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

[TheRealMrEd]

Martin,

 

The Ink Freeze looks a lot like baking soda.  Not being a chemist, I can;t say for certain.  You might try a small non-critical trial run...

 

Ed

[72modeler]

Sorry, Martin- just got back in town. I can't help you with the images you need, but if you tell me what decals you need for the project you're working on, send me a pm- I'm pretty sure I have enough spares that I can send you some. Just give me the titles/colors/sizes you are needing, and I'll see what I can do. I'm going to have to learn how to make decals, especially lettering, at some point, as I have a few Korean War aircraft I'd love to do, but there are no decals/lettering for. Ain't that the way it always goes?

Mike

Edited February 21, 2019 by 72modeler
corrected spelling

[RidgeRunner]

1 hour ago, 72modeler said:

Sorry, Martin- just got back in town. I can't help you with the images you need, but if you tell me what decals you need for the project you're working on, send me a pm- I'm pretty sure I have enough spares that I can send you some. Just give me the titles/colors/sizes you are needing, and I'll see what I can do. I'm going to have to learn how to make decals, especially lettering, at some point, as I have a few Korean War aircraft I'd love to do, but here are no decals/lettering for. Ain't that the way it always goes?

Mike

 

That's a kind offer, Mike. Thanks a lot. Let me get the current ones done and I will get back to you.

 

Martin

Edited February 20, 2019 by RidgeRunner

[Rob de Bie]

13 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

I'm going to have to learn how to make decals, especially lettering, at some point, as I have a few Korean War aircraft I'd love to do, but here are no decals/lettering for. Ain't that the way it always goes?

I suggest you start learning decal design today 🙂 Vector graphics are not too difficult to learn, and once you master the basicss, it is a blast to do.

Rob

[RidgeRunner]

On 2/20/2019 at 3:22 AM, 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

 

Hi Ed! @TheRealMrEd

 

Thank you! I got hold of some Papilio fixative and bingo, it worked a treat!

 

 

An additional thanks to Rob de Bie @Rob de Bie for help with the USAF decals, including the colour. I'll be honest that these are printed using Photoshop but they are great. I simply used the same images that I used for my previous build (58-1155) and modified the colour a little. Today, as you can see, I got the various blue letterig and numbers, the star-and -bar (red stripes to do), the break point red stripe and the badges. I have noticed that when I took the image I had moved the ARDC badge under the port wing - rectified now

 

Martin

 

[opus999]

I just now found this thread and have had the same frustrations with the lack of USAF lettering. I did a B-66 which was one of my proudest builds and the decals turned black within 9 months, ruining the build as described here:

 

I've toyed with the idea of doing it again with a new kit, but new evidence seems to indicate that the Testors decals were the culprit, so if I found a new kit on ebay, I'd still need after market decals. Or possibly non-Alclad paint.

 

Anyway, this a long intro to my question which is: what do you use (i.e., paper) for printing your own decals? I've only seen the Testors decal paper and research I've done on the internet seems to always lead to complaining about how decal printing doesn't work.  The pictures on this thread suggest otherwise, so I am very interested in this again.

[uncletommy]

8 minutes ago, opus999 said:

I just now found this thread and have had the same frustrations with the lack of USAF lettering. I did a B-66 which was one of my proudest builds and the decals turned black within 9 months, ruining the build as described here:

 

I've toyed with the idea of doing it again with a new kit, but new evidence seems to indicate that the Testors decals were the culprit, so if I found a new kit on ebay, I'd still need after market decals. Or possibly non-Alclad paint.

 

Anyway, this a long intro to my question which is: what do you use (i.e., paper) for printing your own decals? I've only seen the Testors decal paper and research I've done on the internet seems to always lead to complaining about how decal printing doesn't work.  The pictures on this thread suggest otherwise, so I am very interested in this again.

Take a look at this topic that my friend @TheRealMrEd posted some time ago.

 

 

I've followed his sage advice and have been equally pleased with the results.  

[TheRealMrEd]

Thanks, Uncle Tommy!

 

Another couple of bit's worth of advice that I've learned since then, is that when you are reducing larger artwork for making smaller decals, it helps to convert the artwork to at least 360 dpi and then reduce the image by 10% at a time, rather than reducing the image all at once.  For example, on the artwork I'm doing for a current project, the artwork was actually 17 inches wide to begin with, and it needed to shrink down to 1.30 inches wide in the end.  So rather than shrinking it all at once, I first shrank it to 15", then 13", then 11", then 9", then 7", then 5", then 3", and finally to 1.3"  The difference was dramatic as far as retained detail!

