Decalling the red patches on the Spitfire's gun ports

[Guest]

I have just finished decalling my first proper model, a 1/72 Spit. All has gone very well except for those 8 tiny red square decals on the gun ports. They would not stick, and they insisted on lying on the upper or the lower wing surface with the opposite edge in fresh air. I tried again after filling the gun ports with filler to give a (slightly) bigger contact area — no improvement. I tried making a tiny square mask but the Tamiya tape would not stick closely enough in the wing edge, resulting in bleeding. Then I tried painting by hand — a mess. (I haven't tried making a tiny square of Tamiya tape pre-painted red 'cos it looks equally fiddly.) So they are left unpainted. I have a 1/48 Spit on the go and its patches are just as tiny.

Any tips please? (I could pretend that the Spit. has just returned from an op. and the armourers have not yet re-armed.)

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I never bother with em, it's just as easy and quick to paint the squares on , if you do want to continue with them use Klear to help them stick down.

Adrian

[flyjoe180]

I paint mine on too. If you look at my gallery at my 1/72 Spitfires I simply cut masking tape and make masks then paint the patches in. I found, especially at 1/72, that such small decals over rounded edges do not work too well.

[Guest]

Could you cut them out of that thin tamiya tape stuff that was mentioned in another thread a while back.

From what I read its supposed to be quite flexible in its usage

[Guest]

Morning Steve.

Think this sort of thing looks more realistic painted.

Same with any decals no reason to use them if I find a more realistic or easier or better way.

On the Catalina they had long strips of decal for the leading edges on the wing. Just a nightmare & they looked much better after they were in airbrush mode. Better still they did not shine in the light.

Laurie

[Guest]

Strangely enough I airbrushed my red patches along with the yellow strip on the leading edge for the first time yesterday on my 1/48 Spitfire. The finish was so much better than with decals.

If you have problems with bleeding under the tape then you could try burnishing the edges down or another tip is a very thin coat of Kleer along the tape edge to seal it.

[Dave W]

Used Microsol/Microset when sticking them to my current build (Airfix 1/48 Spitfire mk12).No problems apart from being a bit fiddly.

[Guest]

Well, after a night's sleep I decided not to give in. Using the 2mm square red decals (fiddly or what!) I tried using Klear as an adhesive, letting it dry a bit, but it wan't sticky enough (or dried in a flash). I then used "Micro Kristal Klear" PVA glue designed for canopy gluing. It is pretty sticky straight out of the bottle. I put a tiny blob on the wing edge and gave it a few minutes to get more sticky. I soaked the decals off their backing in the usual way and slid them on. The decals then held the curve of the leading edge of the wing without springing back. Worked a treat.

That was for all but one of the eight patches. The 8th got lost. I was attaching it to the tweezers ready for soaking and it suddenly disappeared, in front of my eyes, in a flash. Even tommy Coper couldn't do that! Nowhere to be found. So I made a mask for it, pressed it down this time very firmly as Cooperman69 advised, painted Klear on the edges, and painted with red acrylic. It was 90% as good as the others. Thanks folks. One of the good things about a hobby is facing seemingly impossible challenges and solving them. Next steps: painting the exhausts and matt varnishing the lot.

Here is the result (not including the masked one). The outboard port one looks like it has peeled off on the underside, but it hasn't. (My, rather good, compact camera has difficulty focussing on such a thin object as a wing. It's a pity that even second-hand SLRs are so expensive):

[ATTACH]64357.vB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]65561.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Dave W]

Looks good Steve.I doubt they would have been applied very neatly during the Battle of Britain.So wouldn't worry too much about getting them perfect

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

nowt wrong with those, great recovery

Adrian

[Guest]

Caribbeancom 060813-356 Catch Me at Island :: Airi Minami HD Version

タイトル: Caribbeancom 060813-356 Catch Me at Island :: Airi Minami / カリビアンコム 060813-356 南の島でつかまえて みなみ愛梨 From Ryushare Torrent Japanese AV model

更新日：2013/06/08 (yyyy/mm/dd)

発売日： 2013/06/08

収録時間：63分

出演者：みなみ愛梨 Airi Minami

シリーズ：

メーカー：Caribbeancom

レーベル：Caribbeancom

ジャンル：初裏 オナニー

品番：Caribbeancom 060813-356

Language: Japanese | Categories: UnCensored | Format: HD WMV | Total size: 1.9 GB

±5% Recovery record

☆ Video description:

ミラクルＥカップ娘のみなみ愛梨ちゃんが、この度カリビアンコムに無修正デビューを飾って頂きますっ！辺り は誰も いない南国の海岸で、小さい水着から今にもこぼれそうなＥカップのぷるぷるおっぱいを上下に振りながら走り 回る愛梨ちゃん。興奮する男が愛梨ちゃんを捕ま えると、海岸近くの茂みに引っ張りこんで水着を引き裂き真っ白で柔らかおっぱいをシャブリつきます！（ドリ ームルーム社提供配信：カリ男）

☆ Video Trailer / ビデオ予告編:

N/A

██▓▒░░DOWNLOAD VIDEO░http://javsuki.org/2013/06/16/caribbeancom-060813-356-catch-me-at-island-airi-minami-hd-version/

[stona]

Guys here's a few piccies you can use in your efforts to simulate these patches.

First what exactly they covered.



The next two are quite early in the war, note the Night/White underside and are probably doped patches. They are quite neat and do settle into the gun ports. Nice set of "chocks for the dioramists too! What would 'elf and safety have to say about standing on a chair today?





Later in the war. These may be the patches described as being like "sticking plasters".





When they were blasted away when the guns were used they were virtually destroyed......not a pin prick by any means.



Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

If you do paint them in future, you'd be better with an airbrush and acrylic paint, you can lay quick thin coats and bleeding through is less of a problem.

Nice job on the model BTW, looks very good indeed.