~S~ chaps, getting decals to "suck down" onto surfaces is a bitch. That micro sol twin pack is very good normally but a little trick I used to use, (when I had an air brush!) was to varnish the whole plane, post painting, with gloss varnish and let it dry for 48 hrs.
This does two things, it prevents the colours "smudging" when touched and gives e very smooth surface to apply decals to.
Once done the weathering can be applied followed by an all over coat of silk varnish to give a good "scale effect"
If, like me, you don't have an airbrush at the moment you can still use the same method with a brush, but NOT with thinned down varnish because it may well remove the paint !!
Canopy parts stay in the box untill the rest of the kit is completely finnished if possible