I figured out that the material problem went back to Blender afterall. I'd missed a checkbox that overrides the Blender material name so the SMD was looking for a nonexistent material! StudioCompiler still comes up with the above error but it's just as easy (and probably more flexible) to use VTFEdit for that bit anyway.
Thanks for the help Squad. 
Thanks Squad, I gave that another go and managed to get the mesh in game, still got some issues with the material though. Does StudioCompiler ever give you an "Unable to Create TGA File" error when you do the material compile?
[HP], Blender isn't the issue here, but thanks for the input.
Squad, I've got the SMD Tools and followed the instructions to export the necessary source files. I guess my issue is with how to then compile the model in to Source. Commandline tools like StudioMDL knock my confidence, and the graphical alternatives seem to be fixed up for older source games with different directory structures.
Thanks for the ideas, but I guess I'll just continue to watch video tutes until I find one that clicks with my brain.
Hullo! Long time listener, first time caller here. Hope I'm posting in the right spot.
Can anybody recommend a good tutorial for importing new props in to CS:GO from Blender? I've been modelling for some time so I've got that down, but I can't find an up to date tutorial on going from Blender to Source -- they all seem to rely on outdated/problematic third party tools or they're written for ancient source games.
Cheers.
