I recently picked up a 1992 MB-2 frameset; it's in excellent mechanical condition and I'm really looking forward to building it up. Unfortunately, it's had a bit of a hard life and has some cosmetic problems:


The biggest issue is extensive damage to the downtube decals, which are under the clearcoat:


I'd ideally like to remove these damaged decals while preserving the paint as much as possible...

I'm presently thinking "remove them carefully with a scalpel, polish out the color coat in the exposed area, then airbrush clear over it" which seems kinda likely to fail.

Any suggestions or experience?