Have had some questions about the paint process on another forum so I will give it a try to explain what I did. Whenever I would use "rattle" cans for painting plastic models, and not an airbrush, paint build up is an issue. With that in mind, I was very impressed with the House Of Kolor paint in spray cans. (which you can also use with an airbrush as it is available in 4 oz bottles.) I did mask off and paint some practice shots on small plastic sheets to get a feel on how it covered and if it reacted to the plastic in any way. (bubbled up, didn't dry right, etc.) Mainly, I wanted to see how the paint and masking tape acted together. Was very pleased when I removed the pretend masking pattern. The tape just peeled right up without tearing at any of the seams and at the edge of the paint/tape joint there was no "lip". The paint, when applied in light misty coats, builds up to a nice color and is the way to go.
Then the next test was to see how the clear coat reacted with the decals. Again over a House of Kolor base paint with a clear coat applied, I put down 2-3 spare decals, let them dry, and sprayed a clear coat over them. After an overnight drying time, I again was very pleased as the clear coat did not react with the decals. No wrinkling or running of the decal ink colors. So I was set as to what I was going to use to paint my Phantom. Now if I could just get everything to come together.
I guess my biggest disappointment was that I tested everything out first, but didn't think about testing the solutions that I use when applying decals to plastic models. That is a 2 part process of using a "softener" first, placing the decals down, then using a "setting" solution. The softener is great to enable the decal to conform to compound surfaces. What I didn't think of is that the softener reacted slightly with the first few decals that I applied and the edges turned out a little wavy. Can't tell if House Of Kolor played a part or not. From then on I didn't use either of the solutions and the decals were fine.
With all of this being said, I was glad I gave it a try and did this paint job. Would I do it again? That's a "yes" and a "no". I would really like to see if I could come up with another color scheme, but at the same time, when I am out flying, I am more concerned about crashing and messing up the paint job. Which isn't a bad thing, but I can tell that I'm flying more conservatively than before. I guess regardless of flying more conservatively, I DO want to attempt it again!
Thanks to EVERYONE for all of your very kind comments. It's very humbling!