Wow, nice job Jibber!
I've made some progress: 2 coats of Aqua Gloss, and the non-stencil decals are on. The Barracuda decals went on beautifully, with minimal fuss. Here are a few quick pics:
The olive drab looks darker, greener and more contrasty in these pictures than it does in person, and the glossy finish isn't helping. The cowl and flaps are dry fit for the pictures.
I need to wash everything down a bit to clean it up, and give it another gloss coat or two to help blend the carrier film in a bit. That will have to wait until I get the stencils laid down.
One slightly odd thing about the nose art is that the "Mortician's Delight" script is large enough that it just fits on the aircraft's nose, and in fact, the leading edge of the "M" is actually under the open cowl flaps. Odd as this looks, it matches the artwork in Barracuda's marking guide. Unfortunately, my only reference photo has that section blocked, but the placement of the scorecard and name plates seem to be correct. If anyone has a decent shot that contradicts this, please let me know... although I'm not sure what I'd do about it now anyway. Heck any reference photo is always welcome.
As you may be able to tell from the shot of the cowling, I have also tested out a couple of Flory washes for the panel lines. Neither of my two usual washes, black and dark dirt, shows up particularly well against the green, but perhaps this will change with a matte clear coat.
This picture also shows that I should have masked out a white circle to go under the nose art as the contrast between the olive drab & white stripe shows through. I was smart enough to think about the issue and mask for the stars & bars on the fuselage, but didn't even think about the nose art. One more lesson learned.
One last thing you can see in the photo of the underside is that I made the bold call of painting the metal arms that extend the lowered flaps a brass color. I have no idea if this is accurate for wartime Thunderbolts, but I have a color reference photo showing this to be the case (page 25 of Walk-Around; I apologize for not scanning it.)
Thanks again to all of those who have contributed suggestions as well as those who have taken the time to share the positive comments. Both are much appreciated.