Thanks Don.
I've made good progress on the decals starting with the checkers last night. What a pain in the butt. The decals themselves are actually very nice - thin yet robust enough to withstand lots of pulling and tugging and liberal applications of Solvaset. The issue wth the 3 decals making up the checks is that they just aren't shaped properly to account for the curves of the nose area. Airfix seem to have made an eyeball guess but apparently made no attempt to adjust them after trying them out on a model. So, I made the best of it, tore one in the process, and let them set up over night.
The crude alignment near the chin scoop is evident and this area is going to need to be touched up by hand. With the model set up on stilts for the above pic, I went ahead and slapped on the underside roundels.
A cool, rainy day made for good bench time today and I continued with the upper roundels which went on nicely. After applying Solvaset, the roundels conformed to the moulded fairings at the ailerons perfectly. Very nice decals.
Next, I propped the model up on its side to apply the fuselage decals.
Lots of teeny stencils everywhere. I put them on despite the photos not showing evidence of them being there.
I then noticed that I some faint green overspray in the wing root area. I dipped a q-tip in 70% alcohol and went to remove it. It came off alright but, to my suprise, so did the Alclad II paint! Lacquer dissolving in alcohol - go figure. Anyway, the damage is slight and can easily be resprayed.
Another lesson learned - or soon forgotten.
Thanks for looking in. Hope to make a push for the finish date but may run over a day or two.