Hey guys,
I’m building my Blue Angles fleet and as I was going through the decal sets, I came across two MAJOR problems.
-
Hasegawa F/A-18 - the decals are a mustardy yellow color; nowhere near the correct yellow for the Angels
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Fujimi A-4F - these decals are litterally orange. Not like the color went funny, or a dark yellow - I mean pumpkin orange. The sheet looks brand new, so I know it’s not an age related issue.
I scanned them into my PC to try and change the color in Photoshop - and while I can get the color to look right, the image ends up being so muddy, they’re unusable.
So, what I’m looking for:
Can anyanyone point me in the direction of a place that has these sets, in stock? I’ve found places that list older sets as “no longer available”
or
Does anyone have these decals from other manufacturers and could either email me a hi-res scan or are maybe looking to get rid of them all together? If you can do a scan, the scale doesn’t matter, I’ll scale them down myself. What does matter, is the color.
or
Someone who knows a fool-proof way of adjusting the color in PS. I’ll email you the files if you know how to do it. Or post up a tutorial, I’m sure it would be helpful to mutiple people.
Thanks for any and all help, fellas [H]
-Fred
CAM Decals has a 1/72 set for the F/A-18 representing the 2006 season. They can be ordered from their website. They also have a sheet for the F-4J if you need that.
There is vendor on Ebay who is offering Blue Angel sheets in both 1/72 and 1/48 where the sheets include decals for the F6F, F9F, A-4 and F/A-18. Just search for “1/72 Blue Angel Decals”. I have the 1/72 set; the color looks good on them, but I haven’t used them yet. The F/A-18 decals have Cdr Russ Bartlett as Boss, so that would mean they would represent the 2003-2004 timeframe.
The absolute best Blue Angel decals I’ve seen were the ones by Yellowhammer, but they’re almost impossible to find these days (I’m hoarding a couple sets of their 1/32 F-4J Blue Angels sheets).
FWIW, I always paint the wing, elevator and fin tips rather than using decals. I use a flat white primer under the yellow and then mask them off before painting the rest of the aircraft blue. I think it looks a lot better; you just have to make sure that you match the color on your decals.
Keep in mind that both the actual colors used by the Blues have changed over time, so make sure you’re using accurate references for the actual aircraft you’re modeling.
HTH,
Mark
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the tip off on the decals [H]. Any idea on the opacity? I purchased a set for the F8F, off of ebay and they’re fairly thin. When finances allow, I may purchase another set and add them on top, just to get the color, closer.
As far as colors are concerned, I’m pretty sure only the Hellcat was a different color, being overall dark sea (Navy) blue and gold. After that, they settled on the blue and yellow, they use now.
And I almost always paint the tips, just easier than fussing with the little decals that never adhere quite right.
-Fred
OK, I just looked up the decal sheet, I didn’t realize it was just the “U.S. NAVY” and “Blue Angels” markings. I was kind of hoping for the entire thing, pinstripes and all.
But thank you, anyway [H]
I sent CAM decals an email, seeing if they’ll ressurrect the A-4 decal sheet, or let me purchase a digital file to make my own.
If in the meantime, anyone knows of a set, for the A-4, let me know.
-Fred
if you go to shows with vendors,look for the old Hasegawa Blue Angels TA-4J/A-4F kit, the decals in those are more yellow than the Fujimi’s pumpkin colored sheets
also look for a Hasegawa Cougar, you’ll get more decals to overlay to eliminate the see through effect (use double decals for each Hasegawa sheet you use) Revell of Germany’s Panther kit comes with BA decals, too,didn’t use them so I don’t know how well they cover,ohh, the Has Tiger had them in different sets for the two different length noses from different seasons, one includes the early Tiger decals and a resin short nose for them
only other sheets that might help is to get an old Revell Blue Angel “4 in the box” kit,and double up all but the tail number,you could have the one set I’ve saved, but, you don’t want them,the backing is yellowed with age
Rex
oh, just remembered,in Monogram USN Color Guides, he has a Blue Angels chapter at the end,the blue and the yellow came from different vendors for different aircraft, and in some cases, for different seasons for the same aircraft
so, you’re quite free in just what shade you use for any given aircraft, if they changed it a lot, so can we, lol
Rex
Hey Rex,
Thanks for the offer on the sheet [H]
So far, I’ve built all the Angels, up through the Phantom (finished that, this morning). The kits I’ve built have all had fairly decent decals. The colors have been correct, but they were fragile - especially on the F9F-5. Opacity has been pretty good, as well. Except for the F8F-1 Beearcat. The only -1 Bearcat in 1/72, didn’t come with BA markings. I had to find a sheet on ebay, for those. Which is really too bad, too - it’s a new release (of an older kit), but it would have been a good opportunity to add in new decals.
I built the short nose Tiger and the kit only had the decals for that bird.
But in the good news department, I spoke with Ray at C.A.M. Decals and he told me that the A-4 BA markings are scheduled for a re-release come mid year, 2011. I know that sounds a ways off, but CAM, supposedly, does good work, so it’ll be worth the wait. In the meantime, I’ll get the Hornet sheet from them. I’m using the pictures I took of them last year, as reference, and they used the standard FS Blue Angels yellow.
I would have thought that a subject as popular as the Blue Angels, would have a ton of resources, readily available - guess I was wrong, LOL.
-Fred