Long time model builder but never took the step into using a wood deck before. I'm working on the 1/350 Trumpeter North Carolina that I started nearly 2 decades ago (whenever it was first released). I had sanded a lot of detail off the deck and put the kit on the shelf of doom until now. I picked up the Pontos wood deck to correct all the wrongs I'd done.

My question is do I need to paint all of the hatches and vents before hand or should I strip any paint to ensure the best adhesion of the sticky material? The entire deck is primed grey from when I was filling in the awful seams, so it's probably a bear to strip. I'd much rather paint the 20b, 5l, 5n, etc where I need to but I can't find much consensus on the best way to do this and fit the deck.