Beefing up Tamiya decals...

I am currently building the Castrol NSX and I've seen on some prior builds that the Castrol on the rear wing really come out pink instead of white due to the typical Tamiya white decals. I can't seem to find any aftermarket decals for the kit, unfortunately.

My question is this--what should I do? :runaround: Does anyone have an extra? Is there a super-secret way of preventing the obligatory bleed-through? I'd appreciate your thoughts...

Daniel

There's always the 'masking and airbrush' trick, sometimes it's the far superior solution to poor kit decals.

There's always the 'macking and airbrush' trick, sometimes it's the far superior solution to poor kit decals.

Ok, so I'm not that hip and cool--what exactly is macking and airbrushing?

I guess I should clarify--I'm specifically talking about the "Castrol" logo on the rear wing (white decal over marlboro red...)

My apologies, I typo'ed, should have been masking.

Anyhow, once again, the answer was made irrelevant by the lack of clarity in the question.

Try getting a second set of decals and doubling them up.

Ah, MASKing and airbrushing! I think that means that before you apply the decal you could paint the area white.

Seems like a good solution to me, better in fact than two decals, which can get messy if the first decal loosens while you're trying to apply the second.

Ddms

Yes, you would be correct. My suggestion would be to scan the decals, and then print them out on a sheet of paper. And then you can use that to make a mask.

Anyhow, once again, the answer was made irrelevant by the lack of clarity in the question.

What wasn't clear?:confused:

I just had a look at the kit in question on HLJ and I can see your problem.The only way I can think of doing this is to obtain a second set of decals and double up on the Castrol one for the rear wing, or as suggested earlier, scan the decals , print the copy onto artists frisk film and using a sharp hobby knife cut out a template so you can spray the white Castrol onto the rear wing.It will however, looking at the decal involve some pretty intricate cutting.

If you don't want a 'sticker' look:
I was thinking what about painting the rear wing white then mask the Castrol part and then paint the red? BMF would do the trick nicely.

If you want the sticker look:
Double up on the decals. I think masking + decals would make it very hard to line up properly.
My :2cents:

After checking out the model in question, I take back my recommendation to paint the area white like I previously suggested - I was envisioning a dark border of some kind, but in this case the lettering goes all the way to the clear edge of the decal. While it might be possible to make a stencil by printing onto frisket and then cutting along the edge, I think it would be pretty hard to get it right. And you've got the "holes" in the A, R and O to consider.

Of course, if you can do that, you won't need the decal!

Sometimes perfection is just plain impractical, and this might be an example of that. Personally, I could live with a double decal or a pale pink "CASTROL" better than with a messed up, raggedy-edged CASTROL.

Ddms

After checking out the model in question, I take back my recommendation to paint the area white like I previously suggested - I was envisioning a dark border of some kind, but in this case the lettering goes all the way to the clear edge of the decal. While it might be possible to make a stencil by printing onto frisket and then cutting along the edge, I think it would be pretty hard to get it right. And you've got the "holes" in the A, R and O to consider.

Of course, if you can do that, you won't need the decal!

Sometimes perfection is just plain impractical, and this might be an example of that. Personally, I could live with a double decal or a pale pink "CASTROL" better than with a messed up, raggedy-edged CASTROL.

I tend to agree. The thing that sucks the most is that no one makes an aftermarket set of decals for this kit... :banghead: