Has anyone ever used TechMod rib tape decals? How are they to work with, and are the colors reasonable accurate?

Now that Model Sculpt has great lozenge, I wish they would come out with some rib tape 'cals too.

I have never used the Tech-mod lozenge or the rib tapes. Our man Dwaynewilly has but he has been MIA for a couple of weeks.

Any word on Micro Sculpt coming out with a set of rib tapes to compliment their superb lozenge?

The word from Microsculpt is, '. . .Stephen: German rib tapes are planned to be released soon after the Fokker Streaking decals. It is currently under development and I would say it should be available in the next few months. Currently the sheet includes three different solid color tapes (and may also include fabric lacing). Thanks!"

Thank you for the additional information.

Rib tapes decals from Micro Sculpt will be most welcome.

Karl

Karl,

If you check my thread on the "Stroop", that Stephen has been so kind to revisit, you will see the Tech Mod tapes in action. Working with them was not any more difficult than other tapes.

I basically cut them into long individual strips straight from the sheet and then to the individual length as needed. As you can imagine, applying 40 plus strips is not the most exciting use of time but it does not take too long, usually a couple nights. One thing I do is I measure the strip to wrap around the wing, this will reduce your taping time by half.

I work with enough water to help position the strips and use Solaset after several are in place to fix them into position. I use small tweezers to hold the decal strips, a tooth pic to adjust the position of the strip and to hold it in place during initial placement and a small paintbrush to apply water to the model surface to help float the strip when needed. I also use paper napkins torn up into small pieces to absorb excess water.

Just place the strip in water with a tweezer and remove it after it has soaked the paper, leaving it still attached to the tweezer. You will see the strip coil. Once the coil relaxes you know the decal is loose and can be applied. Then I use the toothpick to hold one end in place and then pull the remaining decal paper away with the tweezer. After the strip is on you use the toothpick and the paintbrush with water to adjust the position of the strip. It will take a few to get the hang of it but this is surely not mission impossible, just mission stay awake, it can get a little boring! After about half a dozen or so are done I apply some solvaset to fix them into position. This makes handling tricky and will cut down on your speed because the Solvaset melts the decals slightly and touching them before they cure isn't pretty.

Thats basically how I apply them. I used the Tech-Mod 5 color Lozenge on that build as well so I needed to tint the finished product as the colors of Tech-Mod lozenge are a bit on the psychedelic side! I highly recommend Stephens thread on Lozenge as the color of the strips depends on where the machine you wish to portray was built.

Hope this helps, Dwayne

P.S. The border tape around the edges of the wings was hand painted and not decals. It sounds harder than it really is, give it a try.

Just in case anyone missed it, Squadron has 1/48 scale TechMod Rib Tape on sale for $5.99 this month.


Cheers,
Mike

Hi Dwayne--thanks much for your detailed description of using Tech Mod tapes and the reference to your build--both much appreciated!

Karl