Stencils instead of decals

Honestly, on aircraft, I do not mind using decals, although on my airliners, I do use a lot of dots, stripes and letters/numbers from rub-on transfer sheets. It's on AFVs that I paint stuff on. Because I work at the smaller scales, I often find decals to be too thick or else they won't fit properly onto the busy surface of the kit. Stars would be the only type of markings I'd do differently, again using dry transfers rather than decals.

Hi, Ratboy!

I gave stencils a try for the first time on the last kit I finished, Dragon's E-100:


[/img]


Just a couple of simple numbers, but I really liked the way it turned out, and it was very simple to do.
I used the "German Numbers, Large" set from Eduard. They make all kinds of masks and stencils for armor and aircraft, but you could really use anything!
Just becareful and go light on the coats. I got a bit heavy on one side and had a wee bit of seepage I had to clean up later.

Give it a shot!

If you prefer stenciling do it, on some older kits with thick decals it is almost necessary. There are stencils availablr from several sources or you can make your own.