Help needed for French and Italian decals

[Hu Rhu]

Kevin of MiscMini has very kindly agreed to consider adding some French and Italian decals to his WW1 range. I have agreed to help collect images and references and am looking for the Drome members input as to what decals should be included.

The aim is to eventually produce decals for Nieuports and SPADs for both nations as well as Hanriot HD.1s for the Italians. If you have any suggestions as to which pilot's markings should make the cut and/or can provide images of markings, aircraft serial numbers and other associated data, please pass them to me either via this thread, a PM or by email (details on request). I'll compile the data and send on to Kevin with your recommendations.

Just be aware that this will not be a quick process due to limitations on Kevin's time but we hope to have something up and running by summer 2024.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[ReducedAirFact]

What resolution is Kevin looking for? To avoid copyright entanglements, I typically make my own unit logos and individual logos for my 3D printed models, and I can share the ones I've done thus far. They're not great works of art because I'm not much of an artist, but they look fine when reduced to the size of a few millimeters on a 1:144 plane.

But the forums have limited posting resolution. And y'all don't want to be staring at a bunch of 800x600 images in this thread, either.

And I assume they can include all colors (including white) and transparency as well (therefore png is better than jpg). Are svg files fine?

[Hu Rhu]

Daryl thanks for the quick response. At the moment we are in the exploratory phase and are looking for suitable images to select. If you already have home made decals, then they would be useful to compare for sizing etc and depending on resolution and quality may well reduce the work load.

I doubt that he will directly copy any image that is copyrighted but is prepared to design and colour from examples. He hasn't mentioned any particular resolution, but I'll ask if there is a lower limit. As far as I am aware there a no limitations on colour. He has said that Jpegs are fine as are one-page PDFs or links to URLs. He hasn't mentioned png. or svg.

I suggest that you send any images you have to me and we'll find out if the resolution works or not. You can use the email link in my profile or if you need to send larger attachments and want my personal email, drop me a pm.

[camelbeagle]

Interesting. Lots of fun squadron markings out there.

[ReducedAirFact]

I mention the format because png better handles transparency (compared to jpg) and svg are vector-based files that can be rescaled to any resolution desired without loss of fidelity. I typically start with a jpg photograph or painting and use it as a guide to build an svg file, then I save that as a png so I can integrate it into the texture map for a plane's paint scheme (with some resizing and skewing and such). So I have all three formats available. svg is probably best if you and Kevin are prepared to handle that. Just let me know.

[miscmini]

I use the images for reference, as long as I can view the image, the format shouldn't be a problem. I prefer photos but good ones are hard to come by. Harder still is finding enough to flesh out a unit's worth of markings. Views of the sides, tops, and bottoms of the aircraft are welcome. Angled views are less helpful but of some use. I will not be printing any files that are sent as reference pictures.

Written documents, that provide dimensions, colors, and other info are also great (USAF Tech Order 1-1-4 comes to mind). I got lucky on a recent book purchase (WW2 topic). The book contained narrative that included dates, air actions, squadron aircraft code and serial number combinations, some aircraft names, and a few useful pictures of aircraft names and markings. My previous internet searches yielded a couple of b/w photos and some artwork, not enough info to make a decal sheet.

The following may provide some insight:

I work and print in/from LibreOffice. I don't work in Corel Draw or Illustrator.

As a military staff officer and civilian analyst, I worked with Harvard Graphics and Power Point. That's my graphics background. I hate making slides* but they are a necessary evil.

I started Miscellaneous Miniatures as a painting service. I started making my own decals because it was very hard to find decals for the projects I had/have. Selling decals was a way to help cover the cost of the printer but soon became the focus.

I use the pictures/images for reference so that I can see the colors, shape, and how it should fit, re-creating the images in Libre Office. Test print, check, repeat.

Cheers, Kevin

*making decal sheets is just like making briefing slides, a necessary evil.

[ReducedAirFact]

So... to repeat back what I'm hearing to make sure I understand... you're not looking for decal-ready graphics files for decals (like the one below, though perhaps larger) but instead historical photos or multi-view paintings of planes?

If so, two great online resources are the Wingnut Wings archives (https://www.wingnutwings.com) and the guides on the Eduard site, e.g. https://www.eduard.com/out/media/8197.pdf. But you probably already knew about them. Plus tons of sites that don't worry much about copyright.

22AS_logo_400.png

[camelbeagle]

Question then,
I have a scan of two sheets of 1/72 WWI US Squardon markings. I think they were originally done by Microscale several years ago, but are no longer being produced. Would something like that be useful?

[miscmini]

Correct, I am not looking for print ready files.

[camelbeagle]

What would be the best way to submit. I know posting here may be an issue depending on the source material.

[Hu Rhu]

What would be the best way to submit. I know posting here may be an issue depending on the source material.

Dan,

I'll drop you a pm with my civ email address and you can send them to me. I'll then collate them for Kevin so that he only has to work on those that are selected and are decent enough quality to reduce his workload.

Cheers

Gary

[Hu Rhu]

The first set of decals for WW1 Italian aircraft - SPAD VII is now available on the website. Kevin is now working on the French decals for the same aircaft, which hopefully will be followed by Nieuport 17s for both countries and eventually Hanriot HD.1 for the Italians.

If any one has any suggestions for the Nieuports and Hanriots please pass them along.

[camelbeagle]

Awesome! I got my set ordered! Looks like some good stuff hopefully coming soon!

There were a lot of interesting Nieuport squadron markings for the French. Let me look through my profile book and see what is interesting.

[tikkifriend]

[QUOTE Damn it Jim, I'm a modeler not a graphic artist.[/QUOTE]

Brilliant