Toning down decals

[catcow1234]

Hi,

I'm nearing the end of my Airfix 1:72 Eurofighter build however the decals are to dark! Things like the 'No Step' warnings are only a couple of shades darker than the overall colour on the real aircraft but the decals with the kit are very dark (see pic)

What is the best way to tone these down to make them more realistic colour wise?

Thanks

[NickParker]

I had a similar problem when i built the big revell tiffie, i simply added a drop of barley gray to my final matt varnish, when i say a drop i mean literary 1 drop, this acts like a filter and tie's the colour scheme together, just be careful to spray evenly and don't over do it, and don't expect huge differences its only very subtle if you do it right. hope this helped.

Nick

[catcow1234]

That's great, i'll give it a try.

Thanks

[Pielstick]

I'm building a BoB Spit at the moment and don't want the decals to look pristine on the weathered paint job. Just thinking about it - would it be possible to mist on a very light coat of say light buff or light grey whilst the decals are still on the sheet? this way I keep the effect confined to the decals and not the already weathered paintwork.

Any ideas? Anyone tried it before?

[Giorgio N]

I'm building a BoB Spit at the moment and don't want the decals to look pristine on the weathered paint job. Just thinking about it - would it be possible to mist on a very light coat of say light buff or light grey whilst the decals are still on the sheet? this way I keep the effect confined to the decals and not the already weathered paintwork.

Any ideas? Anyone tried it before?

There's a big problem with this approach: you'll weather also the carrier film and not only the part you want. As such it will show badly on the finished model.

Best would be to weather everything when the decals are already on, however at this point you can try to make the codes dirty in other ways, for example using pastels as this provide more control

[composite guru]

I found that if you thin down the background colour that the decal is on an lightly paint over them so it mists the decal then it gives the decal a worn look. It's worth doing an experiment first just to make sure it's thin enough. Then when the last clearcoat goes on it will blend everything in nicely.

I did this effect on my first model and here is the result.

[gcn]

There's a big problem with this approach: you'll weather also the carrier film and not only the part you want. As such it will show badly on the finished model.

Best would be to weather everything when the decals are already on, however at this point you can try to make the codes dirty in other ways, for example using pastels as this provide more control

You will need to blend the decals in with the rest of the Aircraft so for instance if you have a darkened panel line that a decal sits on top of then you will need to repeat the weathering effect on the decal.

To finally blend it all together I spray a thinned misting of Tamiya buff that takes away the gloss of the decal nicely without having an impact on the paintwork of the aircraft (make sure it is a pretty thin mix otherwise it would lighten it too much)