A week on and we got paint and stuff.
I'm sad to say that Roden decals are still not great. I used very hot water and they didn't shatter, so they have cleared that bar, but they still don't stick well. I applied them over wet Klear, and the smaller decals turned out okay, but the larger decals got a ton of these micro wrinkles, giving them a weird texture. I tried to work this out in the big "1" but it began to tear.
A second topcoat of Klear lessened the texture somewhat, and the decals now seem to be sticking, but still annoying to have to play all these games.
And of course the American cockades are out of register. Ah well.
A semi gloss clear coat and some oil paint effects will hopefully "de-toyify" this whole thing.