Short morning update - It seems that Microscale’s liquid decal film and Mr. Mark Softer are a must. The untreated decals have a visible edge, and peeling off the surface easily. However, the decals with the decal film and softener have an almost invisible layer of film.

Csaba, I also use a old laserprinter (Black only) and had the same experience regarding the black. I have a spot of trouble applying the LDF evenly, but it sure helps, In my experience the black gets a bit "dusty" grey from matt clear, so a thin layer or two of closs and a final thin matt may do the trick. The gloss will help to smoothen the edges of the carrier film and may be sanded a bit when fully dry.

Looking forward to the decals on the painted kit and hearing more of your experiences.

Your self-printed decals look great, Csaba.

To me this is a new technique and I would like to thank you all (@fiveten, @airbum, @pikofix) for sharing this information.

For sure will give it a try myself sometime.

Another baby step.
I managed to salvage the seat belts from the Eduard kit. A few years ago I glued those on the seats, but luckily that small amount of superglue snapped without problem.

The plane will be ready for the first layer of Surfacer in a week or two. I have to glue a few etched details onto the wings, assembly and paint the simple cockpit, and then ready to go!

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Things are slow here, the daycare is closed down due to a suspected COVID case, so I am on father duty all day long.

I had some time today to take a look on the original photos, again. It seems that building a true replica would require much more work than I initially thought. The original PAX had a different wing and tail layout compared to the kit. The kit is an early/mid soviet production Po-2, while the PAX was a late soviet/polish production version. The late wings had Frise ailerons, while the early was a very simple construction. The Frise ailerons have offset hinges, and those help reducing the adverse yaw when the plane rolls.

The kit represents a much more simple early version, where no aerodynamical compensation was used. The Frise ailerons had a slot between the control surfaces and the wing, so from a specific angle you could "look through" the wings. The offset hinges are also very visible.

A similar concept was used on the horizontal stabilizers and elevators. The early type was dead simple, while the late one had a different layout and hinge design.

The elevators are easy to modify, but to be honest I don´t want to start cutting the wings. It would greatly improve the authenticity and look of the finished model, but would take a long time to make all 4 ailerons. I think I will try to imitate the wing hinges with engraved panel lines and paint, but I will do the actual modification on the tail. Kind of a half-hearted solution, but sometimes we have to make compromises.

A well chosen approach, Csaba.
Also great research done on this project.
Thanks for sharing.

I added most of the photoetched parts to the cockpit and wings. I don´t really like Eduard´s prepainted parts, so I will just cover them with Mr. Surfacer, as anything else. Also managed to glue together a small assembly fixture for the horizontal stabilizer and elevator.

I plan to assembly and paint the cockpit next week, and that will clear the way for the other assembly steps.

@gblair , I fully understand your point. I enjoy visiting shows, but it is rare that I enter the competition. It is just out of my league, you can also see a few of those extremely skilled guys here on iModeler. I really respect their work, but unfortunately I don´t have that much time and energy for a model.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.