has anyone ever tried painting their own "decals" on their aircraft? i cannot find the proper replacement set of decals for my curtiss p40e flying tiger, and i'm at wits end. i don't want to substitute for warhawk or tomohawk markings. i'm thinking i'm just going to go for it and see how it turns out - but if anyone has any advice, well wishes, or wants to tell me i'm crazy.. i'm open for anything.

Hello

I have tried some of eduards old (vinyl) masks to do generic markings on my Ju 88 and some japanese "meat balls". I have never tried the new Montex masks from Poland which have all markings for some a/c...

as for painting/airbrushing own designs: maybe try printing the design on masking tape (frisket film or so) and cutting out ... I've never tried that myself....

Another method is printing your own decals on a computer ... but that is also something I haven't tried so far

HTH (a little)

cheers

Steffen

Sure, it works fine. Best method is to cut a stencil out of sticky backed frisket paper or through thin plastic. You simply spray the markigs on with an airbrush.

Another option is to get some decal computer paper and make your own decals for it.

I'd say go for it. This is the method I am planning on adopting but I have only really tried it once, up to now, using Eduards vinyl masks. I think that the hardest part is positioning. If you can draw them on a computer, to the correct scale your half way there. Montex masks seem like a good bet but you can get your own masks cut, using kit decal sheets, or at least I have found a place that will do it for me close to home. I did try and find info on the size of USAAF markings but drew a blank, but once you have the dimensions drawing the markings onto masking tape, then cutting out shouldn't be too difficult.
I'm very interested in how you get on.
don't forget there might be someone out there with a spare set, I'm afraid that I don't though.
Mal

Hi GI_Babycakes!

What decals do you exactely need? Are they 1/48 scale or 1/72? For what kit and what plane?
Maybe I have spare ones...

Jean-Luc

I'm not at home yet so I can't recall the manufacturer of the kit, but the plane is the Curtiss P-40e flying tiger - in 1/32 scale.

ok i just had a crazy idea - my old decals crackle and break apart once they are in water, so that i am not able to slide them off as one unit onto the plane. what if i used clear nail polish to paint over the decal to "glue" it and then after it's dried, put it in water as usual and attempt to lift it off the paper??

Ouch! Sorry I only have those decals in 1/48 and 1/72 scale!

Rather than clear nail polish, you should use Liquid decal Film from MICROSCALE. It's a product to make custom decals waterproof or to restore old decals if they are too fragile.

Hope this helped a little...

Jean-Luc

Another option for fixing old decals is to spray them with an acrylic clear coat. I use Krylon Crystal Clear spray. It is much cheaper than the decal company fixatives and is the same basic thing.

woooo hooo! YES! a spray!! that would be much better than polish. thank you everyone for the ideas.. i'll let you know what happens.

One more pointer. Once you have sprayed the sheet, it will now be one giant decal sheet. There will no longer be individual decals. You will have to cut the film as close to the image or lettering as possible to have little clear carrier film around it.

Good luck.