Other than that I pretty much built it the way the instructions said because I was just having fun (hadn't seen hyperscale yet, and how impressive some of the highly-researched scratchbuilding can be)

It was brush painted with Tamiya paints for everything but the cockpit (which was mix/match with whatever I had onhand at the time.) Pulling this off the shelf after all these years I did notice a couple of cracks in the paint where the rear support tower connects with the float.

Decals were from the kit. I have a technique that I think does wonders for decals, but it wouldn't help "airbrushers" that much I think.

Another interesting technique I was doing at the time (learned it from someone in our IPMS club way back then) was to use Future to simulate stressed skins on the wings. After the kit is decaled and given a light spray of matte finish, brush some future on all the panel lines (and where there would be internal structure.) Then hit the wings with another light coat of matte. Then bush Future again on the major panel lines, and again hit it with one last coat of matte. That way the plane has a nice matte finish, but if you tilt the plane as you are looking at it there is a slight sheen to where the underlying ribs would be. Doesn't really photograph, but looks dynamic in person. Sort of a subtle version of what has been replaced by preshading.