Thanks for your kind words all!
Glenn - here's another shot of the basic floor and controls as they were when I left the bench, where the forward section of the floor actually looks silver (weird discoloration on my original pic):
Zac,
The method I use is to add a rough "block" of styrene to serve as an easy to use anchor point for the wires after they disappear from the visible area.
Thank you Lance, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of! Problem solved - as long as I can get the angle right, a I can be a stickler for detail when I feel like it!
For anyone wondering, I'm using both the WNW paint callouts and Jamo's detail photos of the TVAL repros as references for the colours and I exclusively use Tamiya paints.
I'll get the arrangements on Saturday and hopefully have a decent update to share with everyone later in the weekend. Unfortunately winter is upon us in NZ and it's a particularly cold one this year, so I'm limited to daytime hours in the weekend at The Bench as it's in our garage.