• These questions are for customizers who have painted and/or decaled their pieces.

    I am in the process of gathering materials to begin painting and customizing my A&A pieces.  However, I do not have a lot of extra cash to buy whatever so I need to make sure every dollar counts towards stuff I can use.  I have looked at I-94 and Detail Matters decals as they come highly recommended.  But according to the scale of sizes, I would only be able to use a few per sheet and have to ditch the rest.  I stumbled across Doms Decals which has A LOT of 1/600 aircraft insignia decals ranging from 1mm-2mm sizes.  These sizes would appear to work great for the aircraft and I could use the whole sheet.  But I do not know if I could use the decals for other units as the decals are VERY small.  So, my questions are, based off of ya’ll’s experience:

    What size national insignia decals have ya’ll used on armor, ships, etc?

    Does anybody know of any other companies that I could find a lot of usable decals per sheet for army/navy? (If Doms Decals are too small)

    What scale should I be looking for for the units?  I know 1/600 for aircraft and 1/285 for tanks.  Are those scales correct?

    (Non decal related question)
    Does anybody have any paint color that they would recommend as a must have for this project of painting an A&A set?  I have a lot of Model Masters colors from my earlier painting days, but I only did larger scale WW2 aircraft - no army or navy - and mostly have aircraft related colors.  Looking to see if there are any colors/shades that were extremely versatile, used heavily, and/or that you couldn’t have done without.

    Thank you everyone very much for your help.  I will post pictures of stuff when completed for eye candy and hopefully inspiration for other people as your sets have been for me.

    Andy6049


  • I have had good luck buying large lots of decals or slide transfers on ebay. There are some that ask for the moon but a lot that are fair too. I also found that if you know how to set up the designs on a memory stick and take it to a Fedex Office and have them printed on sticky paper as well. That is the most accurate way of getting exactly what you want! Good Luck!

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    Hi Andy6049. I’m not the best person to talk to you about decals, because I user bigger and bolder decals, than worry about scale. Someone else can answer that question, but I can answer the other.

    As far as paints, you definitely need these colors for sure.

    You need a light and dark grey, black, white, light and dark green, tan, possibly a darker brown color, red and lastly a light and dark blue.

    You need some form of these colors.

    I hope this helps some.

    John Brown


  • Thanks for the info.  I think I have most of those shades, but I should probably expand my tan and brown selection.

    Another question that I forgot to ask the first time was about weathering.  I understand that inkwashes and dry-brushing “weathers” pieces, helps to bring out detail, and adds a little more realistic feel to the pieces.  However, I know almost nothing about inkwashes except for a general concept.  I assume that black is the primary inkwash color.  So…

    Are there certain inks I should look at or stay away from since I am using enamel paint?

    Does anyone have any advice for a first time “inkwasher”?  (i.e. don’t do that or you will destroy everything kind of stuff)


  • Hi Andy,

    I recently purchased a bunch of decals from Dom’s Decals and I’d definitely recommend them. I got 1/300 scale decals and I think they are the perfect size for the Axis & Allies aircraft (edit to add: 1/300 is perfect for the wings, if you want decals on the fuselage then those might need to be 1/600). But 1/300 is too big for the ships or armor, so for them I’d try the 1/600 decals. The quality of the decals and instructions were very nice, but be aware that Dom was dealing with a major backlog of orders in the spring; my (admittedly huge) order took 4 months to get to me, though I don’t think that is the norm for Dom. Still an excellent value and well worth the wait.

    I use acrylic paints, so I can’t give much advice about enamel painting, but I will say that I’ve used a lot of tans and browns for the UK, greys for Germany, dark green for the US Army/Airforce as well as Russia and China (the standard US Army/Russian Army dark green is probably my most commonly used color). You’ll want a nice wood color for the decks of aircraft carriers and ships. And a few shades of grey for aircraft undersides, tank tracks, and ships.

    Also I’ve found that it usually takes 3-4 colors on any given piece before it looks really good: a base color, two or three highlight colors, and possibly a faction color. It’s surprised me several times when I had two colors on a piece and wasn’t thrilled with it but then as soon as I added that third or fourth color suddenly it all came together and looked fantastic. I especially notice it on the ships, where I usually do camouflage patterns with a base color, a camo pattern color, a wooden deck color, plus a smokestack or mast painted the nation color (red, yellow, green, white, etc.).

