Model Aircraft International 'Decals' - How to print ?

[Tiger331]

I've downloaded some of Richard Caruana's excellent decal artwork from the Model Aircraft International website in preparation for printing it onto decal paper. Has anyone done any of these sheets before and, if so, do you have any tips ?. I'm a little unsure, for example, about how to set the scale for the sheets…..some of the artwork appears to be to 1:48 scale but some is more like 1:72 and I'm really looking to get the decals done in the larger scale.

Any advice you can provide would be gratefully received.

Mark

[Giorgio N]

Scaling artwork can be easier or more difficult depending on the software you use.

Personally I use a vector drawing software (Corel Draw in my case but there are some free ones like Inkscape) and in these it's possible to create shapes of known size. My technique is to import the artwork into the software, create a square or a circle for a certain bit of the artwork for which I know the size I want and then rescale the full artwork so that a selected part matches the shape I created. For example, if I know that a certain roundel is 36 inch diameter on the real aircraft, I draw a scaled down 36 inch circle and resize the artwork until the roundel in the artwork is the same size of my circle.

If however you're not using softwares with similar features, the simplest would really be to print a test on normal paper and measure something of which you know the size. Mind, the exact size is not necessary as you can guesstimate the size of say roundels or codes by checking pictures and your model at the same time ( a caliper is useful here). Then calculate by how much the artwork must be scaled to give the correct size of that element and scale the whole artwork.

Other tips: if you've not printed decals before, I suggest you search in this same forum, there have been a number of discussions on the matter and there are many useful tips on the best materials. In any case it's very important to keep in mind the limitations of this process, that of course depend on what kind of printer you have available.

Speaking of resizing, it's also important to keep in mind that the actual plastic model on which the decals are laid may not be correct and this may result in some weird result... Some time ago I built a 1/72 RAAF Spitfire VIII from the hasegawa kit... my decals were drawn to the correct size however this kit has a too short and narrow rear fuselage. The result was that the decals looked too big and I had to resize them so that they could look good on the incorrect fuselage.

In any case, any doubt you may have, feel free to ask !!! IMHO printing decals is a fascinating aspect of modelling, takes time and patience but can be very rewarding !

Edited October 21, 2014 by Giorgio N