WOOOOHOOOOOO! I got my decal template done and man they look SHARP on paper! Now I’m ready to print on decal paper when the time comes to decal my bug.
Decals are low-vis gray. The “Bee” squadron insignia and the bee image on the “Sting” decal are the only images I used from pictures, the rest are were done using various fonts I found that matched USN standards. The “VFA-113” decals are not what you actually see on the planes, I used aquaduct TTF font in standard and reverse italics to get that swept look and I think it looks 100 times better than the actual marking on the plane. Most of the real A/C’s markings are black but since I have to use two other decal sheets that are printed in low-vis gray I decided to make my custom decals low-vis gray to match.
Waik, I think I am going to use clear decal paper for these. I want the paint color to show up behind the decal as it does on real F-18’s.
Lone, I can certainly make a PSP or Photo Shop “tube” transparency and I’d be more than happy to share. If your interested in the graphics I’ll scale them down and do a collage you can print from in an arranged decal format. Send me your your email address and I’ll email you a set as a “tube” file for PSP9.
Thanks Attila! I went through several different shades of gray til I got a low vis shade that closely matched the actual color seen on F-18’s. I’m very happy with the results!
AirMaster, make sure the decals are opaque enough before you get your hopes up too high. I’ve heard running it thru the printer two or three times helps. Good luck, and be sure to share your results!
I was scared to try this not knowing how it worked, looked and such. But now i have to go out and get it and try them. With me bieng a graphic artist i can make my own decals now…Hopefully
Revell-Monogram is well known for making some of the most horrorable decals sheet. Often times they are inaccurate for the A/C to which they are trying to represent. Thank the styrene godz for aftermarket decals and Testor Custom Decal Maker kit.
The Testors Custom Decal kit only comes with Surething Basic Edition software. I strongly suggest you also buy their Standard Edition software also from decalgear.com and use that instead. It’s the only one that lets you use your own images or pictures. I made most of my decals with Paint Shop Pro 9 cause your going to do alot of editing before you get the right look. Images can be resized to scale with the Surething program when you create your decal template. It’s actually alot of fun to use and I’m sure you will like it.
Very nice looking markings and good job on the art work. Be careful running through the printer more than once. They will more than likely be out of register. Hmmmm? How could I possibly know that? [;)] Also, in case like this, being slightly less than opaque may help with that low vis look. I know kit and AM decals are low vis but sometime they look a bit too bold so a little translucent may work here.
AM decals for VFA-113 1/48 in low vis are no longer available. Eagle Strike Productions web site was first place I checked having seen them in the AM section when I was working on my last bug. I checked every web site I knew of that sells decals and found nothing. This is why I decided to get the Testors kit and make my own.
I even called AM and they dont even answer their phone. I had better luck calling VF-Decals and spoke to Brian but he couldnt make them due to restictions. My guess is they were not popular enough for Bug Modelers so AM pulled them or they only offered them for an A bug and not a C bug.
Oh well, at least now when I see crappy OOB decals I now have the option to make a better set of my own.
Yeah, beware of the OPAQUE issue!!! I fussed over tail numbers for my 1/72 B-25 Doolittle Raider, got the right stencil font and everything, but could never get them to print out a dark enough shade of yellow. No matter what printer setting, etc., I tried, the things disappeared as soon as I put them down on the olive drab control surfaces. I even tried printing out a set in gray and applying them first, but nope, the yellow one still basically disappeared. I finally had to give up and get some aftermarket - but non-stencilled - decals.
Thanks for tips on the opaque issue. With this in mind now what I may do is print a test set, apply to model to see how they look, this way I can go back and edit and reprint as needed.
Looks great Air Master. Are you a veteran from VF-143? If so when did you serve? I was wondering if you had any photos fo AC number 105? Toward the end of the F-14’s range. It is the same one on the box of Hasegawa’s 1/48 scale Tomcat Pukin Dogs release, the same one at the New England Air Museum.
I have never served in the Armed Forces. I wanted to join the Navy when I was 18 yo., but could not pass the ASVAB. I wanted to be an aviation mechanic and work on the birds. By the time I was ready to take the ASVAB again I went deaf so there went plans to along with my hearing.
There is good chance I could find the info your looking though. Give me a day and I’ll see what I can do and I’ll post results here for you.
Air Master
BTW, I used VF-143 logo as my avatar because they are my fav squadron and it just looked cool.
