I’ve been painting planes a long time. Lots of planes-well, I guess it’s all relative, but probably 150 or so. Painting is painting. You do some research on paint schemes or camouflage and you paint yet. Yes the planes are small, so you include as much detail as you want to add.
And then you add the markings. There is no easy way to say this, so I’ll just be honest: Marking 1/300 planes with tiny decals is a time consuming pain in the ass. But if you want to finish off your miniatures you have to do it.
I understand there are other types of markings out there, but I use the traditional waterslide decals we all used when we were building our model airplanes back in the day. Those are the kind you cut off a sheet of markings, put in water and hopefully slid them off on to the model where you wanted them. Same general idea with 1/300 planes, they’re just much smaller.
There are a couple of different suppliers of markings for your teeny-tiny planes. Dom’s Decals is located in Britain, and he seems to have lots of different nationalities covered. 1/600 too if you’re looking for those. I haven’t ordered from him, but I hear they are good. I’ve used the markings from I-94 for years, and I am generally quite pleased with the quality and range of decals and the service is very good. .
A couple of quick things about decals. They are generally cheap. $3.00 can put decals on about six planes, maybe more. The newer they are, the easier they are to work with. I’m not a pack rat, so generally I don’t keep paint or other such ephemera around forever. But for whatever reason, probably because they don’t take up much space, I keep decals forever. Older decals take longer to “soak ‘n slide,” and they are also more brittle, meaning they tear more easily.
I recommend a few different items to have to help you with your decals
- embroidery or floss scissors OR a super sharp #1 Exacto knife, preferably with a new blade
- a small bowl of clean water
- pair of tweezers with bent nose if possible
- decal setting solution
- paper towel or something to blot with
- size 1 paint brush handle OR fairly small fingers.
I am going to relate a story in which everything is a bit of a struggle, and ends with fairly mixed results, and another in which everything goes fairly according to plan.
Glimpse of the Betty with the large fuselage Hinomaru marking. These were older, but went on fairly easy and in one piece.
Same plane with smaller Hinomaru for the wing. Again, aging decal came a bit to pieces as I was putting them on the miniature.
To be clear, I have had twenty planes to paint and apply markings to. I’m going to focus on the Scotia Bettys, a medium bomber of good size in this scale. I have some aged markings. I wanted to use the hinomaru with border because it shows up well against the dark green color. I have no idea where the decals came from or who made them, but I’ve used them before. Let me take you through my steps:
- I use floss scissors to cut out the decal. You can use an Exacto knife. The key is to get as close to the decal as possible without actually damaging the transfer.
- Drop the decal in the water. You can hold it with tweezers, but that seems like a poor use of time.
- After about ten seconds, your decal should be ready to slide off on to your surface. UNLESS your decal is really old like my old hinomarus and then it will take MUCH longer.
- Prepare your surface by putting some setting solution. This is a mild adhesive that also softens the decal.
- Slide the decal where you want it, which is almost a sloppy version of herding cats. Use your brush handle or small fingers (like mine) to make it go where you want. If it sticks where you don’t want it, wet it again, push it with the handle or finger while using extremely gentle, pleading language. That always works for me. Profanity always results in a torn decal.
- Blot with paper towel, tissue, t-shirt or other absorbent material
- Paint on another helping of setting solution.
- When all markings are applied, spray with a thin coat of Dullcoat. This is a solvent and will dissolve your decals if you are not judicious. DO NOT hand paint decals with Dullcoat. Trust me: It would be bad.
I had to put marking on my Betty bombers. While the planes were pretty easy to paint, the markings were pretty difficult. The problem I ran into was the age and quality of the Japanese markings I’d been hanging on to. It took a long time to pry the transfers loose from their backing paper. And some of the decals just came to pieces. The white border of the red meatball, in some cases, kind of dissolved and so did at least one of the smaller wing markings. If I was to do this again I would order some different markings. The larger fuselage markings seemed to work just fine.
Lots more to do with the Spitfires. But with fresher decals the entire job was much easier. The fuselage roundels were two parters with the yellow surrounds going on first followed by the tri-color markings. Be sure to set the yellow down first, add setting, spray with Dullcoat, let dry thoroughly before attempting the tri-color. As you can see they aren’t perfect, but this picture is much larger than the actual plane.
I had more success with the British markings for my Spitfire Mk. V’s. The decals were hot off the press and that is good for a couple of reasons. First, I-94 has re-done the WWII British markings. The colors are more easily seen against a dark background. There is a great variety of sizes for roundels, and many more choices of tail flashes. But the chief advantage is the speed the transfers are ready to “soak ‘n slide.” Ten seconds tops. They were very easy to work with.
Some I-94 marking some in two pieces. The two British packs each contain separate decals for the red, white and blue roundel with the encircling yellow stripe. The same is true of early American marking with the red dot. There is a bit of a trick to doing these. In the case of the Brits, do all your other marking-wing roundels, tail flashes, and the yellow background circle. Use your decal setter and then spray with Dullcoat. Don’t try to layer the second decal on top of the first roundel without spraying and allowing to dry. You run the risk of dislodging the first decal and having to start over again.
I’ll do one more look at my planes when they are all completed.
I’ve finished my Blondie mini-collection. Yes, everyone knows “Heart of Glass” and maybe “Call Me,” they are two quite good singles, but Blondie is so much more than that. The final record to acquire with my record store sales is their 1976 self-titled debut. Blondie is New York punk/new wave. The songs are relatively simple and up-tempo and a lot of fun. Though it has the distinctive new wave beat, their is definitely a canny pop sensibility. It also has Debbie Harry’s sweet voice in contrast to the often harsh vocals of their contemporaries-The Ramones, The Patti Smith Group, and others. But the songs, sung by the tough chick with a heart of gold, are anything but sweet. Lots of good songs on this record, but my favorites are “In the Flesh,” and “Rip Her to Shreds.” The original Private Sessions pressings can be spendy, but the Chrysalis reissues are a bit more affordable. Very good stuff.
Yesterday I picked up a vinyl copy of the first solo album by David Gilmour. Gilmour is the lead guitarist and sometime vocalist for Pink Floyd. His first solo record was released in 1978. I bought it after hearing “There’s No Way Out of Here” on the radio when the album was released. I had a 1974 Ford Pinto and I installed an eight track player in it. Gilmour’s album was one of my first eight track purchases. The album is more accessible than Pink Floyd’s Animals, which was released at the same time. The songs are reflective, wistful and generally, a very pleasant listen. This record also has a Hipgnosis cover, which made it a must-have for my collection.
A Gamer's Tales 