Thanks, I thought that pearls were put on with an intercoat clear, just didn't see you mention that. My stripe layout will be arranged so that I should have very little overlap, ie. small stripes, for the specific reasons that you mentioned with the candies. I am still on the look out for a test airframe to try all of this out on first before I commit to shooting a 1/4 scale plane with pearls and candies.
Thanks for all of the help!