Midway IJN Carriers - Flight Deck Decals
May 7, 2021 22:47:15 GMT
au64, CptHellcat, and 6 more like this
Post by grgbobe on May 7, 2021 22:47:15 GMT
Back in December when the posted images of the Pearl Harbor deck decals made me drool, I committed to buying some along with Ghukek's IJN carriers from XPForge...and I did within days. Sadly, I haven't made time to paint these up until nearly 4 1/2 months later. But, here they are.
Some words of advice. If you want the decals to pop, don't use dark grey paint on the deck. I'm cool with these, but I wish I'd used a light grey or even a white. In person, these are very subdued. Beautiful, but subdued. I think at this scale, it's OK/better if they "pop" with brightness to contrast with the shadows I built with the dark wash.
Also, don't try to trim Kaga first. Compared to the other 3, it was super hard. Start with a simple one to get the hang of trimming before you tackle Kaga...unless you're used to trimming decals. I wasn't and it was super nerve-wracking. I thought I had ruined it several times. Finally, there is a faint black outline around the decal. Trim there. Don't trim in the white space and think "oh, no big deal to just trim further in if necessary". It's necessary and just prolongs the work. Trust the sizing and start by trimming on the black line. It took me about an hour to trim Kaga and about 20 minutes to trim the other 3.
I suspect it took me about 6 hours of actual work (not counting waiting for paint or varnish to dry) to get these to my (IMHO) above-average game-table quality. Frankly, if you don't like painting, you could get the minis 3d-printed in dark grey, slap the decals on them in about an hour and they'd be better than the WOTC versions.
I highly recommend these minis from Ghukek/XPForge and the decals from Flight Deck Decals.
I was super sad because I didn't really inspect my minis, though. There are lots of pieces of support material "flash" I should have cleaned up in advance and really didn't notice until the main color was applied. Also, Akagi's stack behind the island came broken off and, again, I didn't notice until paint was applied. The perils of 3d printing. I'm sure XPForge would have replaced Akagi, but I can live with it.
OK, enough text...time for carrier porn!
Kaga:
Kaga comparison to Shapeways FUD/Tiny Thingamajigs' (painted by Ecclesiastes):
Akagi:
Akagi comparison to Shapeways FUD/Tiny Thingamajigs' (painted by Ecclesiastes) and to WOTC:
Hiryu:
Soryu:
Soryu to WOTC Comparison:
Some words of advice. If you want the decals to pop, don't use dark grey paint on the deck. I'm cool with these, but I wish I'd used a light grey or even a white. In person, these are very subdued. Beautiful, but subdued. I think at this scale, it's OK/better if they "pop" with brightness to contrast with the shadows I built with the dark wash.
Also, don't try to trim Kaga first. Compared to the other 3, it was super hard. Start with a simple one to get the hang of trimming before you tackle Kaga...unless you're used to trimming decals. I wasn't and it was super nerve-wracking. I thought I had ruined it several times. Finally, there is a faint black outline around the decal. Trim there. Don't trim in the white space and think "oh, no big deal to just trim further in if necessary". It's necessary and just prolongs the work. Trust the sizing and start by trimming on the black line. It took me about an hour to trim Kaga and about 20 minutes to trim the other 3.
I suspect it took me about 6 hours of actual work (not counting waiting for paint or varnish to dry) to get these to my (IMHO) above-average game-table quality. Frankly, if you don't like painting, you could get the minis 3d-printed in dark grey, slap the decals on them in about an hour and they'd be better than the WOTC versions.
I highly recommend these minis from Ghukek/XPForge and the decals from Flight Deck Decals.
I was super sad because I didn't really inspect my minis, though. There are lots of pieces of support material "flash" I should have cleaned up in advance and really didn't notice until the main color was applied. Also, Akagi's stack behind the island came broken off and, again, I didn't notice until paint was applied. The perils of 3d printing. I'm sure XPForge would have replaced Akagi, but I can live with it.
OK, enough text...time for carrier porn!
Kaga:
Kaga comparison to Shapeways FUD/Tiny Thingamajigs' (painted by Ecclesiastes):
Akagi:
Akagi comparison to Shapeways FUD/Tiny Thingamajigs' (painted by Ecclesiastes) and to WOTC:
Hiryu:
Soryu:
Soryu to WOTC Comparison: