Wolwe82 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Very nice job do you need any special printer for the decals or any laser printer can do the work? The own decals could save me pretty much money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 5, 2014 Author Share Posted September 5, 2014 Very nice job do you need any special printer for the decals or any laser printer can do the work? The own decals could save me pretty much money... Thanks ! Any laser printer will do the job, mine is an Epson C1700, quite a cheap model. Toner isn't cheap however but this another story.. Of course everytime homemade decals are discussed, it's important to understand the limitations ! Not everything can be printed but with some work it's possible to put together some very interesting markings 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Speaking of these decals, colour laser printers at the low end of the market, like the one I'm using, can't achieve the resolution of inkjet printers of comparable price. Still, the resolution can be adequate for the purpose of printing decals... Look at the lettering beside the "857" numbers: it's possible to read most of it even if it's quite small ! The weekend was spent mainly adding the many checkers to the tail. These were printed and applied in sections, however a number of individual checks was also printed to complete the job. Here's the model during the initial decalling phase: There will be a need for some touch-ups of the black checkers as the black toner got damaged in a couple of spots. Should I do this again, I'll print smaller sections, adding too many checks is a nightmare ! I also made a very annoying discovery: I made a mistake in dimensioning the red "Sweet Clara II" and now I have to print this again. My fault, I did not check properly, something that is extremely important when designing and printing decals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bengalensis Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Good decal work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 Now these latest pictures all look the same, but some progress can be seen and I'm very happy to announce that I now have a proper checkertailed Mustang ! Decalling can now move ahead, the most difficult part is done. My nerves will now need some time to recover as laying individual bits of black decal to fill the whole tailplane is not the most relaxing of exercises 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Lovely work Giorgio! Just goes to show even with the humblest of beginnings a model can look great in the right hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Nice work Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 12, 2014 Share Posted September 12, 2014 the checkered tail looks awesome, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 I could not find much time to work on my models over the last few weeks. Work took its toll but I also indulged a few weekends away so can't complain too much... In any case I have now found some time to try and complete this one in time for the end of the GB. Decalling is now complete. I had to resize the name of the aircraft as this was too large originally. Unfortunately it's now a little too small, but I've decided to live with it. I've applied the "Sweet Clara II" name on the port side only. I don't know if it was applied on the other side too, in any case I've printed a few spares so that I can apply the decal on the other side too. The model is now also resting on its wheels.. at least at the front as I've yet to paint and glue the tailwheel. And here's the model as it is now, including some of the bits that will be applied soon Ok, it will not be my best model to date, but in any case it's going to be a colourful addition. And I'm quite proud of the job I've done with the decals, even if the nose art is not great (that small white border still annoys me...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Latest update: model is almost completed. With a few hours before the end of the STGB I only need to replace the dorsal antenna that fell victim to the carpet monster. However I now discovered that my aircraft has the antenna in a different location so I will have to scratchbuild an antenna (easy enough) and close a hole on the fuselage (annoying as the finish is natural metal...) Here's how the model looked yesterday while I was fitting the propeller blades 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Ok, antenna sorted, all the bits atached, a few touch-ups on the black checkers, and I can call this one completed ! More pictures will be posted in the gallery I'm very happy as this is the first time I complete a model for a group build in a long time ! I think it's been more than a year since I managed to finish anything in time... It's also the first model I actually complete this year... I know, it's not something to be happy about.... Overall I don't think the model came out as good as I had hoped. Still, it's a colourful addition to my collection and I've learnt a couple new things about natural metal and decals. All tricks that I'll put to good use in the next models ! Even if the model is not great, it's another one in my ongoing "war over Italy" theme and will sit nicely beside the others. At some point it will be followed by more Mustangs but I'm not sure I'd use the HB kit again. It's nice but some aspects are annoying, in particular I think the diedral of the wing is not right (not enough on the HB kit). I may use the Revell kit for my next P-51B. Hope you all enjoyed watching this as I enjoyed the many Mustangs built for this STGB. Thanks again to the hosts for proposing and managing the GB !!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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