Nice one Shooter, I really like the cockpit - I always have trouble on glassed areas. I do agree with dargon though, using an airbrush does give a nicer finish - at a guess I'd say you are using Tamiya paints on the body, and enamels on the nose? you seem to have the same result I used to get without the airbrush.
I really don't like the Tamiya paints, they rarely give a uniform finish without an airbrush. Strangely I have found that the best paints for any model are the Citadel paints from the games workshop... Water based so you get the same result with or without the airbrush, the only problem is that you have to mix most of the colours yourself.