 

Also, depending upon your software (I use an old copy of PhotoShop CS4  -- your mileage may vary), when going to re-size image smaller, be sure to check the "Resample Image" box, then select Bicubic Sharpener as the method (best for reduction), as opposed to Bilinear, or Bicubic (best for smooth gradients) or Bicubic Smoother (best for enlarging images).

 

You will see a difference in your final result...

 

Ed

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by TheRealMrEd

[Jackson Duvalier]

Fascinating discussion, gentlemen, and most enlightening.  I'm well aware of the misuse of black lettering where Insignia Blue is appropriate, and for certain kits have laid in a supply of correct decals.  I recently came across a somewhat different conundrum. 

 

I bought the most recent repop of Hasegawa's venerable Cessna A-37 kit from a Japanese hobby shop for a bargain bin price, as it's not worth local retail for a "new" kit, could I find one.  I was initially hoping to repurpose certain plastic bits and the Vietnam markings for use on the superior Academy A-37 kit, my specimen of which came with worse than normal off-register Academy decals.  Hasegawa Marking Option One is for a mid-eighties-ish lo-vis scheme, Option Two for a Vietnam scheme with star-and-bars decals that are black, as are the USAF lettering.

 

I assumed this was most incorrect, but we know about assumptions.  While Hasegawa has had some decal quirks before (e.g., ivory for white), I've never seen them completely cheap out on blue ink (bottom-of-u-and-me again) but them again this is a forty year-old tooling and they may not have bothered, especially since Number One Scheme is basically all grey-scale ink.

 

To ask what may well be a stupid question, were there ever really black, white, and  red national markings on any USAF aircraft?

[rossm]

Just to add to the fun this popped up the other day https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/PSL72368

[Jackson Duvalier]

1 hour ago, rossm said:

Just to add to the fun this popped up the other day https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/PSL72368

I'm honestly surprised pre-weathered decals aren't more common.  I generally lighten the tone of my colours to reflect weathering and "scale effect" and apply different preshade/black base/modulations before decaling.  I model aircraft in 1/72 scale, and a generally toned-down scheme really makes a difference to my eye in how realistic a model looks under general lighting conditions and improves the visibility of details.

 

Then I apply decals presumably matched to precise standards at full-scale specified colour value... and have to figure out some way of dialing it back to not stand out like a freshly applied bumper sticker....

[Giorgio N]

On 6/29/2019 at 10:04 PM, TheRealMrEd said:

Thanks, Uncle Tommy!

 

Another couple of bit's worth of advice that I've learned since then, is that when you are reducing larger artwork for making smaller decals, it helps to convert the artwork to at least 360 dpi and then reduce the image by 10% at a time, rather than reducing the image all at once.  For example, on the artwork I'm doing for a current project, the artwork was actually 17 inches wide to begin with, and it needed to shrink down to 1.30 inches wide in the end.  So rather than shrinking it all at once, I first shrank it to 15", then 13", then 11", then 9", then 7", then 5", then 3", and finally to 1.3"  The difference was dramatic as far as retained detail!

 

Also, depending upon your software (I use an old copy of PhotoShop CS4  -- your mileage may vary), when going to re-size image smaller, be sure to check the "Resample Image" box, then select Bicubic Sharpener as the method (best for reduction), as opposed to Bilinear, or Bicubic (best for smooth gradients) or Bicubic Smoother (best for enlarging images).

 

You will see a difference in your final result...

 

Ed

 

 

That's the nice thing of vector drawing softwares: the image retains all details regardless of the size and there's no need to worry about resolution

[Space Ranger]

13 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

To ask what may well be a stupid question, were there ever really black, white, and  red national markings on any USAF aircraft?

I've been building plastic models since about 1952, and I've never heard of such. Doesn't mean they didn't exist, however. As the model railroaders say, "There's a prototype for everything."

[RidgeRunner]

3 hours ago, Jordi said:

If you are talking about the "USAF" and "U.S. AIR FORCE" titles, then yes, those were applied in white, red, and black depending on the time period and aircraft/paint scheme in question.  Not common, but not unheard of.

And Insignia Blue, of course. 

[RidgeRunner]

On 2 July 2019 at 10:11 AM, Giorgio N said:

 

That's the nice thing of vector drawing softwares: the image retains all details regardless of the size and there's no need to worry about resolution

I just wish I could get my head around them, Giorgio. Photoshop works for a simpleton like me ;). My dilemma is how to set the size of images. I can, for example, draw out images on Inkscape but then setting the size for printing evades me.  Fir an oldie like me, who is trying to get his head around other software another one will just blow my meagre brain ;).

