...finishing on the thread i started before christmas, i didn't lacquer this at home in the end

i copped out.
clearly the advice was don't try to lacquer in cold temperatures, and the UK has been just too cold to do the final work in my garage.
so i sent it away to professionals before christmas.
i am very happy with the care they took on applying the transfers and clearcoat.
as a brief summary, the project started out with this

sanded down at home

until it looked like this

used basic rattle-can aerosols to spray the alloy cable stops and rear fork ends black, with a primer base + the alloy fork crown


then sent it away to be gloss lacquered. here is the result.
new life for a ten year old trek carbon 5200: EDIT - original images replaced with daylight pics






more or less managed to disguise the alloy fork crown...





actually i am slightly surprised how well this turned out aesthetically.
you may be the final judge on that but, either way i hope you enjoy the pictures.
i will build it up in time for the summer. to the people who commented with advice, all of it was appreciated. the final cost was much less because i did all the prep work.
this is a great forum with specialist knowledge, always.