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U.S. AIR FORCE and USAF decals 1/72


RidgeRunner

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1 hour ago, RidgeRunner said:

Thanks Chris but finding them is the challenge! :(. There is a decal manufacturers business opportunity here! 

 

Martin

 

Have a chat with Ray at Fantasy Printshop, see if he's up for it. I have most of them in the stash if he needs a pattern. Alternatively Paul Davis might still have some

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17 minutes ago, chris57 said:

Have a chat with Ray at Fantasy Printshop, see if he's up for it. I have most of them in the stash if he needs a pattern. Alternatively Paul Davis might still have some

A great idea. I actually sent him a mail an hour or so ago, as well as Techmod, Microscale and Blackbird ;)

I guess the best thing woyld be to redraw them as vector images?

 

thanks Chris.

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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Maybe progress. Microscale say they might produce these if I can send the artwork. I've asked if they woyld accept vector images. Is there anyone on this thread who could prepare these? I don't have those skills. 

 

@spaddad @72modeler  @chris57 @uncletommy @hsr @fubar57 and others .....

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
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2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Maybe progress. Microscale say they might produce these if I can send the artwork. I've asked if they woyld accept vector images. Is there anyone on this thread who could prepare these? I don't have those skills. 

 

@spaddad @72modeler  @chris57 @uncletommy @hsr @fubar57 and others .....

 

Martin

Down load one of these, they are free...https://www.maketecheasier.com/free-graphic-editor-for-creating-vector-image/

The Amarillo Font, there are a number of sites and install it into your computer fonts...https://www.dafont.com/amarillo-usaf.font

And while you're at it, the USAF Font...https://www.fonts4free.net/usaaf-stencil-font.html

Edited by fubar57
Amended font as per Ed
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34 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

Microscale doesn't already have the artwork of the sheets they once printed?

They must have, they produced numerous sheets in different colours in several scales, both solid & stencilled.

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22 minutes ago, fubar57 said:

You learn something every day! I was under the impression there were two brothers, one as Superscale and the other as Microscale. Obviously Fake News.!!

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Yeah Dave,

 

That was issue. I use an old copy of Photoshop CS-4 and imported the font, but unlike other font, mine only shows up as one size.  That got me to wandering whether there might be something wrong with my version.

My last time around, I just scanned some black decals for what I wanted, changed the color in Photoshop to Insignia Blue, and then printed two copies on my Epson Inkjet, using clear decal paper, then just added the second layer (to darken the color) atop the first decal when that had dried:

 

2v2EvFZ5jxfzdhW.jpg

 

Somewhere online and years ago, I found the colors swatches ".ACO" files that could be plugged into Photoshop, to have ready to go color swatches for USAAC, USN, etc. and many other nationalities.  You might just try a search for "color Swatches" or whatever they're called for your photo software.

 

Ed

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1 hour ago, fubar57 said:

Down load one of these, they are free...https://www.maketecheasier.com/free-graphic-editor-for-creating-vector-image/

The Amarillo Font, there are a number of sites and install it into your computer fonts...https://befonts.com/download/amarillo

And while you're at it, the USAF Font...https://www.fonts4free.net/usaaf-stencil-font.html

 

I've got the font. I'm just not good at vector imaging

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Fubar57,

 

Please recheck your links -- the second one DOES NOT downlaod the Amarillo USAF type font!  It downloads a brandname "Amarillo" script font whose real name is "Marigold". That site just adopted the Amarillo name for it's own use...

 

Ed

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2 hours ago, Jabba said:

You could also try contacting Caracal Decals about this.

 

They are a bit overloaded

 

All - Microscale say vector images could well work for them. Any volunteers?

Edited by RidgeRunner
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16 minutes ago, TheRealMrEd said:

Fubar57,

 

Please recheck your links -- the second one DOES NOT downlaod the Amarillo USAF type font!  It downloads a brandname "Amarillo" script font whose real name is "Marigold". That site just adopted the Amarillo name for it's own use...

 

Ed

What a purty font and definitely what you don't want to see on the side of an aircraft. Amended the font link. Thanks Ed

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2 hours ago, chris57 said:

But didn't Microscale cease to exist when the brother passed away?. I know I picked up a lot of mine from Squadron.

 

I meant to post this earlier, the response from Microscale:

 

"We do not have the art for those decals.  The aircraft line was taken over by one of the Krasel brothers and we have very few samples  of the decals in that line.  We do have a copy of 72-188 but that is all.  Do you have pictures of what the other sheets looked like that you could send us?  We might do them if we know what they are.

We do have a sheet in our current line that might help someone over there.  It is AC72-0031 and it is USAF and Army lettering."

 

Martin

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1 hour ago, TheRealMrEd said:

 

That was issue. I use an old copy of Photoshop CS-4 and imported the font, but unlike other font, mine only shows up as one size.  That got me to wandering whether there might be something wrong with my version.