    EBard

  • '16 Customizer

    @Andy6049:

    Another question that I forgot to ask the first time was about weathering.  I understand that inkwashes and dry-brushing “weathers” pieces, helps to bring out detail, and adds a little more realistic feel to the pieces.  However, I know almost nothing about inkwashes except for a general concept.  I assume that black is the primary inkwash color.  So…

    Are there certain inks I should look at or stay away from since I am using enamel paint?

    Does anyone have any advice for a first time “inkwasher”?  (i.e. don’t do that or you will destroy everything kind of stuff)

    Hey Andy - it’s good to have another customizer in the community! Welcome.

    I’m in the same boat as EBard - I use acrylic paints and ink washes. I’m not sure how enamels interact with an ink wash, but I can’t imagine it’s any different than an acrylic as long as you let your enamel dry. My tips for ink washing are:

    • An ink wash darkens your pieces, so go a shade lighter on your base coat to compensate. You don’t want to put a lot of detail into a piece and then lose it all because the whole piece looks too dark.

    • Brown is my color of choice for infantry and certain ground vehicles, while I use black for ships, some ground vehicles, and some infantry. Brown simulates dirt a little bit better, and looks more natural on skin colors. Whichever color you choose, I suggest that you be consistent across the whole batch of pieces. Some brown washed tanks and some black washed tanks of the same scheme might look off.

    • If you need to take some ink wash off, just dry your brush and dab the area where the wash pooled. It’ll soak it right back up into the brush. If it’s starting to dry, or that method doesn’t work, a really wet brush can usually make the ink wet again and allow you to wipe it or lift it off with a brush or tissue.

    • Lastly, I find that you can double the effect of your ink wash by doing a highlight color over top of it. The ink wash creates the shadows, and the highlight creates, well, the highlights on the raised edges. If an ink wash takes your piece from Level 3 to Level 5, highlights will take it to Level 8!

    Happy painting!


  • My suggestions-

    -Dom’s Decals are good, however can take forever to get.  From the UK

    -PicoArmor.com is a domestic website and sells some of Dom’s Decals

    -GHQ.com has several

    -I-94enterprises.com is what HBG sells, but you can buy them direct from them

    -fightingpirannhagraphics.com is where I got Australia, Confederacy, Union Jack and US flag decals.  They also have the Pinups (for the nose of the bombers) decals.  They take forever also to get.  Lots of numbers.  Some of the sizes are too big on the sheets but about 1/3 of them are perfect.

    also you can sometimes find stuff on Ebay.  1/285th scale is best


  • Thank you everyone for your responses!  It sounds like I should be looking at 1/285-1/300 scale decals fro my project.  I assume that this scale should also work well with armor and such.

    I have notice that a lot of various decals (stuff like chevrons, numbers, slogans, etc) for armor are listed in a mm scale.  Does anyone know if these types of decals would work with A&A pieces or are they too big?

    R DiStefano - How is picoarmor on shipping?  They have many, but not all, of the decals on my list and I may try to buy some from them.

  • '16 Customizer

    @Andy6049:

    R DiStefano - How is picoarmor on shipping?  They have many, but not all, of the decals on my list and I may try to buy some from them.

    I’ve also used PicoArmor - shipping is fairly cheap if I remember correctly, and it arrives within 2-3 weeks.


  • @EBard:

    I got 1/300 scale decals and I think they are the perfect size for the Axis & Allies aircraft (edit to add: 1/300 is perfect for the wings, if you want decals on the fuselage then those might need to be 1/600). But 1/300 is too big for the ships or armor, so for them I’d try the 1/600 decals.

    EBard

    Would it be possible to see a picture example or two of the 1/300 decals on A&A aircraft?


  • Sure! I’ve only done the German planes so far, but here is a picture of several of them with 1/300 decals from Dom’s Decals. The bombers and J52 transports have the 48" decals on them, the stukas and fighters have the 36" decals and I’m planning to use the 30" decals for the Me262 and a few other small planes. I don’t have any decals on the fuselages.

    I did also verify that I ordered and received 1/300 decals, so that is definitely what is in the picture. And FWIW I use acrylic paints with a layer of varnish on top, then apply the decal, then another layer of varnish over the decal. Seems to work well and gives the pieces a nice look.

