Stencils and "scale colour"

[JohnT]

A poster was asking about stencils on another post and I got to thinking about my aversion to seeing models covered in stencils which to my eye always make the model look like its had an outbreak of measles.  I got to asking myself "Why?"

 

I wonder if it's that decal printers have the stencils for aircraft printed in an unsuitable colour?  If in say, full black print are they just too stark when reduced to go on say a 1/48 or 1/32 model?  

 

Should decal manufacturers make their stencils more toned down so they blend more easily?  Just a thought and would welcome any observations and comments.  Most likely I am talking dross as usual!!

[Giorgio N]

The problem I see is that often manufacturers simply make their stencils too large ! Stencils typically are visible from short distance but not from farther away, ideally the stencils on a model should reproduce this same situation. Some old Micro/Superscale sheets had plenty of stencils and these generally looked fine on a model, even if they were printed in the correct black to go on paints like light grey. Clearly the same stencils made bigger would spoil the look of the model.

Some manufacturers get these things right, some don't. Italeri for example is IMHO one of the worst when it comes to oversized stencils. Hasegawa and recent Academy kits supply much better stencils as I've seen for example on the Hasegawa F-104 and Tomcat and on the Academy Crusader.