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Decals to use for the wooden deck of my Bismarck?????

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  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Drummondville, Quebec, Canada
Decals to use for the wooden deck of my Bismarck?????
Posted by Yann Solo on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 12:56 PM

I'm currently building my first ship and it is the Tamiya 1/350 Bismarck.  I don't have an unlimited budget so I chose to build it using the Tom's modelworks PE set which is not as complete as the White ensign model ultimate set but was a lot cheaper.

So far, everything works fine but I'm tinking ahead of the build a little bit and I was evaluating all the possibilities I have about painting the wooden deck.  I saw the individual planks that can be bought but again this can be expensive but most of all very time consuming. 

Here's another idea and I would like you guys to tell me what you think. 
I'dd like to purchase blank decal sheets and print a mosaic of that image:

then cut the pattern I need and apply them to the deck. 

Do you guys think it could work?

Thanks.

No matter where you go ....... there you are.
  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: vernon hills illinois
Posted by sumpter250 on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 1:08 PM
   It's possible. You would be best off to paint the deck one of the colors in the decal, with a gloss finish (I don't know what color plastic they used for the deck), and decals prefer a gloss finish, especially if you need to make the decal film "disappear". Setting solution (Microset, or Solvaset, etc.) will help get the decal to settle around any details on deck. I've never tried this so don't know how it will turn out visually, but it sounds like a reasonable way to reproduce the deck appearance, in this scale.

Lead me not into temptation ..................I can find it myself

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: Mansfield, TX
Posted by EdGrune on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 1:16 PM

It could work, but investigate staggering the ends of the planks on your square of printed decal the way you did with the middle.  You'll end up with a jagged square in the E/W direction.   Mate the next decal run with the jagged end of the previous decal.   You don't want the ends of a number of planks to end on the same line. 

Also, consider how you will approach the fill-in between two fixed length endpoints.  Will you apply the middle then cut each end (with a jaggie) to match a bulkead patterns.    Or will you cut and apply the end pieces and have to go back with a short jaggie piece to fill-in the middle.

Paint the deck your predominant decal color before beginning so you don't have unnatural colors showing through gaps.

While the time required to cut and apply masks to the deck to paint it with multiple coats may take a while to get done (mask/paint/dry repeat)

will the time and effort be offset by the repeated application of decals, setting solution, and allowing to dry?

 

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