I’ve used Tamiya deck tan and desert tan under the Uschi decals. Both worked out fine with no problems.
Watch the decals carefully - they are pretty thick and the pixelation is quite visible as small squares in random areas. Most of the time, these aren’t problems, but you do need to pay attention in places where the decals will overlap to avoid creating ridges or drawing attention to the weird areas that seem a little pixelated. Still, a pretty decent product that takes the strain out of the grain - have fun with these!
I have made wood decals using inkjet decal paper. I have an oak door in my house that is flat with no decorative work on the face. I just shot a few pictures, and printed them on the paper. I used white decal paper, which is opaque, so you don’t have to worry about the color underneath.
I saw those at my LHS on my last visit . Have used them for the decking on a plastic model of a Chris - Craft 36 foot boat . Cut into strips and used properly they stand out and look very real . Especially over a dark flat brown deck . T.B.
I have heard good things about the Uschi decals but have never tried them. I get excellent results using a tan acrylic base and oil paint for the wood grain pattern.
As for your question about a backgroud color, I say a light to med tan, lighter in color than the grain decal to get contrast.
I tried some of my homemade wood decals on a small prop. One bad thing I have found with most of the blank inkjet decal paper is that it is a bit thicker than today’s state of the art thin decals. On this small scale prop the curvature was extreme close to edges and the decals would not wrap completely around the edges. I think for larger scales, like 1:32 it would work well. Also, for props with brass or copper leading edges, which would need to be painted at edge, it would be fine.
Guess I could update this, with my results…my help someone!
The Uschi set has different options for color and grain/texture…ranging from a very light brown/tan, to a more orange-ish tan.
I did some test shots, with various under colors…
I went with a mix of tan, with a bit of a yellow tint. Using the various sheets, you can see the difference in color and grain…
The unfinished area will end up in camo colors.
Overall, these decals were fairly easy to work with. For each panel, I would cut just two sides of the decal to fit the angle, leave the rest just a touch on the big side. Once laid in place and dabbed, I used a new #11 blade to cut the decal down the panel line and remove the excess. It’s slow going and tedious, but the results are well worth the effort and curses!