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British Experimental and Research decals


Head in the clouds.

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I am currently trying to find someone that would produce a run of decal sheets for aircraft and helicopters related to the above title and am posting here to see if anyone other than myself would be interested. I am aware of some sheets being available but for me it is those fine details that are hard to replicate or find, unit crests/badges, white lower case lettering, or any other decal that will lift the finished model. Also, using any that may be on the above sheets will render them short when the time comes to build that airframe.

My initial thoughts are to fit as much onto the sheet as possible so no idea should be left on the shelf. I would like to make several Canberra test airframes from the Olympus Canberra record attempt aircraft to Swifter flight machines with the respective badges.

This is just a feeler, what are your thoughts?

 

Cheers.

 

 

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That would make sense for both of us, I know there are others with similar interests to ourselves so hopefully we can get a reasonable number showing interest and then throw some ideas around.

Some items are obvious, other less so but with a good number of heads it should be possible to cover most peoples desires.

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15 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Some items are obvious, other less so but with a good number of heads it should be possible to cover most peoples desires.

My wishlist and general direction is in this thread

More in the direction of things which haven’t been kitted elsewhere

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15 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I have visited that thread before, some fantastic designs you are catching there. As many of your kits never flew would you be looking for 'What if ' schemes, including A&AEE etc/

Probably, yes - I can get so far with the P roundels but later types would need those different options for A&AEE etc.

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I'd be very interested, especially in Cold War era RAE/A&AEE/ETPS types as well as DERA/BAe/ETPS stuff following on from that era up to the present day. Generic DERA/ETPS/RAE etc titling in various sizes as well as associated Unit Crests etc would be very useful. Like yourself, I have many of the Airdecal, Combat Decals and Vingtor sheets but would welcome anything that would enable more of the very varied UK military serialled test fleets to be modelled.

 

Mark.

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I am also interested in such subjects and I have a few kits already allocated to various subjects from RAE and similar establishments.

As I'm relatively experienced in designing decals, I have no problem in sorting some markings, others would need more work... if there is interest we may consider some form of collaboration. I can design markings but can not print them properly (where for properly I mean like professional decal sheet). I may know who could print them though,

I would suggest getting in touch and see what can be done !

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Hi Giorgio.

 

Thank you.

I am open to any ideas to try and get a limited run of these obscure decals,the more that can be fitted onto a sheet the more it may appeal to others and keep costs down.

 

I have no ability to either design or print so your contribution would be a great step forward, I have tried a couple of avenues to see if anyone would be interested to print them but no joy thus far.

 

My thoughts at this moment in time are to leave this post to tick over for another week or so to see if more come on board, then we can get an idea of what people are looking for but I don't think any of us will be poles apart. I know of others on this forum whom like to model prototypes and research types so hopefully they will join in.

 

Gary

 

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Gary, sounds like a good idea ! Let's wait and see who else could be interested and then we can make a plan.

 

From my side there are certain things that are very easy to design, serial numbers and titles for example, that in most cases follow relatively standard designs.

Other things can be a bit more tricky, like unit badges but IIRC most British experimental types wore quite little from this point of view and something like say the RAE insignia and similar stuff is actually quite easy. For these reasons I don't see this as a difficult design job in general.

What is important is to get good references, pictures and if possible the size of the various markings... keeping in mind that sometime the real size must be modified to get the decal to fit on the model when this does not scale exactly, but this is part of my "job".

Just thinking out loud, a way to work could be to get all the interested parties to submit their ideas and collaboratively try to back any idea with the required references, then design a first "draft", circulate it, get opinions, work on the sizing and then discuss the printing options. But let's wait and see what others have in mind

 

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On 9/7/2020 at 10:11 AM, Giorgio N said:

Just thinking out loud, a way to work could be to get all the interested parties to submit their ideas and collaboratively try to back any idea with the required references, then design a first "draft", circulate it, get opinions, work on the sizing and then discuss the printing options. But let's wait and see what others have in mind

That sounds like a sound plan Giorgio.

 

I have done a simple internet search but it offers up very little, I think old school books and publications are a way forward, there are some very good examples in ' British Military Test and Evaluation Aircraft, The Golden Years,1945-1975' with unit badges shown in isolation from the illustrations. Also, some very interesting company logos and one off's like the, 'Gloster Javelin FAW1 DH Gyron Junior ' engine test bed  to name just one.

 

In the meantime, I will try to gather up some good reference material, pics ,etc, and forward them to you via a PM when we are all agreed on a final format. If everyone else interested could do likewise we should have plenty to fill a sheet. One other thing that has not been mentioned yet is what scale people prefer,  for me it is 1/72 and to a lesser degree 1/48, what about the rest of you?

 

 

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1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

for me it is 1/72 and to a lesser degree 1/48, what about the rest of you?

I would definitely be more interested in 1/72, however Harriers in 1/48th could tempt me to the dark side!

 

The Hunter T12 XE531 hasn't been covered to the best of my knowledge, that small white RAE titling and badge without a background is virtually impossible to come up with from spare decals. Hunter F6 XF375 would be another very attractive scheme, albeit the linked image doesn't show the ETPS badge and titling carried on the starboard side of the nose.

 

Will have a think about subjects over the next few days and see what references I can come up with.

 

Mark.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Folks.

This thread has been ticking over for a few weeks now to give all interested parties a chance to come on board. Now we shall move it forward and I will PM you all shortly with how we may proceed and kick around some subject matter.

Get your lists together and will chat soon.

 

Gary

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