White Stencilling / NO STEP markings - Decals 1:72

[will2017]

I'm currently attempting to build a selection of post-war RAF aircraft (Tornado F3, Lightning, Phantom FGR2, F4(UK), but due to a combination of events I am lacking stencilling, particularly for the Tornado.

I don't really want to have to search for (non-existent) decal sheets with walkways / NO STEP / Funny upside-down hooks - or rely on well-known auction sites to overpay for stuff.

 

Is there a way to cleanly produce white stencil markings in 1:72? I'd prefer if I could do this, whilst retaining some sort of calmness, though prepared to make a bit of effort if I can see the end result.

I did think that the combination of white ink / draughting pens, and a master decal sheet, I could transfer the markings to a clear decal sheet, cutting, sealing and protecting as much as I can.

 

Am i heading in the right direction, or is there an alternative process I can follow?

[Giorgio N]

I understand that you don't want to overpay for stuff, but my first advice would be to look for a suitable decal sheet. Xtradecal issued a stencil set for the Tornado that also included the ones used by the F.3. A number of Modeldecal sheets also included full stencils for the F.3. Really any of these solutions is going to cost between £7-10 including delivery. If you only need the F.3 stencils, you can then sell the rest of the sheet

 

If you want to try to do on your own, then there are some alternative solutions.

Walkway markings are the easiest to do, at least if they are continuous lines. Just use a white paint marker with a suitably thin point and draw onto clear decal sheet. You can either draw the whole shape or simply draw a series of lines and cut to length. I used the latter technique to reproduce all white lines on this 1/72 Kfir

 

 

I would use a paint marker rather than ink as this does not require a protective coat. At the same time a 0.2 draghting pen clearly gives way more control on the thickness of the lines and allows smaller lines to be made.

Writing down all the stencils is another story... here the pen is a much better option, it's absolutely possible to use one to write small letters to reproduce at least the largest stencils, I know because I did it. The problem though is getting 10 or more NO STEP markings all identical ! If you have the skills, you can give it a go but it's not the most relaxing job.

The same pen can be used to reproduce other stencils but there's then the matte of the smallest stencils, and there's plenty of small ones on a modern aircraft. Even a o.2 mm pen would not be small enough to reproduce these, so you either scribble something unreadable and live with it, or you search in the spare decal box something suitable.

In any case you have to check if the ink/marker pain is dense enough to cover the underlying camouflage, may not be a problem on a light grey finish but can be a problem on darker camo schemes. The marker I used on the Kfir worked pretty well but another one I have couldn't cover well. The white ink I used in the past was dense enough so I had no problem but they are not all the same.

 

One alternative is to use dry transfers. These are less and less used today so they may not be easy to find but there have been sheets with white stripes of various width and sheets with letter in various sizes. I don't think however that there have been sheets with letters as small as the ones required to draw stencils in 1/72.

 

Another more expensive alternative is to draw all your stencils with a suitable PC software and send the file to someone who can print white. There are printers that can do it and a number of printshops offer this service. Can't help you with your area but may be worth searching. Of course you can also send the file by email to someone further away and get the print by post. It's not the cheapest of options, however I feel that it may be cheaper than it sounds. Again, don't know what they'll charge you locally, but in my country I know of shops that will charge around £ 20 for an A4 sheet... £20 may sound expensive but with proper planning it's possible to cram a lot of stencils in an A4 sheet, easily enough for 5 medium size 1/72 aircrafts or more. This means £4 per aircraft with stencils that you are happy with. Of course since you're paying for the whole sheet anyway, you can add other white decals in as well, like serial numbers or other codes

[will2017]

Thanks for this advice. It's certainly given me food for thought as to the next step.

I quite like the idea of white paint marker on the clear decal sheet. I'll give that a try..