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Modeling in General: Decals
Trouble with decals?
What base coat to use before adding a decal?
Fenriswulf
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Australia
Member Since: December 15, 2012
entire network: 8 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2 Posts
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2014 - 06:42 PM UTC
Hi guys, just wondering if anyone is able to help me out with some idea of whether a base coat will help give a different effect on the figure when a decal is applied over the top.

I have bought some Cross Delta Digital Camo decals, but haven't used any of it yet, and I think that some of the lighter areas on the sheet are a bleed through from underneath. If I am going for a darker scheme on the figures (not looking to go completely accurate for them, just looking to try to achieve different effects), will the pattern be different depending on the undercoat? I usually undercoat with a spray of white, getting a nice even coating by using an airbrush. What if I go for a grey or darker shade, will the decal be different with that tone underneath?

If it turns out it might be, it would be interesting to experiment with a few different colours to see how it turns out. The decal over a dark green or olive drab, over tan or sand colours, or even over even something stranger like red.

I am a bit of a novice to the whole decal thing, so any help that people could give would be fantastic. Cheers!
Karl187
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Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Member Since: October 04, 2006
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Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - 10:17 PM UTC
I don't have any experience with Crossdelta decals but I think I have come across the issue you are talking about while printing my own decals. The latest thing I printed was a screen for a 1/35 laptop. The decals I print are obviously not as good quality as that from a company so they tend to be thin and slightly weak in terms of color- which means if I am applying the decal to somewhere the paint on it will likely have an effect on the decal. The screen decal I printed was mostly white with other light colors so I painted the laptop screen area white and this helped. Like you said you could potentially experiment with the base coat over which you apply the decals to see what effects you can get. If you want the effect to be true to the decals though then it would be best to apply a basecoat in whatever the dominant or base color of the decals is.

HTH.
Fenriswulf
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Australia
Member Since: December 15, 2012
entire network: 8 Posts
KitMaker Network: 2 Posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - 04:29 AM UTC
Ok so I gave it a try. On a white background it remains pretty much as it is printed on the sheet. With a black background it's a little darker across the pattern, but not so dark that it washes out the tan part of the design. With a dark blue background to go over it doesn't make too much difference either way. It might also change depending if underneath has a different colour (I think I saw a guy who had put a band of yellow over his figure and it showed through a bit with the decal), but I haven't had a chance to really check out the spectrum to see.

I think basically that these decals have enough pigment in them that the lighter areas will stay light enough and keep their colour, though there is a little bleed through from underneath. As I was hoping to tone down the sand coloured areas it doesn't help me so much, but oh well. I will just have to come up with an 'urban' digital camo style and have it printed on transparent decal paper.

Cheers guys!
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