Nice autograph! :) Well, at least it's early enough in the season that getting it resolved now will hopefully let you have a great cruising/show season this year.
Sounds like an awesome adventure to check off your bucket list. The paint I think you went the right way with what you did. The other paint job on the die-cast you posted, while it looks good. It would look dated in the future.
Finally caught up to your current progress and it definitely doesn't disappoint. Congrats on the journey so far, now for the final push to get it over the line then you get to enjoy the ride.
It just keeps getting better and better everytime I look at your thread. Im going to have to come up with some other adjectives besides awesome, fantastic, excellent or outstanding because they've all already been said.