Attention Skinners: Odd Request For Help

[TheSaxman]

So, this is probably going to be a bit different from the usual requests that pop up on these sorts of forums:

 

I was curious if any of the skinners out there would be able to make a decal sheet scaled in 1/32 from one of their skins, which I could then have custom printed? I'm going to be building out a ZM 1/32 P-51D, and I'd like to paint her as a PTO machine with "girl art." The problem is that there's a distinct scarcity of decal sets in that scale. So far the only three options I've been able to find for PTO birds are The Enchantress, Fighting Lady, and My Achin' (Ass). There's more options in 1/48 (IE Slow Roller and Dear Edna) but not in the larger scale I need.

 

My Achin' has fantastic art, especially the later version that replaced the mission markings with the lounging pin up, but the BMF only being broken up by the black and white stripes on the stabilizers, wingtips, and spinner is a bit dull to my eye. Enchantress and Fighting Lady are much more livel, though I'm not overly fond of the green. Mary Alyce from Pipps' skins pack would be a great one, with the blue instead of white stripes giving it more of a splash of color than My Achin's white. Or possibly Jankees' skin of My Darlin' Betty Ann. However, the more options the better (and anything with a substantial amount of red, particularly on the empennage, to go with the girl art would be excellent. If I wasn't wanting to do the PTO I could use one of the 332nd machines).

 

Does anyone think they could help me out with this project?

[CCG_Pips]

Hello !!

 

I have no experience making decals. The only thing I could do (in January) would be to send you the "separate" details of the skins. Tell me which skins you like in my two packs and I could do it.

 

Have a nice Christmas !!!

[TheSaxman]

57 minutes ago, CCG_Pips said:

Hello !!

 

I have no experience making decals. The only thing I could do (in January) would be to send you the "separate" details of the skins. Tell me which skins you like in my two packs and I could do it.

 

Have a nice Christmas !!!

 

I think for starters a layered Photoshop or GIMP file would work, with each decal on its own layer, and I can figure out from there. Beyond that, the tricky part is scaling them so they would be the right size on a 1/32 kit.

 

From your two packs I think Mary Alyce holds my interest best, since Enchantress and Fighting Lady are already available commercially.

[Sheriff88]

Did you find a resilient decal film to use? if so let me know. I made decals for a 1/16 Corsair using microscale decal film. Looked great when printed but totally shriveled up upon moistening decal.

 

[TheSaxman]

1 hour ago, Sheriff88 said:

Did you find a resilient decal film to use? if so let me know. I made decals for a 1/16 Corsair using microscale decal film. Looked great when printed but totally shriveled up upon moistening decal.

 

 

Well, I was going to send them in to one of the sites that does the printing professionally, rather than print them myself (I've had it done before, and they came out very well, but that was ages ago).

[Taurus]

@TheSaxman I would be very interested to see how the decal sheets turns out for you. It would be great if you could post updates. Decal sheets have been on the back-burner for my 1/144 stash.

For best results I believe that the decal sheet should be a vector artwork layout. (Adobe Illustrator/CoreDraw vector image layout exported as an .eps file to best suit for crisp scalable decal printing. I use CorelDraw and this is the process i use for most of my skinning emblems.)

 

Where would you be getting these professionally (silk screen) printed? I have only one contact here in Australia.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[TheSaxman]

2 hours ago, Taurus said:

@TheSaxman I would be very interested to see how the decal sheets turns out for you. It would be great if you could post updates. Decal sheets have been on the back-burner for my 1/144 stash.

For best results I believe that the decal sheet should be a vector artwork layout. (Adobe Illustrator/CoreDraw vector image layout exported as an .eps file to best suit for crisp scalable decal printing. I use CorelDraw and this is the process i use for most of my skinning emblems.)

 

Where would you be getting these professionally (silk screen) printed? I have only one contact here in Australia.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

That's one of the things I'm going to have to look into if I go this route. Like I said, it's been a LONG time since I had any decals printed, and I have no idea if the place I used even exists these days.