Waiting for Decals!
Drat. I glossed up no.13 in preparation for decals when I hit a temporary dead end. Otakis's kit decals are too old, cracked and absolutely useless so I thought the red star & bars set I have in my decal dungeon would do the job but no, too small. Now I am waiting for a sheet from Fundekals to arrive.

In the meantime I added stretched sprue brake lines to the gear and drilled out the scissor springs.

The real dilemma is I have no proper decals for the VF-16 mascot "Flying Airedale" except what came in the kit. I'm trying to track down newer ones that are included in the Hobbyboss F6f-3 Early kit. The Otaki decal looks like this but I am afraid to use it:

This is what it’s supposed to look like:

I guess I will move on to another build while I wait for those decals.
Here's where I'm stalled out for the moment. I'm using decal numbers from Techmod and the new Squadron.

Thanks for the tip, Tom @tom-bebout. David did a great job with the photo of Marge ---whoops - I mean your Mom! Thing is the decal I need is only 1/4 inch in height. I just need 2. Doesn't make economic sense. But first I will try the Otaki ones and see if they work.

Progressing nicely, Eric @eb801
A pity the decal part doesn't cooperate that much.

Decals Applied and Finished!

@gwskat, @johnb @fiveten, @tom-bebout:
After waiting a little over a week, I finally got all the decals I needed to complete "13". I found a tiny pair of decals for V-16's "Flying Airedale" mascot that was included on an aftermarket sheet put out by Eduard some years ago and is still available. And the excellent red Star & Bars by Fundekals arrived today. I'm done at last with the decal stage. Now I've have enough left over to do a flatop's worth of Hellcats.

Onwards!

Decals look really great, my friend @eb801!

Nice

In the Meantime...
The gear and wheels are on! I drilled out the tail wheel and the scissors on the main gear.

Lots more left to do so stay tuned!