I would say, at the very minimum, you should have monthly meetings with your supervisors. I think it is not unreasonable to pester your supervisors to set up meetings. But remember, you _own_ the project: it's your project; if you need help, ask for it! Your colleagues would be a good place to start if your supervisors are not forthcoming. Generally speaking, most will be happy to give you feedback, especially recent post-docs.

I would send a copy of your revised report to your supervisor today (even if it's not quite done yet) and set up a meeting for tomorrow. Make sure you set up regular progress meetings, if these are not on a weekly basis, then email your supervisor weekly updates to inform him of progress. If then you get no feedback apart from something scathing after a number of months, then the supervisor has to share in the responsibility of the criticism.

"I effectively choose the position on the basis of the reputation of the university. i knew that could potentially be a foolish decision at the time, but it was worth the risk. But I do believe I have what it takes."

You seem to have seriously considered an academic research career before embarking on it. Keep at it! It seems that your current PhD was considered a means to an end; remember your goal! I've found that the main challenge of doing a PhD is how you deal with problems and I think it's a very lucky PhD student who doesn't, at some point in time, think "Why am I doing this?", "I'm better off doing something else", and even "I want to give up". You may have had it harder than most, but don't give up. It's how you handle adversity that counts; and if your supervisors supervisory style is well known in the field, then you'll probably get kudos points in the future: it will show that you're made of sterner stuff.