Good Resource For Decal Sheets?

Airscale models make fantastic accurate individual instrument decals.

 https://www.airscale.co.uk/store.html#!/Cockpit-Instrument-Decals/c/9842267/offset=0&sort=normal

GMorrison

Go to scalemates.com. It's a user-maintained site that is dependable information for most any kit.

Scroll down the site and before the last category which is usually books; there's a list of aftermarket stuff available.

Then go see if you can find what you need.

Bill

Thank you. I recently found that site and can see it's going to be very useful in the future.

Possible Pilot Deviation

 

I have been researching that as well. I think the only bit of kit I don't have is a really good printer. My inkjet has never impressed me with it's color prints. Not sure I want to shell out the money for an upgrade just yet though.

 

If you ever do decide to shell out the money for an upgrade, have a look at color laser printers too.  They eliminate the need to put an acrylic clear coat on your decals before putting them in water.  Also, if you print as infrequently as I do, you save money in the long run because toner doesn't dry out in the cartridge during long periods of idle time like inkjet cartridges tend to.  I was sometimes lucky to get more than 30 or 40 printed pages out of my inkjet due to the fact that I don't print very often.  Not a very good cost per page ratio.

Go to scalemates.com. It's a user-maintained site that is dependable information for most any kit.

Scroll down the site and before the last category which is usually books; there's a list of aftermarket stuff available.

Then go see if you can find what you need.

Bill

Don Stauffer

It is possible to make instrument panel decals if you have a good inkjet printer and are willing to try making inkjet decals.

If you do a google image search and include instrument panel or cockpit in the search terms you can find good panel shots of many aircraft.  You need to have a graphics program for resizing the image to the needed scale, but I have made several panel decals that way.  I have also searched and found images of various instruments and have done some panels for which there was no good image of the whole panel.

I have been researching that as well. I think the only bit of kit I don't have is a really good printer. My inkjet has never impressed me with it's color prints. Not sure I want to shell out the money for an upgrade just yet though.

It is possible to make instrument panel decals if you have a good inkjet printer and are willing to try making inkjet decals.

If you do a google image search and include instrument panel or cockpit in the search terms you can find good panel shots of many aircraft.  You need to have a graphics program for resizing the image to the needed scale, but I have made several panel decals that way.  I have also searched and found images of various instruments and have done some panels for which there was no good image of the whole panel.

The Eduard sets are great stuff.  Sprue Brothers has a color PE set for the Mk. VB Tamiya kit.  Its number is EDU49256.  Takes about 3-4 days to get to Colorado, so Utah should be similar.

All Eduard sets have more than just the instruments, thoug they often do 2 types of each set. A zoom set is the smaller one and generally contains the items you need for the cockpit. The trick will be knowing what bits not to use, and often some PE parts are to thin.

I find shipping from the US is uaually about 2 weeks, so it should be about the same the other way.

Bish

Which kit are you doing.

I am doing another 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire, but it's an older kit.:

I actually just ordered a PE kit for it from Eduard. It has a bunch more stuff then just the insturment panel which will be nice. I hope shipping from Europe doens't take too long.

Yes, you would have to smoth the kit part. The PE does have raised surface, and a pre coloured PE set such as those sold by Eduard includes all the colours already done. And the raised detail is more accurate that the kit ones usually are, especially in 72nd scale. Which kit are you doing.

This is the last pre coloure PE instruments i used on a 72nd Sea Harrier.

Bish

You might be better off getting a PE set with instrument panel, or a company like Yahu models which just does PE instruments. There is at least one company that just has individual instruments, called recall their name, but i think these are a larger scale. If you kit is 72nd, you could just paint the IP.

 

With the PE insturments, assuming it was one piece for the panel, I would need to smooth off the plastic instument panel by removing the raised surface details. Then the PE would sit flat. Am I thinking about that correctly?

Also, the PE parts have no raised surfaces, right? So any "3D" quality would be lost in favor of 2D color detail?

You might be better off getting a PE set with instrument panel, or a company like Yahu models which just does PE instruments. There is at least one company that just has individual instruments, called recall their name, but i think these are a larger scale. If you kit is 72nd, you could just paint the IP.