SPA Modeler

Carlos,

Thank YOU! This is enough to corroborate it for me, for sure!

But I’m not done yet. As a matter of fact, I’m having the strongest feeling of de-ja-vu.

Have a look again at the BIG HOG pic you posted yesterday, the one I’ve been using -albeit casually- as a reference:



Now have a look at my model, specifically the insignia on the fuselage:



See what’s going on there with my decal? The side points on the star don’t line up with the top of the white bars!

Oh Tamiya!









I’m not entirely sure this wasn’t somehow my fault.

These insignias come in two pieces:

1. Dark blue roundel with the white star in it

2. The bars with the red surrounds

The way I worked it out, you lay the bars down first and then out the roundel in there, and voila! Only, the points on the star don’t line up correctly as per the proper star and bars national insignia. Maybe it’s a problem that the decals are too far aft of the cockpit and maybe the contours of the fuselage back there caused it? Maybe I installed them wrong (the ones on the wings were just fine)?

Or maybe Tamiya has once again boned me with their fuselage insignia decals like they did with my last Emil...

I wonder what Occam’s Razor would have to say about this....

Anyway, I’m not upset. Once again, great kit: great fit, pleasure to build, somewhat less-than-perfect decals. Not a big deal.

I have begun the process of carefully removing them, and have ordered myself a sheet of insignia decals with the red borders. They’ll ship in a few days and when I take delivery, I can add them to the model, no harm no foul. And there’s still plenty of stuff I can work on with this project and my 1:32 Zeke in the meantime to keep me happy and modeling.

This is just a little bump in the road and frankly, it probably isn’t as aggravating as trying to paint these particular insignias would’ve turned out to be. I’m not sure how I’d even go about that, as I haven’t found masks for these particular insignias. I’m comfortable with the idea of using decals in this case. Here’s hoping the new ones I ordered will be good!

You will get it. I have pretty much run out of superlatives for you on this one. and the other one and....well, anyway. She looks great.

That's a pain Kenny but at least it's an easy fix!

Is it just me, but on the photo you used as a ref - are the bars above the centre line of the circle?

LyleW wrote:You will get it. I have pretty much run out of superlatives for you on this one. and the other one and....well, anyway. She looks great.

Yes sir, this is a “come Hell or high water” project for sure, my man. And I’ve had decal trouble before, as we know. They’re easy to remove and repainting is easy too if the paint gets damaged.

And hey, on the up-side, that Mr. Mark Setter/Softer sure for the job done, whoooo-weee! Check it out:



Now tell me that’s a crappy, uncooperative decal

For what is basically a layer of color, film, another layer of color and another layer of film, that ain’t bad! That solvent melted that bad-boy right in there!

So I scored a victory in my war to make Tamiya decals cooperate, and Inlost one with the fuselage decals. We win some, we lose some. But I’ve got plenty of tape and sandpaper, and a positive attitude, not to mention all the time in the world while I rehab my busted foot. I’ll get her done!

KennyX wrote:[



!

That went down very nicely!

Thank you srewart! And to your observation, it does look like there’s a distortion in the insignia in the reference photo. I think light is causing that. The curvature of the fuselage and the light is making the red surround look lighter at the top and darker at the bottom, giving that impression you mentioned. Good catch and definitely worth a second look!

Stewart Templeton! Brother I think you were correct all along!

Thank goodness I kept all the spare decals from my previous attempts! Look here:



That sheet is sitting right side up.

I’ll be damned if the bottom of that insignia isn’t slightly bigger. I must’ve put them on upside down!

No problem!

“I can fix it.” -Jeff Spicoli

Bro, I owe you a pint!

KennyX wrote:Bro, I owe you a pint!

I'll be for that!

Cool - so all you need to do is a 180' on the bar decal? I love it when a fix is easy!

portman wrote:

KennyX wrote:Bro, I owe you a pint!

I'll be for that!

Cool - so all you need to do is a 180' on the bar decal? I love it when a fix is easy!

Looks that way, yeah! I’m going to be sitting down to re-paint here in a bit, then clear coat. I’ll let that all dry and then get to the decals later on.

KennyX wrote:Looks that way, yeah! I’m going to be sitting down to re-paint here in a bit, then clear coat. I’ll let that all dry and then get to the decals later on.

Good stuff!