Hey, Brian!
This brought back some memories. I was stationed at Westover from '64 to '67. (Yes, I'm oooold. Turn 70 in a couple of months, and guys retired almost five years ago who joined the AF after I retired.) Anyway, I took flying lessons at the Westover Aero Club and soloed at Barnes Westfield Airport. Also remember when an F-86 from there crashed just northeast of the field, and when Ted Kennedy's chartered plane crashed on landing.
Anyway, to get back on subject -- do you have any capability to print on decal paper? Perhaps you could do a "negative" of the stars. Use a white decal paper and print the red on it, with the stars showing white in your artwork. The printer will leave the stars transparent, but the white decal sheet will fill that in. It'll also make the red brighter than it would be on clear decal paper placed on the gray tail surfaces. If you have only clear decal paper and you could find some white decal stripes, you could apply the white, then the red over that.
Just some ideas....
Bill B
South Okaloosa N Scalers