    EBard

    GermanDecals.jpg

  • '20 '19 '18 Customizer

    I got the 1/600’s from Pico (very friendly and fast), which are actually Dom’s, for our British aircraft.  The sheet comes separated into 3 sizes- upper wing, lower wing, and fuselage.  Here’s what they look like on the Spits.

    DSCN1420.JPG

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    Awesome job, on these! :-)


  • Those look great!  I would like to confirm that you used the 2mm decals on the wings?

  • '20 '19 '18 Customizer

    Thank you!  Those are the plain ones for the Battle of Britain Spits with no fin flash.  The wing roundels are labeled “For Upper Wing” on the decal sheet, and after searching around to find a metric measuring stick, yes, the upper wing roundels are 2mm.  Fuselage roundels measure 1.5mm, and although they’re a pain to work with, the effort is worth it.  Without measuring, it looks like the lower wing roundels are about 1.75mm.  Some of those will most likely be fuselage roundels on the bombers.  I’ll have a lot left over after doing 22 fighters (20 done, 2 left to finish, some wing upper and lower roundels are I-94, varies with the era of the Spits, from '38 to '45, so no two are alike) 10 tacticals (in various forms, no 2 alike), and 10 (maybe more) bombers.  We plan on using the leftovers for tanks, mech inf, trucks, and artillery.  Some of the larger roundels from the I-94 sheets went on the carrier decks.  The fin flashes on the I-94 sheets have to be cut down, but that’s another thing worth the effort, because they look great.  For example, here’s a Spitfire based on an aircraft flown by Pilot Officer Robert Wendell “Buck” McNair D.F.C. (Royal Canadian Air Force) No.249 Squadron (Gold Coast) based in Malta, March 1942.  Fuselage decal is Dom, wing upper and lower (not visible) and cut-down fin flash are I-94.  The camera flash does something funny to the wing decals- those dark circles are not visible to the naked eye:

    DSCN1428.JPG


  • You said that the decals are for the Battle of Britain Spits?  Are you referring to these:

    http://domsdecals.com/epages/81fc44d0-907b-42a4-9f72-8d3238c7e6b2.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/81fc44d0-907b-42a4-9f72-8d3238c7e6b2/Products/600-GB-02

    Or did you use these?

    http://domsdecals.com/epages/81fc44d0-907b-42a4-9f72-8d3238c7e6b2.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/81fc44d0-907b-42a4-9f72-8d3238c7e6b2/Products/600-GB-06

    The reason I ask is because I was about to purchase Dom’s 1/300 size for the wings and the 1/600 for the fueselage based off of scale calculations.  But the 1/600 on those first Spits looks pretty good.  Have you decaled any other nations yet?

  • '20 '19 '18 Customizer

    The first listing- 600-GB-02.  Pico has a picture of the decal sheet here:
    https://www.picoarmor.com/product-category/decals/

    I didn’t buy the second listing because I couldn’t tell from the picture if that’s what I wanted or not.  I’d recommend going with the 1/600’s for the proper scale for A&A planes.

    I’ve done all of Japan’s air power- or had, until I bought some Japanese paratroop transports and jets from HBG, and a significant portion of the US air power, German, and Italian air power.  All those were done with I-94 decals, but more are planned with some Dom decals.  My buddy is working on the navies, and has finished the UK rather quickly, then bogged down making customized carriers for Japan out of the A&A Akagi and Shinano carriers.  He’s modded Akagi’s to be a Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu, and chopped a few down to make a Zuiho and a Shoho.  He’s also chopped a few Shinanos to make a Ryujo and an Amagi.  He’s done some amazing stuff I’ll have to share here.


  • Ok.  I too plan on using a mix of Dom’s and I-94.  My main concern is the 1/600 looking too small for the wings, but your Spits look right on.

    Those custom carriers will be cool.  How different will the Kaga and Ryujo look from HBG’s sculpts?

  • '20 '19 '18 Customizer

    Kind of funny, or sad, but we didn’t even look for a Kaga or Ryujo on HBG’s site until after they were both done.  Their Ryujo is a nice little thing for one plane, but my buddy’s is just a little bigger (also for one plane).  I would have liked to have gotten an HBG Kaga because the detail in their pieces is so nice, but next to his Akagi, you can’t even tell they started out as the same piece.  Some time this week I’ll post some pictures.


  • something like this?

    ryujo1.JPG

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