 

Martin

[rossm]

3 hours ago, Jordi said:

Do you mean a black, white, and red national insignia (star & bars)?  If so then yes, those on the SR-71 were white and red against the black "iron ball" paint of the aircraft.  I am not aware of any other instances, even on other black painted aircraft.

 

I have decals (Modeldecal) for a black Cessna O-2 which only give red and white parts. I can't get to my reference photo for a while but it is in one of the Arms and Armour Press Warbirds Illustrated series books on the Air War over Vietnam - there were 4 parts. However I suspect the quality of the shot or shots will not be good enough to verify if the insignia blue should be present or not.

 

The early B-57 is another possibility that comes to mind, the Mikesh book has a colour drawing showing the blue surrounding the star and bar but it's hard to see in photos and in some - e.g. p54 top left - I'd say the probability to my eyes is that the blue is not present. However in the centre photo on the rear of the dustjacket there is a definite change in texture as much as colour where you would expect the blue to be. Looking through the book after noticing the 'Vermont' tag on the fin shows that photo is of an aircraft repainted in an all black scheme late in it's career as a kind of celebration of the long service of the B-57 so it is not a true period representation of the scheme and may just be creating confusion.

 

Photos of the later 'Patricia Lynn' aircraft with small national insignia show the blue surround but they are in a very matt finish, not the same as the early B-57B's, so again not helpful.

 

Going through all the photos of early black scheme aircraft in the Mikesh book it looks to me like the RB-57A's had the blue surround but the B-57B's had just the white and red against the black of the airframe - is that possible?

[rossm]

3 hours ago, Jordi said:

A black O-2 would have been an anomaly.  I know for certain that B-57s had red/white/blue insignias on them.  Lots of photos showing that they were applied as such at the factory in Baltimore.

OK, got a period pic of a B-57B with the blue here https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1583751 . Still puzzled by the photo in the Mikesh book which is pretty clear and there is no obvious colour or texture difference indicating the blue but I guess it could be down to lighting.

 

Black O-2s were used for night FAC work - see http://www.o2cricket.com/the-plane/ or https://travelforaircraft.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/kudy-jay-write/ which have period photos as well as the restoration ones. No clear period ones showing insignia though and it would be good to know if the decal sheet is correct or not.

[TheRealMrEd]

Hi Martin,

 

Since I'm frequently working with scans of rather poor B/W images, they usually start off in .jpg format, and sometimes, I can't get Adobe Illustrator to trace them so that I can turn them into .PNG files more readily.  I usually like working with larger artwork to start, so I frequently scan at 360 or 720 dpi, which get pretty large.  When done with the larger artwork, I use the Image Size function in Photoshop, and change from pixels to inches for the width/height.  As in the example given earlier, I needed to get from 17" down to 1-1/4", scaled in increments as described earlier.  It's simply a matter of dividing the smaller number by the larger number if you're doing it as a percentage.  For the smaller number (actual size), I measure the space needed on the model (width), and then scale down to that.  Sometimes it takes two or three tries to get it right.

 

Ed

[RidgeRunner]

5 hours ago, TheRealMrEd said:

Hi Martin,

 

Since I'm frequently working with scans of rather poor B/W images, they usually start off in .jpg format, and sometimes, I can't get Adobe Illustrator to trace them so that I can turn them into .PNG files more readily.  I usually like working with larger artwork to start, so I frequently scan at 360 or 720 dpi, which get pretty large.  When done with the larger artwork, I use the Image Size function in Photoshop, and change from pixels to inches for the width/height.  As in the example given earlier, I needed to get from 17" down to 1-1/4", scaled in increments as described earlier.  It's simply a matter of dividing the smaller number by the larger number if you're doing it as a percentage.  For the smaller number (actual size), I measure the space needed on the model (width), and then scale down to that.  Sometimes it takes two or three tries to get it right.

 

Ed

Hi Ed, 

 

It sounds like your process is much like mine. For fonts (Amarillo, USN, etc) I get to Photoshop and open a new large file. I draw/write out my image in as large as font as I can. I then crop it very finely. From the I resize in the way you describe. I then add a small border to aid printing and then copy multiples of the image in to one image. I might, for example, copy six copies of a serial in a line and then flatten the image and save as a new file. For the colour, if not black, I use the eye dropper on a great Blue sample I got from Rob de Bie. For images other than lettering or numbers I either try to source a pre-drawn version from the net, modifying if needed, or take the original photo, paste it as large as I can (while blacking un-needed surround to save ink) on a new image. I then print that and redraw it by hand and scan. Thereafter I follow the same process as above.

 

These may not be the best methods but they work for an oldie like me.

 

M