a wingnut with a Merkava needs help

Hello all:

I just picked up Revell Germany's 1/72 Merkava III and have a couple of questions about it.

First, there are some decals that the instructions say go on the stowage basket on the back of the turret. the problem is the basket is molded as open grating parts so no solid surface to get a decal on and the decals in question have odd little scissor icons beside them and a dotted line around them. Does this mean these decals represent some sort of rigid signage that somehow attaches to the grating of the basket and I should be cutting the appropriate shapes out of sheet styrene and puting the decals on those before getting them on the tank?

If so, are those signs a permanent part of the tank or something that can be treated as totally optional?

As a wingnut, I'm not always sure what I'm looking at when I see an armored vehicle. Can any of you armor sorts that have built this kit tell me if there's anything to watch out for in it, anything glaringly innacurate or out of place.

This is only my second armor model ever, but thats no reason not to get it generally right

Thanks in advance