Cry (HKM A-20G) Havoc and let the fly the decals of (miniature) war(planes)!

[ChuckD]

A little preview of what I should be able to get to tomorrow.  This is a test of my first go at designing and printing decals.  

 

Used clear paper for this experiment and am happy with the results so far.  On the right, you can see what the squadron decal looks like alone.  On the one next to it, I cut a mask for the background, painted a white egg/oval shape, then laid down the decal.  I'm super happy with those results. Similarly, the s/n stencil went down just fine. 

 

I'm a little less pleased with the nameplate, however.  Over the OD green, the yellow loses most of its register.  My thought is to go back into Photoshop and make the yellow a little brighter, then reprint.  I'm kinda thinking that won't help much though, as the problem is likely not the tone of the yellow I used, but just the fact that yellow doesn't have much pigment.  I could also conceivably make masks to paint the word in yellow, then try to line a decal up directly over that.  Maybe put two decals on top of each other?  Mask and paint the drop shadow, then mask and paint the yellow lettering?

 

hmmm.  If anyone has some brilliant ideas I'm all ears.

[monthebiff]

Super impressed,  this one is coming together so well!

 

Regards. Andy 

[Uncarina]

That looks great Chuck! With translucent decals in the past I’ve layered two to get a better result. In other cases I’ve carefully painted them after application.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[LSP_Kevin]

One of the issues that you'll run into with printing your own decals is that printers and printing software assume they're printing on a white medium, and use that assumption to partially compensate for not being able to print white. This is the main reason that white decal paper exists - to provide the same properties as plain printer paper. Laying your home-made decals down over some sort of white base will always provide the best results. White decal paper will also provide good results, but requires some careful trimming, and even then, you risk some visible white fringing. One trick I've seen, but never used, is to print the design on a rectangle of colour that's tweaked to match (as best as possible) the camouflage paint you're using, and then paint a white rectangle on the model to go under it.

 

Kev

[ChuckD]

2 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

One of the issues that you'll run into with printing your own decals is that printers and printing software assume they're printing on a white medium, and use that assumption to partially compensate for not being able to print white. This is the main reason that white decal paper exists - to provide the same properties as plain printer paper. Laying your home-made decals down over some sort of white base will always provide the best results. White decal paper will also provide good results, but requires some careful trimming, and even then, you risk some visible white fringing. One trick I've seen, but never used, is to print the design on a rectangle of colour that's tweaked to match (as best as possible) the camouflage paint you're using, and then paint a white rectangle on the model to go under it.

 

Kev

 

Ah ha!  I think you've pointed me in the right direction.  I will test out cutting a mask, spraying white, and dropping a decal on it tomorrow.  

[ChuckD]

Good day at the bench.

 

It doesn't look like I accomplished much, but I really did.  In the end and after a lot of testing, I decided to mask the nose art.  I found a font that was closer to the original than what Mr. Claringbould used in his drawing of this a/c.  It's not perfect, but no font will recreate the hand drawn art of the original.  

 

First I masked and painted the drop shadow layer.  

 

Then move the mask to the 10 o'clock position of the drop shadow and painted the yellow.  I couldn't be happier with the results.

 

Here is where things stand right now.  All airbrush painting is done.  All insignias, the wing walk, the guns, the props.  Next is decals, filtering, then on to weathering this beast.  

 

Admittedly, her right side is kinda boring.  Insofar as I can tell, no photos exist of this side of the aircraft.  Maybe some bomb markings, or somesuch like that would give it some interest.  Hmmm.







 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by ChuckD

[monthebiff]

Stinky is looking very nice Chuck, some serous progress today!

 

Regards. Andy 

[Uncarina]

Great update Chuck! Well done on the masking, and creating the black offset on Stinky takes some serious skills! Your last photo shows why stencils are the way to go, especially with the details in this wonderful kit.

 

Cheers,, Tom

Edited August 27, 2023 by Uncarina

[LSP_Kevin]

That's really turned out great, Chuck!

 

Kev

[TankBuster]

Awesome paint work. Cheers.

[ChuckD]

That moment of pride when apply your very first home made decal...

...and realize it has a typo.  

Lolz, story of my life.

 

Well, nothing a little careful sanding can't fix. 

 

 

As you can see, I had a couple decal issues that needed to be cleaned up.  I tried using the crew name decal from the kit just aft of the squadron insignia (which, happily turned out beautifully), but it smeared when I went to paint a bit of Future over it.  Apparently it hadn't fully set, so off it went too.  

 

I'll reprint the s/n decal and give it another go this week.  

[Cycling Guy]

Hats off to you. Nothing better than taking a leap of faith and having it work out how or better than you wanted.

[Uncarina]

I’m really liking the depth of variation you put into that OD camo. And I had similar hurdles with my P-61 homemade decals, so I sympathize. 

 

Cheers,  Tom

[scvrobeson]

It really is looking fantastic so far.  Great job taking the jump with masks and homemade decals

 

 

 

Matt 

[ChuckD]

Thanks, all.  I was able to get all the touch up painting done last night, so we are back to a blank canvas for the second round of decals.  No harm, no foul.  I'll get to those later this week as I likely won't have any bench time today.