I bought some of those ACU and digital camouflage pattern decals for 1/35 figures and am wondering how modelers use them for their figures.

Does one prime the figures first, glosscote them (for a smooth shiny surface), or just apply the pattern decals directly onto the bare plastic or resin? Does one cut the decals to fit first or apply the decal like a burrito wrap and then cut the decal on the figure?

Thanks for the answers.

Good questions. I'm going to follow this thread. I've been wanting to try these type of decals, too, and these are some of my questions. But I do believe they (the decals) can be frustrating, and you can only do a part of the figure at a time.

This
might be the answer for you!

I think I'd rather paint the camo instead of covering up buttons or other fine details with those decals.
My 2 cents.

I painted my figures, and then applied the decal. I cut it to the basic shape and then trimmed it on the figure, following seam lines.

I had no luck at all with decals until I tried the ones that came with the,I believe "Academy" drone kit.
Til then I was attempting Trumpeter decals.Totally useless,just fell apart.The Acedemy went on great,so it's obviously the quality of the decals.I gave the figures a base coat of paint,coated with Future,and then added setting solution and small pieces of decal slowly.to finish was softner and gently rolled a cotton swab over the area.It's quite time consuming.

Tom

Thanks for the answers. Parrot, your decals on your figures look good!

Shinsengumi decals are the best out there. I have tried Trumpeter and a couple of other brands. Here is my take on them.

Trumpeter: Really thick, backing film isn't very flexible. Only really usefull for legs and arms with no bends, and no fine details.

Alliance Model Works: Same as Trumpeter, a little more flexible. Used heaps of decal setting solution, and couldn't adhere to molle straps very well, broke apart quickly.

FFSMC Productions: Not bad, but the Multicam pattern I bought didn't have any white printed on it, it was the backing paper. The decal is semi transparent. And a little thick too. You will need to undercoat with a suitable colour. White is a little bright, so I used a yellow, then an off white.

Shinsengumi Decals I found are the best. Thin, printed great, and will settle into details very well.

I painted some figures with a base colour similar to whats on the decals, then gloss coated them. The gloss coat does help with moving the decal around, and then adhering to the figure.

Shinsengumi Marpat:


Alliance Model Works ACU


Trumpeter on legs:

Matt, do you have any experience using CrossDelta ACU and MARPAT decals from South Korea?

I got the pictures above wrong, the Marine Marpat is actually a Cross Delta Decal. These are on par with the Shinsengumi Decals. The figure below is in the Shinsengumi JGSDF camo:



This is in the FFSMC Multicam.

The sniper has been undercoated with an off white. On his upper back, I did a band of yellow, and realised this was too yellow.



This is another figure done with the Multicam, but undercoated in white.

The Cross Delta Decals are very good, well worth getting.

Does anyone make good Multicam decals? I don't recall any decal maker selling Multicam decals.

Thanks in advance.

the FFSMC decals above are multi cam. if cross delta or shinsengumi made multicam decals, i'd buy a few sheets.

I am interested in this thread as well. A friend recommended Crossdelta decals and from what I have been told by others, decals on figures is very time consuming. They state that only digicam decals should be used, otherwise, it is easier and faster to just paint regular camouflage, like the old army BDU, using a scale picture for reference.

Also, anything smaller than 1/35,is much more difficult as well. Just a few thoughts from multiple sources, hope it helps.

Cheers,

Anthony