 

Ed,

 

I use Photoshop Elements 9 and a downloaded Amarillo font (and Long Beach) and they work fine. I simply draw them out on a large size canvas (20-30cm), crop and then resize the image to the physical dimensions I need. It works a treat. My reasoning for asking about decals rather than printing is to get around the seeping of ink that happens with home prints, unless I'm doing something wrong?

 

Martin

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What about a stencil cutter to cut to different sizes then you can paint the insignia blue. There will only be four places where you will have the centre the inside of the letters, A, R , O and another R. 

 

Robert

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1 hour ago, RidgeRunner said:

 

I meant to post this earlier, the response from Microscale:

 

"We do not have the art for those decals.  The aircraft line was taken over by one of the Krasel brothers and we have very few samples  of the decals in that line.  We do have a copy of 72-188 but that is all.  Do you have pictures of what the other sheets looked like that you could send us?  We might do them if we know what they are.

We do have a sheet in our current line that might help someone over there.  It is AC72-0031 and it is USAF and Army lettering."

 

Martin

The aircraft line became Superscale, which was subsequently purchased by Squadron. I do not know whether Squadron acquired the decal artwork as well. I never heard it discussed when I worked there (Editor, Squadron/Signal Publications, 2005-2007). But it might be worth an inquiry.

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Martin,

 

Do a search for this product : Papilio Ink Freeze Pigment Drying Agent     It is a fine powder than you sprinkle atop the just-printed ink jet decal, and let set for about 15 seconds, then wipe off with a artist's foam pad.  You can then spray a fixative over the top. I use the Papilio fixative as it is flexible and clear and goes on with a very fine mist.  Their own website is not fun to navigate, but there is a lot of detailed info on printing decals there.

 

A couple of years back, Papilio offered a trial kit which had paper and everything you needed to do the job.  I have used their products with other manufacturer's decal paper with good results.  While not perfect, it does a good job of keeping the ink from smearing or running. That being said, I often print four or 5 of each figure, as some will inevitably be better than others. I used this stuff for the special decals on my Laven F-84B and the YA-7F models earlier.

 

Ed

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15 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

1-1-4 discontinued??? What replaced it?

Nothing did.  I believe that they decided it was duplicating what was already in the aircraft specific TOs.  It has been a long time but I think the aircraft -23 TO has the marking information.  For something like a C-17 it would then be T.O. 1C-17A-23.  Again, I am not exactly sure as to what -XX of the aircraft TO would have that information.  I do remember seeing the one for the C-5 shortly before I retired.  The last edition of 1-1-4 was the basic from may 1994, Change 7 dated 17 July 1998, so it was discontinued sometime after that.  What is interesting is what was NOT in 1-1-4.  For example, the F-16 was never in the appendix for camoflauge painting, nor in the part for standard paint schemes.  The only F-16 material was in the section for the tactical codes and serial number on the tail.

Later,

Dave

Edited by e8n2
Added additional info.
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4 hours ago, TheRealMrEd said:

Martin,

 

Do a search for this product : Papilio Ink Freeze Pigment Drying Agent     It is a fine powder than you sprinkle atop the just-printed ink jet decal, and let set for about 15 seconds, then wipe off with a artist's foam pad.  You can then spray a fixative over the top. I use the Papilio fixative as it is flexible and clear and goes on with a very fine mist.  Their own website is not fun to navigate, but there is a lot of detailed info on printing decals there.

 

A couple of years back, Papilio offered a trial kit which had paper and everything you needed to do the job.  I have used their products with other manufacturer's decal paper with good results.  While not perfect, it does a good job of keeping the ink from smearing or running. That being said, I often print four or 5 of each figure, as some will inevitably be better than others. I used this stuff for the special decals on my Laven F-84B and the YA-7F models earlier.

 

Ed

 

Thanks a million Ed. I've ordered fixative as a trial. You cant get the powders here as far as I can see so I might order from your side of the water. The mailing fees might be prohibitive, though :(. 

 

Martin

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As a little bit of info that might help when printing text in programs such as MS Paint or Word if I need small letters for instruction placards EMERGENCY EXIT CUT HERE  sort of idea the font settings often only go down to 7 point

If you highlight the setting number in its box you can force the number lower

On some I did for a Wessex build and my recent CH-53 I used values as low as 2 point for airframe instructions and 1 point for upper window warnings on the Wessex

 

My biggest drawback is a reluctance to pay Epson huge amounts of money for yellow and cyan inks...

 

There has been some great information on this bookmarked thread, thanks folks

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13 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

 

They are a bit overloaded

 

All - Microscale say vector images could well work for them. Any volunteers?

Last year I redrew an old Scale-Master sheet (SM-18B) for a friend. It's mostly 1/72, with the lower right part in 1/144 scale. The original was black, he needed it in white. Shown below is the 1/72 version on an A4. It's in vector (CorelDraw).

usafwhite.jpg

Changing the color is less than a minute work. Here's the same artwork in my favorite approximation of Insignia Blue.

usafblue.jpg

You can use the artwork if you want.

 

Rob

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