Mike, I make my own decals too and have found that the best way is to use regular old white glue. I use just a bit of undiluted white glue and cover the area; then I use the wet decal (which dilutes the glue down a bit). Every other commercial decal agent that I have used either shrinks the decal or slightly shifts when drying, which can lead to a disaster if you have parallel stripes or something like that.
I also coat my decals with a couple of coats of Testors matte clear spray covering after I print them and before I expose them to water (otherwise the printer ink will run).
I've used the Testors "Decal Bonder" before with good results.
Mine's done & I'm in !
"He is wise who watches"
How many entries do we have now? I think 5 submitted, a similar number confirmed underway. The more the merrier!
Five so far, only a little over 2 weeks left!
I have something in the works I hope to get to this weekend. My first time playing with camo wing decals, hope it works out.
Just sent mine in Zoe.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Jelena and I postponed beginning few times already... I strongly hope next week we'll have some serious progress...
This Sunday or bust, I think, for me
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Just sent my entry.
Done and done!
We have difficulties with putting Valom kit together... Probably just my clumsy fingers... Now Jelena and me are considering other options. Probably Goering will be dis-Goeringed. Unfortunately, in that case, we'll face the challenge with only one entry...
Spraying matt varnish all over the Fokker...
"We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."
I also agree with Nightbomber. The Valom kits when finished can be beauties but are quite a pain in the @$$ putting them together. I have only finished a few Sopwith Pups and have so far avoided the frustration with many Fokker DVIIs I bought by not building them! Someday I'll give them a go but for now Shapeways is my drug of choice.
Andrzej, Peter,
now I feel a bit better, but still a bit frustrated
I'm quite sure I'm not going to order new Valom kits soon.
I really like the Valom kits and I don't find them more difficult to build than for instances... waking up in the morning to go to work...
The only problem is that I don't have enough time...
TIME!
(Ok... sorry for over doing it...)
You are not alone. I've been working on a Valom D.VII for three weeks now and every thing I do goes wrong. It's now 95% painted but still needs the upper wing located and those centre struts are really driving me around the bend. Mind you the arthritis in the fingers and the failing eyesight have probably got something to do with it as well. I still hope to finish in time to enter but it will be a while before I start on the second one.
You might try this technique to get the wing position correct, then put the struts in -
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...n-modellers%29
Thanks for the info Zoe but in this instance it's not so much a matter of correctly positioning the upper wing which is taken care of by the outer wing struts,
but more a matter of getting the struts in the correct position on the fuselage with no witness marks for position. There are marks on the underside of the top wing but none that I can identify on the fuselage. The kit instructions say nothing at all about this other than the line drawings which are not terribly helpful.
I hope my entry will be ready in time. I've never made a Valom kit before and they seem a bit tricky. For that matter I've never used the lozenge decals before and that's another challenge!
I'm not sure which D.VII I'll enter perhaps the one that has no lozenge fabric.
Picking up a paintbrush momentarily...
The only down side to the D.VII is the lack of rigging. I can do that stuff after years of Langton 1200 Napoleonic ships and it would distract the eye from the iffy brushwork.
Rusty Tin (Tim)
I just stuck 'em down in the same position as on the Ares Fokker DVII.
My 4th Valom
The leading vertical strut touches down in line with the leading undercarriage strut; the two ends of the 'V' strut attached to this at the top edge, touch down at the edge of the upper decking (rear strut) and roughly mid engine-side (forward strut). The singleton rear vertical strut should then go parallel to the forward vertical strut.
Or something like that!
Thanks Tim that's a great help.
Reg
Well... damn. Your skills continue to impress, Master Tim.
I must say... as soon as your squadron receives replacement kites (obviously powered by the splendid BMW.IIIa, I'd be more than happy to adopt some of your retired Mercedes-powered D.VIIs!
I'll get m'coat...
"He is wise who watches"
I'm just getting confused with all this Tim Tim stuff.
Let's just stick to Tim, and Flying Helmut, or No Sails please.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
I'm happy to go by Rusty.
There is an explanation why Rusty = Tin.
Later.
Rusty
Don't worry Tim, I'm just having a joke about No Sails.
The other Tim will get it.
However, you will now have to tell the lads about why Rusty Tin. there is a thread about how we all came by our nicknames somewhere on here.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
I'm not sure if I'm more nonplussed by the absurdity of this idea, or that no one else seems to think it's silly. I'm guessing there's maybe 3 people on this site who could freehand national insignia to a standard that would equal or surpass the Ares models, not to mention the vast majority of personal insignia. The goal here is not to see who can use the most rudimentary methods to produce an acceptable "repaint", but to create the best "repaint" possible.
To be fair, perhaps "repaint" is to specific a term, and the contest should be a re-skinning, refinishing, or presentation contest in the interest of clarity...
Hey Todd. Can't (and won't) speak for others, but I interpreted the (at times) tongue-in-cheek conversation to be referring to the (near-) impossibility of painting the 4- and 5-color lozenge patterned fabric common to late-war German aircraft... especially the D.VII.
Rob,
I realised that there is some running gag about Sails of Glory. One day I might get it.
I can't find the thread about nicknames. This forum is a giant haystack and the magnet (search box) never seems to find me what I'm looking for.
Rusty Tin
I borrowed this from my late father which is only fair as you will see.
In WW2 my father was flying from North Africa for a while before moving on to Burma and Vultee Vengeance divebombers. His name was Austin and was shortened to 'Tin but he had red hair so got the nickname Rusty Tin. When shouted across an active airfield 'Tin was misheard as Tim. He then chose to go by the name Tim post war since he kept up contact with his RAF comrades.
As his first born I was named Tim, as was customary, after my father.
So in a sense you could say that he had borrowed my name before I was born.
The pair of Valom Fokkers are almost done. Now which one do I chose to enter? I'm warming to the challenge of the fiddly struts and the lozenge decals. I may buy another pair...
Sticking on big decals reminds me of the Renwal Aeroskin kits of the 60's that had pre-printed tissue skins to stick on the underlying plastic components.
Ufffff...entry sent Yeahhhhh!
"We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."
Now that was a story well worth the telling Tim.
Thanks for that.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
5 days to go - so there's still time (just) to start on this if you hurry!
I think I might just make it! Painting's almost done - almost time for some decal action...
All the best,
Matt
Last edited by clipper1801; 01-25-2016 at 19:31.
Decals should arrive tomorrow or day after. With some luck, Jelena and I will have two entries
@Clipper
"Die Sieben Schwaben" are very tempting, specially because long and shiny artwork
It is very near to by My Next Fokker D.VII project.
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