Thanks fellas! A few days work to report on. A gloss coat was put on in preparation for decals. I've been playing around with my primary gloss coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss) the last couple of models. For this coat, I tried thinning the Aqua Gloss with a bit of Mr Leveling Thinner. This thinner seemed to thicken the Aqua Gloss in the airbrush cup but it sprayed pretty well.
I softened the wing edge scallops, which were hard-masked with tape, with my airbrush.
The decals were applied using a combination of Microset/Microsol and a first try of Solvaset. I didn't notice any huge difference between Microsol and Solvaset on these Z-M decals. The decals were sealed using a light coat of Aqua Gloss.
After the decals were done, I did a little post shading on the lighter surfaces using a very diluted brown.
The tail werk number decal ended up crooked up so I had to scrape it off, sand it down and repaint the tip of the rudder. Luckily, Z-M supplies a few full sets of the werk number decals.
The exhaust stains were added using built up layers of brown to black.
I'll let this sit awhile and then I'm going to do a panel wash.