In the home stretch now. All the decals are on...about 100 of them, including maintenence stencils.
In order to keep from going completely banonkers, I broke the decaling work into manageable increments. First I did the left side yesterday afternoon. After a break of a couple of hours, I did the right side. This morning, I did the bottom and then took a break for an hour. I then did the 'Black Tulip' on the nose. It comes in five pieces; two individual triangles on the bottom; an individual triangle on the top of the nose (effectively the anti glare panel) and one double triangle decal on each side of the nose. The cut outs for the landing lights and the machine gun troughs of the bottom and side decals make alignment a snap. Adding the top triangle is a piece of cake. Everything lined up perfectly. I did the top of the wings this afternoon, after lunch and taking the mutts for a walk.
I'll give these decals a passing grade but not top marks. They are much better than some kit supplied decals I have used, or had the misfortune to use but they're no Cartograph or Wintervalley or Leading Edge Models, etc. The sheet has markings for this Luftwaffe Sabre and a USAF aircraft. It provides stencils for each aircraft because the Luftwaffe stencils are in English and German.
The large 'JA-344 ' and the underlying stencils (as they would be on the real aircraft) are a one piece affair, as are the large vertcal stabilizer decals. I was actually very surprised at how well they slid off the backing paper. A dip in hot water (a small bowl of water kept warm by a Salton cup warmer) for about 15 seconds was enough to loosen the decal from the paper. I slid them onto the model and moved them abround with finger pressure, the end of a toothpick and a wet, flat bristled paint brush. Once in place, I blotted out the water and applied the Solvaset. The decals were thick enough to be able to move around using my methods but they settled down very nicely with the Solvaset. There is some silvering (as seen in photo #2) but strangely it's on some of the smaller decals.
One mistake on the decals that I did catch is the warning placard on the back end by the exhaust opening. It says 'Beware of Intake'. I know...I know. It doesn't go on the front by the intake. There are separate smaller decals for that area that are properly printed. A couple of the decal number placement call outs are wrong as well but you can figure things out pretty easily. Further, the decal placement sheet has you place the fuel door stencils on the wings perpendicular to the airflow. This is incorrect. These stencils should always be oriented to the main spar of the wing, as shown in photo #3.
The yellow front edges of the decals aren't big or long enough to completely wrap around the front edge of the vertical stabilizer. Close...but not quite. Fortunately Model Master Insignia Yellow enamel is an exact match for the yellow of the decal and I used it to paint the front edge of the vertical stabilizer. Presto! No green or grey showing.
The kit stencils are nowhere near the quality of the now out of production and difficult to find Leading Edge Models Sabre 5 / 6 stencils but they are a very acceptable substitute. All told, it took between 3 - 4 hours to apply all the decals but the results are worth the effort, in my opinion.
The Solvaset has dried and the model has been given a coat of gloss. I'll see how that turns out. Not sure if I'll give it a shot of matte or not. According to a friend who lew Sabres in Europe, due to operating conditions there, finishes could be gloss, semi gloss or matte. Decisions...decisions...decisions...
Here's some photos of the decals in place. No more photos or updates until it's done. Hopefully by Friday but I doubt it. My brother is coming home to Ottawa for his 50th birthday and The Boss and I are hosting a house full of family all weekend. There are preparations to be made, etc. Will more than likely have it done early next week.
That's it for now. As usual, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.
Mike