This may be a silly question, but when do you decide to paint something instead of using the decal. i.e. the Tamiya P-51B Mustang that I’m working on right now has the white lines on the wings. These were four part decals and a bad word to line up. I should have masked and painted, but poor pre-planning on my part, I didn’t. So, this got me to wondering how others decide what to paint and what to use the decals.
No right or wrong answer, no hard-and-fast rule. The answers will be as individual as the respondent, though there may be some common themes.
For me, how good the decal will look, and whether painting will look better, and how difficult it will be to reproduce the marking with the decal or with painting, which usually means masking.
In this case, for the stripes used as theater markings on USAAF aircraft, I’d mask and paint them before using a decal. It’s just easier, provided you do it right, and looks better than most of the decals that might be provided to do it. When I say, “provided you do it right”, I mean you don’t do like I have done and lay down the main colors first, then realize you forgot to paint the stripe, so you have to mask a lot more than if you had laid down the stripe color first (lesson learned). If you use the decal, you might want to or even need to lay down a base color because the decal is too translucent, or for some other issue. That’s an additional step.
In the case of the horizontal rudder stripes US aircraft carried when we entered the war, I might choose to use a decal instead of painting. Though in this case, the effort required for either option is closer to equal. If you use a decal, you might want to lay down an undercoat, and you might have some trimming or some trouble fitting around things like hinges or the edge of the vertical stabilizer. If you choose to paint, you have to prepare masks and proceed through the 3 colors. Same kind of decision for me with yellow wings markings-paint things like the wing stripes, or use decals, if provided?
The scale just goes up. Probably the toughest subjects are checkerboard markings and US roundels. Mask them and paint them? Use decals? For the roundels, decals are easier, but some modelers are dissatisfied with the quality of many, or with the bit of raised relief the decal shows.
So, like I said, for me, mainly it’s a balance of factors, of the way the finished result will look and the amount of effort it takes. Others will have their own preferences.
Best regards,
Brad
For me it depends on how close together features of the markings are, and how thin the strokes are. I have become fairly good at making thin lines, so I do not regularly mask and paint thin lines. Of course if I am changing the markings, I usually make decals. 90+ % od the time I can find images with an image search (google). There are great drawings of virtually every airline. I have the Amerillo text loaded into my graphics program. Every squadron marking I have needed I found. With internet graphics and the good quality of decal paper these days I can make whatever I need!
Thanks for the replies. When it comes to the stripes, I think masking and painting should be the way I go from now on. It was too late for my P-51B, but future models I’ll make sure to do that. I was not happy with the 5 part decal, they didn’t come out at all. But that’s the whole point of modeling, learning and applying to the next model.
Painting does not come into it’s own unless you have access to a vinyl cutter and the software to draw the masks. That has been a game changer for me. Just about everything but the stencils and the stars are painted on this 1/48 RF-86F.
I usually will not paint intricate or multicolored markings but use decals 95% of the times. Things like wing stripes or ID fuselage banding will usually get masked and airbrushed.
Another method is using Solvaset on stubborn decals, melting them down as if painted on. They get snugged down on every surface detail. 
For me it comes down to if I need to have colors match. As the paint being used often times will not be an exact match to the color of the decal. Out side of this it will come down to the complexity of what the decal is representing. For example, text would be an easy one to just use the decal. Alternatively, something like stripes are going to be better painted.
I just completed a 1/48 Tamiya P-51D using the kit decals for an “out of the box” contest and I agree, if you want all the trim colors to match, paint as much as you can. The kit had a full nose decal in red with blue diamonds and called out painting the spinner, tail and canopy frame a TS red to match. I did not have the TS spray so I used an XF red, and the match was not great. Tamiya actually included a decal option to paint the nose red and add the diamonds that would have been the better choice.
The model turned out pretty well but the red trim on it wasn’t the greatest in terms of color matching, though the actual aircraft appears to have had its trim painted in a series of changes, so maybe it’s more accurate after all. Thank goodness for color-crush, to the eye the red on it looks reasonably consistent.
Konrad
What vinyl cutter set up do you have? What software are you running?
Sorry, First post in the new system. LOL. Carry on… 
I use CorelDraw and Autocad. Autocad has alternatives, I recommend DesignCad, it’s not very expensive. There are older versions of CorelDraw that are not too expensive either. I have a Silhouette Cameo and a Cameo 4. DesignCad would be your best choice as it is better at basic drawing shapes with precision than CorelDraw. The software with the Cameo vinyl cutters can be used for drawing as well but I’ve never used those functions.
I have AutoCAD so the software side wouldn’t be an issue. I’ll have to look at the cameo. Thank you for the insights.