Excellent progress, Keith @greenterrorz
The painted markings do look way better than decals could ever do, a wise decision.

Excellent looks allover, looking fantastic so far, my friend @greenterrorz!

Thank you my friends @johnb @fiveten

I got the gloss varnish on a few nights ago and last night applied decals.

Originally I was going to rely on the decals provided by Hasegawa for the horizontal stabilizers, but once I saw the huge amount of clear film… I knew I had to paint them on.

I also have two IJN pilot figures to go along with this build. Tonight I got one of the complete except for the matte varnish which I’ll apply once both figures are complete.

Tonight I will seal in the decals with another layer of gloss varnish.

A lot of work but excellent result on the stripes, Keith @greenterrorz
Nice work on the figures as well.

Keith (@greenterrorz)
Painting figures is something that I am not very good at. By the looks of things, you have it dialed in nicely. I think it was a good idea to paint on the drift angle stripes on the stabilizer of your Val. You're right, there's a lot of decal carrier film to be concerned about there. Painted on markings seem to always look better than decals in most cases.

I'm looking forward to your next installment.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Onto the A6M2 Zero. Tonight after the family is asleep, I plan on scribing in my additional rivets.
Along with the Hasegawa Zero, I also purchased the Eduard detail set, Eduard seat belts, and Eduard mask.

Wow! Awesome progress and ditto looks there, my friend @greenterrorz!