The sanding helped, but what really did it was much more MM Flat. I went around the decals with GX-100 first, then MM Flat a day later. As i was spraying the flat, i noticed the carrier film becoming less visible. So i went at it with more MM Flat.
cut some plastic to replace the damaged wire extension on the tail. Also sprayed some MM eggshell (semi gloss with some flat) on the wings to see how that would look.