A Decal on top of another: Which is applied first?

[Guest]

Spitfire. Airfix 1/72 I am about to apply the pair of decals that go, one pair on each side of the fuselage between wing and tail. One of each pair shows "P9495" and the other "DW *K" One overlaps the other.

Which should go down first? (Or does it matter?

Thanks.

[Guest]

Not come across that one Steve. Can you clip the clear parts border back so they do not over lap ? I often clip back the clear border.

I have assumed the letters & numbers themselves do not over lap. If that is correct the above will solve.

Laurie

[Guest]

Here it is. They are definitely overlapping. Also on the Airfix 1/48:

[ATTACH]64174.vB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]65390.IPB[/ATTACH]

[AlanG]

looks like the DW is on top of the numbers from that pic Steve

[Guest]

Duh! I didn't spot that clue! Thanks. I suppose they thought that the DW*K was the most important. This is my first attempt at decalling. Its going well.

[Ian M]

Aircraft gets painted in camouflage, then they are given a serial number. P9495 in you case, this is then flown to the airbase that its assigned and they paint the assigned ID codes.

Serial numbers stay the same the life of the airframe. The ID codes will change if/as/when the airframe is moved to other units. Though not this one as it was written off after an affray with a 109 the 12 Aug 1940.

So Serial number always under the ID. When they overlap that is :-)

Ian M

[Guest]

Bit daft no point in having a serial number if you cannot read it.

Matter of interest why are the ID codes so large ? The Germans would not be interested in the code. I can only think that the squadron pilots it belonged to would benefit.

Laurie

[Ian M]

I guess the serials although over painted could be seen when service/inspections where carried out. ID code why so large? Good question i can only guess to make them easy to see from the other aircraft in the wing and also so they can be identified from a greater distance...?

Ian M

[stona]

They were that large early in the war because they tried to conform to the official size for single engine aircraft. The Spitfire has a very slim fuselage boom and the size stipulated was soon reduced.

There are many cases of over painted serials though efforts were made to keep them legible. You will sometimes see a serial in a little box of Dark Green on aircraft that have been re-camouflaged for another theatre,as when the Dark Green was over painted with Mid Stone for the tropics. They often got over painted when the Sky recognition band was introduced (around the fuselage in front of the fin) and were by no means always reapplied.

Cheers

Steve

Does your colour call out have a gas warning patch on the port wing? I think it would have been there.



Usually described as a dirty yellow or mustard colour. Notice also the hard edge to the camouflage demarcation.

[mossiepilot]

If I may ask Steve (Stona) a question. That's an interesting tidbit about the gas warning patch, I've never seen or heard about this before, what gas did it warn about and was it used on only certain marks. Also I've have never seen it on any Spitfire kit decal sheet.

Sorry to hijack your thread Steve .

Tony

[Guest]

They were that large early in the war because they tried to conform to the official size for single engine aircraft. The Spitfire has a very slim fuselage boom and the size stipulated was soon reduced.There are many cases of over painted serials though efforts were made to keep them legible. You will sometimes see a serial in a little box of Dark Green on aircraft that have been re-camouflaged for another theatre,as when the Dark Green was over painted with Mid Stone for the tropics. They often got over painted when the Sky recognition band was introduced (around the fuselage in front of the fin) and were by no means always reapplied.

Cheers

Steve

Does your colour call out have a gas warning patch on the port wing? I think it would have been there.

Usually described as a dirty yellow or mustard colour. Notice also the hard edge to the camouflage demarcation.

Your comment about the size of the ID on my MkI 1/72 Spitfire explains why the supplied decal is too big, forcing the top edges of the two yellow roundels to touch.

No. No gas warning patch.

The hard edge is interesting. I posted a simple calculation a few weeks ago which measured the width of the fuzzy edge of camo colours in a model, which some people like. Scaling this up to full size, the width of the fuzziness became very over scale for 1/72 and 1/48 scales, and possibly also for 1/36. I think therefore that a hard edge on a model is authentic.

[Gern]

The hard edge is interesting. I posted a simple calculation a few weeks ago which measured the width of the fuzzy edge of camo colours in a model, which some people like. Scaling this up to full size, the width of the fuzziness became very over scale for 1/72 and 1/48 scales, and possibly also for 1/36. I think therefore that a hard edge on a model is authentic.

This ties in nicely with the recent thread about being exact. You're right to say that some accurately scaled 'fuzzy' edges wouldn't be visible - but we know there should be one and expect to see one; so the model looks wrong even though it is accurate. Some will include it even if it is vastly over scale so the model looks right even though it is inaccurate.

So here, being 'wrong' may very well be the 'right' thing to do. Over to you guys 'cos I think that's going to be down to personal preference.

Gern

[Guest]

Yes. You're right, I agree. I need to experiment on a way to make the edge just visibly fuzzy.

What method do others use to get a fuzzy edge?

[stona]

A fuzzy edge on the Spitfire whose picture I posted would just be wrong.

However if someone likes a fuzzy edge and wants to do one on that aeroplane that's entirely up to them. I'm not here to tell anyone how to paint their model, but I can show how that particular original aeroplane looked. The rules for British aircraft painting were strict and the amount of overspray allowed (for example between upper and lower camouflage colours which were not masked as that Spitfire's upper colours obviously were) was defined and regulated.

It wasn't pedantry. Uneven or rough finishes from overspray were found to have an adverse effect on aircraft performance and that could be a matter of life and death.

Cheers

Steve