Fw 190A-8 Gets its Decals

Following on from the practice on the Space Marines the DecalFix comes out for the Fw190's decals. The practise has helped, topside first (see below):

Next the "belly" (see below, note I have not gone for the 'drop tank variant but the smooth underside instead);

Finally the daunting "nose cone spiral"! Boy was I glad of the Space Marine practice with the fiddly bits and curved surfaces):

I was happy with the end result but dis have to extend the white line with a bit of paint at the base of the nose cone. I was relieved to finish the whole process and put a Matt Varnish over it as soon as possible.

I need now to do a small repair job to the silly bit of plastic that "fell off" the wing (not a 20mm cannon but on the extreme wing tip [radio?]) when my youngest son was inspecting it!

Even more Sci-Fi Experimenting with Decals: Ultra Marines

Two Ultra Marines (Heavy Weapons) Troopers get some fancy decals (see below, on the right shoulder pad they get a big white "Up Arrow" which apparently means they are a "Tactical Squad" and the Roman Numeral "I" that implies they are proud members of "First Squad"):

On the right shoulder pad the ubiquitous "Ultra Marines" sign, which I must confess I originally put on upside down because I thought it should have been an "Ohm" sign from my teenage Phyics "o Level" days. I also played about and gav ethem a "lightning strike" sign on their legs as I "liked the look of it" (see below):

Next: Time to put this upgraded Sci-Fi kit into some use against the unremitting Hoards of Chaos monstrosities ;)

Confession: When in need for "Light Relief" and "Inspiration" .. I to turn to Science Fiction!

Why?

Because I view it as throwaway "fun" but intelligent "fun" and model-craft "fun". It is just "fun". In short it breaks the "Am I really doing this right?" painting block that can descend on me from time to time. Is that the right shade of WW2 French 1940 camouflage? Blah, for things that don't yet exist .. how can anything be wrong". The upshot is that I just 'bundle' into stuff and 'progress' is made on a great heap of otherwise dorment plastics. In this case it was preparation for my next "beer and pretzel" venerable GW Space Crusade game. It was also a great excuse to test out the Humbrol DecalFix, my least liked part of modelling, fixing "decals". So the Imperial Fists got some cute Space Marine decals (see below, left shoulder pad and very nice those 'fists' look too!):

Application of the magic DecalFix was to the "target" area on the model (in this case the Space Marine's shoulder pad) and the actual decal itself instead of water. This had the effect of creating a friendly landing spot and making the decal much more flexible and bendy to conform to the curved surfaces (see below, right shoulder pad: decal on decal, white arrow followed by a tactical Roman Numeral "I"):

One wash of the magical potion was not enough. The DecalFix dries shiny and the first application left bumps and ridges because the shoulder pads are in fact quite curvy. Another wash made the decal more pliable still (Note: Tip, watch you do not tear it) and the decal was simply pressed onto itself with good effect (see below, an ID mark placed on the Space Marine's boot, "skull" meaning "grunt" in my Science Fiction world, heavy weapon dudes got a "lightning strike" .. not as GW have it in but so what, please refer to the reason why I am doing this in the first place ):

I left them overnight to dry and then used Humbrol Matte Varnish to dull down the glossy shine and give a protective coating (see below, a half squad of Imperial Fists that simply cannot wait for their next Space Crusade mission):

A close-up shot for the Space Marines version of Signal (see below):

All-in-all a nice next step up from the basic paint job I had without decals. I may revisit these chaps at a later date with a view to doing something with those heavy weapons, a colour scheme revamp and perhaps drilling out the barrels of the guns. Pipe dreams at the moment.

They are certainly "combat ready" for the "beer and pretzels" outing number four in the Space Crusade campaign series! Watch this space for the AAR.