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Hobby Decal |
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1/48 & 1/72 F-18F VFA-103 'Jolly Rogers' 1/48 F/A-18E/F Stencils |
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Stock Number: le48004v1, st48028v1 |
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Reviewed By James Kelley, #42106 |
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Limited Edition 'Jolly Rogers' |
Stencils |
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MSRP: $17.98 USD (Jolly Rogers); $15.98 USD Available: www.hobbydecal.com Looking for something different to finish off that Super Hornet or 1:24 Focke-Wulf? Hobby Decal may have just what you’re looking for. Producers of an entire line of “Dry Transfers”, Hobby Decals give the airplane modeler something for their armamentarium that armor modelers and model railroaders have had for several years. Packaged in heavy gauge zip type plastic bags, the transfer sets come with a firm slip of cardboard to prevent folding, and explicitly drawn instructions for placement, along with a separate sheet that is essentially a “catalogue” of available sets for purchase. The stencils set had one full size sheet and one small sheet of markings. The placement guides, and therefore the decals, are among the most thoroughly researched I have ever seen. It’s pretty obvious that a lot of effort went into these sheets! The colors are bright and appear to be spot-on. What would pass for registry on a product like this is perfect, and all of the markings appear extremely accurate. However, neither of the sets included placard markings for the ejection seats or landing gear, which would’ve been very helpful. The “VFA-103” sheet includes transfers for one complete 1:48 machine and a 1:72 model. That’s value! Along the same vein as Archer Transfers and Woodland Scenics, Hobby Decal’s transfers are just that, dry. No Micro-Sol/Set, No Solva-Set, etc… you get the picture (or transfer!). Carefully cut out the transfer, position where you want, and simply rub it until it transfers to your model. A light burnishing and voila! What could be easier? Quite frankly, I can think of any number of things that could be easier. Before I continue, allow me to throw this out to you; as with anything new and unfamiliar, there is a learning curve involved. Some curves are steeper than others, and different people accelerate at different rates. This principal applies to dry transfers as well. The processes for using these markings are as follows:
The brilliantly colored, exceptionally well researched, thoroughly complete transfer sets come on a sheet of thin plastic film, whose milky opacity makes it very difficult to orient the marking exactly where you want it to be, particularly on the smaller ones, e.g., stencils. The generic stencil set actually comes as 1 large and 1 small sheet, and as I just stated are extremely thorough. I always thought that the Tamiya Thunderbolts had a lot of decals… Applying them to any compound curve is (for me) an exercise in creative vulgarity. Why? Well, the amount of pressure needed to cause the transfer to leave the backing sheet and lay down on the model is much greater than I had anticipated. Imagine, if you will, a smooth burnishing tool applied to a round fuselage, with a lot of carefully applied pressure… you’re almost done… just have to get this last edge of the decal… WHOOPS! Your burnishing tool just slipped right up and over the top of the curve (compound, learning, and other) and into the planes’ canopy / antennae / landing gear / fuel tank / whatever. Now you have to fix that. Not to mention that you’ve had to handle your painted-but-not-finished model way more than you’d like to be handling it. I, for some reason, had the most difficult time aligning the “slime” lights on my model correctly. No matter how close I cut the transfer, and no matter how well I thought I had them taped into position, there was always one end a bit off. They scraped off pretty easy with a sharp toothpick. And you can hardly notice the 2 areas I had to repaint, either. The Hobby Decal website is user friendly, and seems to be heavy on customer service. I can’t comment on that topic, as I didn’t initiate the process, but it sure seems like it would be easy to get in touch with them. There are also some “tips” for using dry transfers, and interestingly, a page listing the advantages and disadvantages of dry transfers as compared to water slide markings. They are honest and forthright. You know what you’re getting into before you spend your money, if you read this first. I cannot say I’ve seen any other company do anything similar. Hobby Decal will also produce custom decal sheets for you, but I cannot comment on the price quotes; you need to contact them directly. One thing I did to ease things considerably was to rub the transfer onto a piece of clear decal paper, trim as closely as possible, and apply as I would any other water slide decal. Yes, it defeats the concept of what the transfers are, but it worked perfectly and eliminated the need for fixing other things, and minimized the amount I handled the model. Many of the markings in the accompanying photos are just that: “dry to wet” transfers. See if you can tell by the photos which ones they are. Based on the initial steepness of my own learning curve, only a few of the VFA-103 markings were used on the model. The majority of the squadron markings are the Hasegawa kit’s decals. However, I got the hang of these things quicker than I thought I would, and almost all of the stenciling is Hobby Decal dry transfers. And I’m extremely happy with how they look. Would I buy another sheet of these to use? Yes I would. And I recommend that you do, too. They are extremely well researched, accurate, and they look like they’re painted on. You can, if it becomes difficult, create water slide decals with them which go down easily. They are a few dollars more than conventional markings (but less than the average PYN-Up sheets from Cutting Edge), take a bit of effort to learn to use, and may require touching-up with paint if not laid down correctly. And they look darned good when you’re done! I can recommend this product without reservation. A big thank you goes out to John Noack, Vice President, IPMS/USA, and the fine people at Hobby Decal for these review samples! |
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