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Decal Advice?

Started by Waaaghpower, November 20, 2015, 05:59:51 PM

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Waaaghpower

So!
I manager to find a good deal on a Thunderhawk through an Ebay seller. Woohoo.
I'm getting it painted up and it's been going well this far, but I have a problem. I want a great big decal on the bottom or maybe the side, but I:
1, don't know what to put there, and
2, suck at freehand painting.

My army is called the Dragon's Fang, (homebrew chapter of essentially Renegade Marines,) so some kind of Dragon motif seems appropriate, but I'm having trouble coming up with a design that both looks good and that I can paint.
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.

Narric

Do you have a chapter icon yet? A larger version of that with more detail may work.
You could message sorck about doing a set of transfers, but you'd have to get a symbol that would work first.

On a flat or slightly curved surface, transfers are fairly easy to apply, as its just get the card wet and use a brush to "transfer" them onto the intended area, then apply a small amount of polycement to fix it in place.
On heavily curved areas like Marine pauldrons, you have to be clever by cutting strategically to get the decal flat on the surface.

On the other hand, your could stilldo freehand. Just practice on some scrap paper/card/plasticard once you have an idea of what you want the symbol to be.

Waaaghpower

I haven't actually painted on anything, but here's about what it's supposed to look like:


But that's a whole lot of detail that I can't draw cleanly.

Sorck does transfers? As in, he makes them and sells them to other people? If so...
I might want to buy a bunch of those. For my tanks, shoulder pads, tanks, Thunderhawk, tanks, dreadnoughts, tanks...
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.

Narric

Whats your colour scheme like? Mainly for your vehicles.

I could do you a black/white version of that that Sorck (or a dedicated company) might be able to use for your transfers.

The tricky part is those very thin detail lines. At 40k scale, they'll be very faint, though with the image scaled up, they'll show better.

Waaaghpower

#4
Quote from: Narric on November 21, 2015, 12:53:30 AM
Whats your colour scheme like? Mainly for your vehicles.

I could do you a black/white version of that that Sorck (or a dedicated company) might be able to use for your transfers.

The tricky part is those very thin detail lines. At 40k scale, they'll be very faint, though with the image scaled up, they'll show better.
Eshin Grey (A darker grey) for the base, Dawnstone (A lighter grey) for armor plates and raised portions, and Troll Slayer Orange (A bright orange) for highlights. In pure black would work, though, I use black for most of my 'Logos'. (Aquillas, writing, etc.)

The thin detail lines wouldn't really need to be there, especially for smaller decals, just the dragon in the middle. I could Photoshop it to black and white if needed.

Other problem: Here's the surface I want the decal over:
Spoiler: Large image
Spoiler
Oh, and those metal plates on the wings will have missiles on them. I was thinking a large decal over the whole thing would look cool, but the actual icon probably wouldn't work so well.


Though, there's also this: (The largest flat surface on the ship. The Aquilla on the side can come off. Paint pot for scale.)
Spoiler
That would be a good place for a big circle logo, and there's one space on each side.


Oh, and finally, there's this:
Spoiler
Once I come up with a name for the Thunderhawk I'll put it there, though I need to decide what's going to go there.
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.

Narric

Any dark decal should show up fairly well on that background.

Attached are the worked files that you could use to make your own transfers.

Thantos

If you are getting serious about decals and want them to sit flat and look "painted on" get some micro sol - softens them and makes them sit flat properly


And matt varnish over the top, job done
Definitely get Sorck to print you some custom ones, that thunderhawk needs love ;D


Waaaghpower

Good advice, I hadn't thought about using a matte varnish to conceal the shininess often inherent with decals. Thanks! I'll pick up some of that Micro Sol, too.
Super Mario 3D World is The. Best. Thing.