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Yellow Dashed Line Decals. Any Available?


fightersweep

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Hi!

 

I've got a few ongoing builds in 1/72 that need yellow dashed lines around canopies and escape hatches etc. Does anyone know if there are decals available for this? These are WW2 types, but I'm finishing them as current-ish warbirds, and these details are quite obvious and eye catching. The thought of painting them in 1/72 is a bit scary, so just wondered if anything is out there in decal form.

 

Thanks in advance;

Steve

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Thanks for the reply. Well, for example, I'm building Spitfire XIV G-FIRE and Beech 18 G-BKGL. The Spit has yellow dashed lines around the canopy frame and the Beech has dashed lines around one of it's windows, presumably a "cut here" emergency escape exit.

 

Steve

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I've been looking for these myself but never found anything. Only useable solution I found are sheets of yellow lines from which it's possible to cut a number of dashes, a job that I'm not sure I want to attempt.

Similar decals would be very useful as these markings were also present on WW2 types serving in the immediate postwar years: yellow dashed lines around all "normal exits and hatches" were introduced on camouflaged RAF aircrafts in April 1945 with DTD Technical Circular No. 489 for new production aircraft.

Non camouflaged types had the same markings in red. In both cases the width of the line was 1/2 in. and the legth of the dash was 1 in. with 12 in. spacing between dashes

Later AMO A150/46 was issued in early 1946 to implement the same markings on aircraft in service.

To add a bit more info, break-in panels were to be marked with right-angle corner markings, again in yellow on camo and red on other finishes. I should add that such markings have been used for many years on RAF aircrafts and this makes such decals even more useful

 

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Thanks for the detailed reply Giorgio. It would be really useful to have a sheet of decals such as this, a generic sheet that can be used as needed. I am quite surprised that there isn't anything out there, being that almost everything else seems available. I might just have to look out for decal sheets for specific types that do have the dashed lines included and buy them just for that.

 

Steve

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Steve, if you look around for generic sheets, keep an eye on modern types as well, in the past I got some from a Sea King sheet.

Forgot to mention a method that I also used: applying a yellow strip and using the base camouflage colours to cover what I didn't want to be yellow... still a boring job but better than trying to apply individual short bits of yellow...

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Thanks Giorgio! That's a good idea. Not totally without pain, but a few breaks with the base colour using a small brush would do the trick. I'll also have a look around for some decals sheets of more modern types....I'm sure I'll find something. Thanks for your help!

 

Best regards;

Steve.

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Would you consider making your own?  Use a graphics programme or even something like word to draw the yellow dotted line then print them on clear decal paper?  If its a .jpe you could scale it when you print it..

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Grey Beema said:

Would you consider making your own?  Use a graphics programme or even something like word to draw the yellow dotted line then print them on clear decal paper?  If its a .jpe you could scale it when you print it..

 

 

Wouldn't work, at least not with the kind of printer most of us would have at home or in the office. In standard inkjet or laser printers the inks/toners are not opaque enough to obtain a yellow capable of showing against the kind of colours used on say a Spitfire. This approach would work only if the base colour is white or very light grey. Would work fine enough for the red markings used on non camouflaged types (that in the RAF would mean overall silver, light aircraft grey or white areas) but even with red it's impossible to have good results over say a dark green.

The only option would be to have access to either an ALPS style printer or one of those lasers that can use white toner (these would print the yellow over an opaque white base so making it perfectly visible over any background). ALPS have been OOP for years and white toner lasers are still quite expensive.

There is another option to consider and would be drawing the markings and having them printed by a professional service. There are some shops that can do this, they generally charge prices that while very high for a single model may make sense if the modeller is having a whole A4 page printed with the idea of using the sections when needed over time.

Edited by Giorgio N
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You could make your own with clear decal film and paint instead of printed ink..   Mask off the segments and spray the yellow paint.  I don't know how thin the segment line is, but you could possibly get away with just masking in one direction, and then cut the film to the required width?

 

regards,

Jack

Edited by JackG
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5 hours ago, fightersweep said:

Thanks for the detailed reply Giorgio. It would be really useful to have a sheet of decals such as this, a generic sheet that can be used as needed. I am quite surprised that there isn't anything out there, being that almost everything else seems available. I might just have to look out for decal sheets for specific types that do have the dashed lines included and buy them just for that.

 

Steve

Steve,

 

You might also consider using auto pinstriping tape or drafting tape, which can be purchased in  very  small widths, 1/16" comes to mind. The tape is very thin vinyl and can be cut into the appropriate sections, or you can make a stencil and paint the corresponding background color between the desired yellow segments. The drafting tape can be found at many office/business/artsupply stores. BTW it also works great for the fuselage stiffeners on Seafires!

Mike

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Thanks for all the useful ideas guys. The areas that I need are actually quite small, like for example, the canopy frame of a Spitfire in 1/72. Thinking it through, I think Giorgio's suggestion of using a solid yellow line decal, which I have, and painting in the dashes in the base colour is probably the simplest option. For small areas, I think this will be the way to go.

 

Best regards;

Steve

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4 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Steve,

 

You might also consider using auto pinstriping tape or drafting tape, which can be purchased in  very  small widths, 1/16" comes to mind. The tape is very thin vinyl and can be cut into the appropriate sections, or you can make a stencil and paint the corresponding background color between the desired yellow segments. The drafting tape can be found at many office/business/artsupply stores. BTW it also works great for the fuselage stiffeners on Seafires!

Mike

 

Thanks Mike! I think we posted at exactly the same time! I will look into the drafting tape too. Sounds like a viable option also.

 

Best regards;

Steve

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3 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Wouldn't work, at least not with the kind of printer most of us would have at home or in the office. In standard inkjet or laser printers the inks/toners are not opaque enough to obtain a yellow capable of showing against the kind of colours used on say a Spitfire. This approach would work only if the base colour is white or very light grey. Would work fine enough for the red markings used on non camouflaged types (that in the RAF would mean overall silver, light aircraft grey or white areas) but even with red it's impossible to have good results over say a dark green.

The only option would be to have access to either an ALPS style printer or one of those lasers that can use white toner (these would print the yellow over an opaque white base so making it perfectly visible over any background). ALPS have been OOP for years and white toner lasers are still quite expensive.

There is another option to consider and would be drawing the markings and having them printed by a professional service. There are some shops that can do this, they generally charge prices that while very high for a single model may make sense if the modeller is having a whole A4 page printed with the idea of using the sections when needed over time.

You could make it work if you wanted to, if the colour is not strong enough print on white decal paper and put against a background of the colour that goes through the cockpit.. 

Edited by Grey Beema
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Hi Steve,

 

I had the same issues with late marque Spitfires.

 

Eventually picking up one of the new Eduard kits I realised that these are also available separate from the kit -

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/EDD72011

 

You only get a limited selection of yellow dashed lines, but this is more than I've found on any other sheet.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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