Hello Everyone,
i am trying to finish a 1/48 early Tiger I and need to put an air recog. flag on the back of the turret, mainly to hid a mistake I made with the turret storage box. i have tried, and yes I have read the two articles here, to make the flag out of tissue and glue/water and apoxie sculpt.
My tissue flags are poor at best. can't get a round white circle, the red paint bleeds under the mask. If I apply too much pressue to the mask, it rips the tissue part I am masking, then the german symbol looks like a two year old did it with a crayon. Again, same problem. Can't press too hard with the mask or I will tear the tissue.
The apoxie sculpt method seemed to work fine but unfortunately once you make the flag and mount it, there is no way to remove it to paint. and then it is now basically a 90 degree bend to the apoxie flag so painting just became near impossible for me. I hope this makes some sense.

I hope someone can offer some help or a good methold even I can't screw up.

Thank you all in advance!

Best,

Walter
Nearly to the point of giving up the hobby.

Walter,

What about a decal on a painted flag made from lead foil or thick aluminum foil? Of course, you have to have a decal...

Another idea is to print one out on paper (water proof ink if possible). Then moisten it and age it with a bit of water. If not water proof,then try to just rumple it.

thanks Scott and Jeff. Appreciate the advice.


Best,

Walter

i used milliput and brush painted mine
III

Thank you james for you reply. I loved the Pz III and you flag looked great. Liked the torn and used look, quite realistic. just wish I could paint a straight line much less draw one. I am just worried about painting the flag on the vehicle, concerned that I might get the flag paint onto the vehicle and mess up the camo. Just wish that the apoxie sculpt flag could be removed after it dries so I can paint off the vehicle. Is this possible? would tamiya tape help as a barrier between the apoxie flag and the vehicle?

Thank you again everyone for you help. I really do appreciate it.

Best,

Walter

Walter,

Use the thin plastic wrap used for sandwiches (like Glad Cling Wrap) and put it as a barrier between the model and your apoxie sculpt. When the apoxie sculpt is cured and dry you should be able to remove it and paint the tank and flag separately. The flag should 'fit' back into place on the tank once all is painted and cured.
I'd paint the entire flag white, let dry, then mask a circle in the center and paint the flag red. Use a swastika decal from an a/c kit (1:32 or 1:48 whichever works best for the size flag you're modeling) When it's all done and dry spray with a dull coat and accentuate the weathering with pigments

Cheers,
C.

Charles is bang on there, i used cling film on mine, as a barrier, but the flag did take one or two tries.
thanks for the kudos on the tank
good luck Walter

Thank you Charles and James (again),
Thank you all for your help. It is much appreciated. I had thought there must be some kind of barrier between the Apoxie and the tank. Thank you for teaching me something new today. I will have to give it a whirl and see how I do. No promises But I will do my best.

Thank you all again for your help.

It is much appreciated.

Best,

Walter

Find an image of the flag you want. Download it and print in in Word as you would any clip art. Use the highest resolution your printer can do on plain white paper. Apply thinned whit glue to the back and let the paper absorb some of th ewater to become soft. Drape where you want it andlet it dry. Highlight and shade as appropriate.

Photo demonstration of what Charles is saying - I used the same technique for a figure's surcoat.


clay in plastic bag or plastic/cling wrap sandwich

Rolling the clay - a bottle of paint works fine

Flat coin

Stil flat, but also thin

Cut to shape and in my case remove the inner plastic - as I needed it to bind to the figure

Fit to figure

Still fitting to figure

Form the drapery

More drapery

When the clay has started to cure, still tacky but not yet dry, remove the plastic. No big deal if it tears the clay slightly as the cloth it's emulating tears as well.

Much later when dry and more folds added (with more clay)

More later - the rear of the figure

It doesn't matter whether your forming the surcoat skirts of a Crusader knight, or forming a flag, the basic technique is the same.

HTH

Thanks Rudi and Al,
Thanks for the response and help guys, I appreciate it. Rudi, if I may ask a question. When you handpaint white on your figures, how do you keep brushstrokes from being visible? I realize I may have to paint the white part( center disk) of the flag by hand. I think that with all the bending and folding, that masking it may be to difficult to get into all those folds correctly. I had planned to use oil paints. Is there something you add to the white to 'smooth" it out? Thank you again for all your help everyone! It is most appreciated.

Best Wishes,
Walter