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Oh my! I tried it out now (still need to process the images of the final model so will need some time for pictures) but .... this thing is awesome! I practically did a whole 1/32 Tomcat without any decals! The Portrait can do letters down to less than a mm thickness and less than two mm hight. If you are familiar with modern US Navy lettering you might grasp what it can do but I did masks for things as tiny as the little aircraft type letters above the already small BuNo and I also was able to cut the small "danger / jet intake" letters within the warning stripes of the intake trunks, heck even the small "no step" markings are possible. Granted applying that small stuff to the model is an aweful hassle and takes a lot of time, a magnifier and a steady hand but it pays off in the end. I'm sooooooo happy I made the jump. 200 bugs well invested. As soon as I'm fully done I'll show some images.

No, I'm not trying to blaspheme, but you can make the thinnest decals in the world this way. There are circumstances where masking the surface of your model is simply not going to work as I discovered during my SBD build HERE. So, keep this idea in you bag of tricks for future reference. You will need a quality clear decal film like the one available from Microscale and LACQUER paints. Assuming you have your Oramask 810 masks ready get started by painting your decals. Make extras! Carefully sliced through the clear film only leaving a small area to grip with my clamping tweezers. Do not cut the decal paper close because as you pull the paper out from under the decal you need the paper wide enough to support the width of the decal. Kinda like the slow motion version of getting a pizza off the spatula, or whatever it’s called. The decal is so thin that if you don’t support it, it will fold under itself and you’ll drive yourself insane trying to fix it. Make extras! Wet the decal from the bottom side so as not to dilute the adhesive, and removed the excess film with tweezers, but the part being clamped remains. The discarded film is that shiny thing to the top and right of the picture below. First some generous drops of Micro Set then carefully keeping the decal paper close to the model’s surface pull the paper out from under the decal. Then use a wide wet brush to work out the wrinkles the and then roll a cotton bud over the decal to work out the excess water and trapped air. You need some moisture under the decal because as the moisture evaporates the decal displaces the moisture. Setting solutions soften the decal to make it more pliable. Let it sit for a few minutes and airbrush a couple coats of Micro Sol over everything. This is typical of the results I got in all 6 positions. I chose this photo because you can see how well the decal was sucked down around the latch. So, how thin can a decal be? I defy anyone to tell the difference between a decal made this way and markings painted directly on the model. CAVEAT: Unless there is a situation like my SBD I will always paint my markings directly to the model. It's just too gratifying not to.

Interesting approach indeed. Could you comment on what kind of brand of decal foil you used? There are different grades of thickness as I had to learn.

Last Christmas I was given a PixScan mat. I kinda thought to myself, "what does this do for me, I can scan and import already." But, after reading up on how it works, I've used it once, so far, while scanning something and the scan came into Studio correctly scaled. Not like a regular jpg file that needs scaling after import. Dave

Exactly my method for my Tiger Moth Mike. Takes several goes but works in the end. And of course not all the chequers are square!

The nose bands were started as a trace off the kit decals, and this quickly proved a non-starter for various reasons, so I bit the bullet and started from scratch. I taped a piece of paper around the nose, making sure that it conformed to the curves without creasing in the nose band area, drew the edges, and scanned it, noting the top edge to avoid confusion later. Then used the trace software to draw it out Then: - refined it; - cut it on paper; - tried it on the model; - repeat until satisfied - which is not yet, although I'm getting there. Yes, well spotted, it is only half a nose-band: once I've got one half right, I can just mirror it.

Yes and no. The decal will be so thin it will require special care to keep it from folding under itself when you apply it. Other than that, yes.

View File Lockheed T33A Shooting Star Mask set Complete paint mask set for Hasegawa T-33A Shooting Star. Scale: 1/72 Suggested material: Tamiya 87130 Masking Sheet Submitter killboxscalemodels Submitted 07/30/2020 Category Specific Aircraft