Jeremy,
I'm inclined in the same direction regarding the decals when the time comes to build it. I still can't figure out why Dragon chose to go that route with the markings unless perhaps they were deliberately trying to avoid a head-to-head with Tamiya's kit and/or wanted a broader market appeal than what would be possible with the early-war campaigns? Hard to say either way. The kit on its own is beautifully done, lots of detail crammed into it, it's on my short list of kits to build in the near future and I will post a companion build log when I get to it.