I thought of this question after I completed my 1/48 R/M B-17G. I put ever last decal on that sucker. Afterward, I noticed that they tended to stick out a lot. I started looking up other peoples builds on the B-17G and I noticed that a lot, if not most, didn’t bother to put a lot of the smaller decals like the ones on the wing.
Now, I’m doing the 1/48 Pro-Modeler Ju-88C-6 and again, I notice from researching other peoples builds that most don’t bother to put the smaller decals on, particularly noticable on the wings.
Is this because they simply weren’t that noticable on the actual aircraft? Or that the decal sheet has them out of proportion? Or that maybe people don’t want to take the time to put all those tiny decals on? I’m curious what the possible reasons are.
Generally because they are a general pain to apply and when you do, you will almost always find out that you applied the left-hand decal to the right-hand side, they will flip over to make mirror-writing, their membranes can tend to be heavy for their size and make it difficult to not knock them off or out of place before they get sealed, etc., etc.
Also, in the field, the stencils these decals represent usually were not re-done once the plane left the factory, and any model kit built to represent a veteran warbird with field applied camoflaging, special markings, wear, weathering, etc., tended to obliterate them, so in fact a weathered field-camo’d warbird with perfect crisp,clean stencilling is in contradiction to reality.
Because of that I always see them as optional, and only apply them when and if I feel like it.
This is not unlike perfectly painted cockpit framing some modelers sweat blood over, where I mentioned before I have a full color WWII photo of a B-25 being wheeled out of the North American factory, wherein the painted nose canopy framing is definately thicker then the actual metal framing.
I’ll do a few here and there, and when I get bored, I stop. Sometimes I use them all, sometimes hardly any. Some kits you think they just went nuts with them… Tamiya’s P-47s, for instance. Good grief- there’s hardly any room for paint to show through! LOL
Occasionally I’ll look at reference photos and see what showed up on the real aircraft. Usually I don’t see as many there, so I don’t feel bad if I don’t have them all.
Interesting, thanks. Sounds like it a combination of many reasons why someone puts the small ones on or not. I never gave it much thought before. I’m glad I asked. Since this current build is theoretical decals for the scheme I’m using anyway, I think I’ll skip most of the small ones. Thanks for helping me with my excuse. [:D] I’m still curious of others thoughts on the subject though.
Sometimes I’ll leave stencils and other small decals off, but depending on the subject, there are times I need to use all of them on a particular area. The wings of my 1/48 D.VII are a good example, as the entire surface area of both the upper and the lower are completely covered with 'em, 88 on the upper wing and 70 on the lower one, consisting of lozenge, rib tapes, insignias, and only a few stencils. I could have probably omitted the stencils, but I figured what the heck since I’d already gone that far that a half dozen more wouldn’t seem like such a big deal.
I confess to the same atitude. I always do the no step stuff and what you can see when the model is sitting on the table. Now mind you None of my models could get near a contest at this point, and for that I would follow the advice given, i.e. focus on the time and place and proceed accordingly.
I tend to model airliners or USAF multiengine silver airplanes, both of which are pretty well maintained. One reason for that is I don’t much weather, but that’s another story.
I have noticed that the dashed lines around cut out areas are usually way too bold in decal sets.
I build mostly WWII luftwaffe stuff and no I usually do not use most of the smaller decals or stenciles. The main reason for this is 90% of luftwaffe fighters these marking were painted over, left off from the get go or worn off due to use and abuse. I also noticed alot of modern fighter that are in service do not have all the steciling I see on most models.
Yet another reason is that in my experience the small stencil decals are much more prone to silvering. I usually test one or two first & if they silver I remove them & don’t bother with the rest.
[#ditto] bingo on that one. I have applied all stencils before and found they tend to silver a lot easier than the others. I have had to sand them off weeks later as it looks awfull. I usually only use a few that stand out like on gear door or ordinance and no step. The rest I throw out.
If I have the stencils I usually use them but only because I’m a sucker for punishment. There have been one or two cases where I’ve regretted it as it was just too much and detracted from the model, usually becasue they were out of scale, but it most cases I like the stencils. I had one model of a TBF where the prop stencils were more like 1/48 instead of the actual 1/72 of the model, like someone copied the decal sheet from 1/48 and forgot to reduce the prop stencil… sheesh!!!
I agree with Rick on the silvering issue, they do have a tendency to do that so best to test a couple first.
Ok, another curiousity question. Of the small decals, which do you think are most to least important. I know all aircraft have different types of small decals, but just trying to get an idea. For instance, on this Ju-88, for small decals I’m leaning towards at least putting the gas octane triangles on, I’m not sure about the red dashed lines for the step indicators though(if that’s what they are) and I’m really leaning towards not putting on the stencils.
No Step. Rescue triangles. Wing walk lines if you’re lucky enough to get 'em. Instrument panels I guess, but I dont use them. Outlines to me always look too big.
And the little ones silver notoriously, plus I’ll bet I put 1/2 of them on upside down, flipped over, or leave them to die in the bottom of my dish of water.
I usually try to cram on as many decals as I can, but then weather my model AFTERWARD. That way, the decals that would naturally get covered up get, well… covered up!
You can sort of see this on my Bv 222 with the white overspray:
Back to the original question, I put all the decals on unless I feel/think that this is not an good portrail of the aircraft.
It depends on what I find in my research, sometimes stencil get painted over etc. on real aircraft but I have seen pictures of some aircraft (for instance F-4’s) where it looks like if they have printed the whole manual on the aircraft
In general, I think it makes the whole aircraft look more dressed up and unless a specific airplane shows photos without them, they add to the realism (obvioulsy this is case by case).
Another thought is that on some aircraft they are more “needed” than others. Some of the modern jets, especially the ones painted in shades of white and light gray, look absolutely stunning with all of the markings on them (Think of a Navy Phantom, etc.). My 1/48 P-26a painted in OD over NG didn’t stick out to me as “naked” without the stencils.
I will say that one of the detractors to stencils is that if you are lazy and don’t make sure all of the stencils are square, you end up with a bunch of stencils that are all applied at slightly different angles and it gives the overall look of the plane a less appealing look.
I guess what it comes down to is personal preference. Like many issues in modeling it’s not so much right or wrong (unless you’re in a serious competition) it what you like vs. don’t like on your own build.
Most of the time, it depends on my mood as to whether I put on the stencils. Usually I don’t do any at all, or just a smattering of No Step, fuel locators, rescue, etc type stencils.
The F-14 that I just finished would not have looked complete without the rescue stencils, but I believe it was the F-84 that I did a while back that I decided to become a glutton for punishment and apply every stinking stencil that was included. Took days to complete that and while I thought the effort was worth it for that particular aircraft, I likely would not do that for a WWII warbird.
