing when hard, then decals, and on to the rest of the kit.
Got some of the chassis started, and the interior is at least base colored for now.