Decided to give it a try with the decals. I cut the large red strip in eight small pieces.

Applied them one by one, far from easy, most of the parts went everywhere except where I wanted them, took approximately fifteen minutes per piece.

After two hours of fiddling and trying to keep the space between them roughly the same, the tube looked like this. Still not perfect, but much better than the manual painted one.

Of course I could not resist to dry fit the tube to see how it looks on the aircraft.

John (@johnb), the pitot decals work and look credible. The build just went up another notch on adding to the appeal of this kit.

I started the decal process by testing a couple of the Academy decals under the wing. Less noticeable if they crash and burn, but they seemed to work fine with MicroSol/Set. These are good examples of the decals you initially place on the model using water, rather than MicroSet. The instructions for these decals say to use water to move the decals around, so out of curiosity I started with MicroSet on one of the underwing decals. Sure enough, the decal stuck solid where it first touched the model. I used water first on the other underwing decal, and it slid around easily. 90% of the decals used so far are the Academy decals, but I robbed a couple of Microscale sets to fill in some decals. They also went on fine despite being 45 years or more old. I plan to add a few stencils from a Microscale set tomorrow, then let the decals dry for 24 hours, followed by some clear to protect everything. Getting close to the end. Yeah!

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Hi Stephen (@stephen-w-towle). The Tamiya Clear really seemed to pull things together. I like to weather my models, but all the photos I can find depict a really clean plane. I might try outlining the control surfaces, but probably nothing beyond that.

Those decals do look really nice, George @gblair
Will you also add some of those stencils provided with the kit.

George (@gblair),

I am reminded

of the Monty Python movie I think it's the "Meaning of Life", the final scene has a large heavy man at a restaurant, having the waiter feed him one last bite of food, only to explode. The restaurant is a mess and they cut to credits.

Decals for me our what the kids call Frenemies. They can make or break the build or create that mess. Knowing when to eat/ apply all the decals or stop and be satisfied is 64.00 dollar question. From my point of view I' d add just a few more bits or go with the paint scheme which really catches the eye and makes things interesting.

Hi Stephen (@stephen-w-towle): I always worry when I get to decals. They come right at the end of a build and they have the power to completely mess it up. That is especially so since many of my decals are 40 or more years old. Aside from the occasional torn decals, they have all worked as advertised. As you mentioned, my plan will be to add a few key stencils and call it good.

Hi Carl (@clipper): I plan to add a few key stencils, and test them somewhere inconspicuous first. The stencils will come from a partial sheet of 104 decals that I remember getting while I was in pilot training in 1976. They are SuperScale decals, so I think they will still be OK. I have been using the decals from an Academy F-104C, and now I was looking at other parts, like the antennas (which Italeri doesn't have) and the gear doors (which you have to cut apart on the Italeri) and the landing lights (which Italeri doesn't have). I plan to use these parts on my current build. I plan to have some building time today and tomorrow, especially if we get snow and ice. My granddaughter is already planning on some snow angels. :o)