Told you :3
It'll still want a second coat, at some point, but it's a lot better now than it was.
Other progress today was getting the bottom of the vent duct welded in, which has turned out quite nicely. I've also managed to mark the holes where I think the toggle lever goes, for controlling the vent.
And then, just for a giggle -- and because I was tripping over it a bunch while painting the crane -- I hung the nearside front wing back on the truck. Things line up pretty good, all things considered!
I also discovered that the belts I had carefully measured and ordered, for the compressor, are too short by about 100mm. I'm a bit annoyed at that, but at least I found out now. I'll add 'em to the list, I guess.
The Next Day
Today's gentle fun:
Remove the old air-tank. I'll have to find my little borescope camera and check out the inside of it; maybe it's still okay enough to reuse, but the little tiny bit I can see doesn't inspire much confidence.
I only really need it for the dryer's purge tank anyway, and a replacement tank of that sort of size (or smaller, which is more appropriate) isn't terribly expensive.
Attack everything with the wire wheel, brushes, sandpaper, etc. Pause to admire the wheel scotch hooks...
Before spending some theraputic time with the paintbrush.
Plenty more to do, yet, but if I can get enough of this painted where it's easier to get at while the locker's out, the rest of it can be done later.
One thing's for sure, I need to give this truck a damn good wash. Full-on MOT wash level of cleaning required, because there is considerable amount of compacted oil & dirt skunge packed on stuff like the transfer case.
I've also made a tentative start on building tooling to try bend the tube I need to make the inlet manifold runners. It's either going to work, or be a total disaster; and there's not much in-between. I have alternate options if this doesn't work out, though.
I've already had to scale back my grand vision on this intake manifold
-- much like I had to do with the exhaust! 
-- due to space
constraints: The front-most intake runner has to do its thing in less
than 8 inches from the mounting face on the head, to where it would
hit the cab structure. Thankfully, this isn't a high-performance
engine, so I don't have to have the mega long runners I was hoping
for; it'll work just fine with whatever I can come up with.