Triplane decals

[cdwheatley]

I've very nearly finished my Guillow's laser cut Fokker Triplane but have only just noticed something odd about the decals - all the maltese crosses for the fuselage sides, rudder, and bottom wings have the white background as they are supposed to, but the top wings do not!

Has anyone else come across this? Have I somehow got the wrong decals (unlikely I know, as everything else is ok)?! With no proper decals for the top wings, does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can create a white background for the crosses I do have (I don't really want to use paint as it's a doped red tissue finish)?!

I've written to Guillow's but haven't received a reply yet. I really want to get this done so I can finish my model!

[supercruiser]

If you want a white background on the red tissue: simply cut a square section of white tissue and glue it on top of the red with UHU stick glue. For white tissue, any craft store stuff will do.

When I get home I can look at my old tri-plane and see what I did about the maltese crosses. If I remember correctly, the cross without the white background goes on the rudder, as the rudder is usually painted white.

[cdwheatley]

Ok, explanation received from Guillow's - it's to do with such a large decal (if it were supplied) not being able to follow the contours of the upper, scalloped wing.

In that case then, I was thinking of chalking some white Esaki to make it less transparent and applying that to the top wing by flooding dope thinners through it. Would that work do you think, and be sufficiently 'white'?!

[supercruiser]

I think it will look o.k., but I've never worked with esaki.

[lenard]

This is not my work but have a look at the pictures of the spitfire on this page. The white stripe was done with white esaki and white chalk. Its looks nice and opaque so your idea should be fine.

[cdwheatley]

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how I get on!

[cdwheatley]

Well, the chalked white tissue over the already red finish of the Triplane idea was, to say the least, less than successful .

Some of the red was still visible through the white, in patches. I even tried another piece of white on top of the first but it still wasn't good enough. So I've now had to strip the original red tissue from where the decals will go and put a piece of challked white there instead. A real shame, as it was such a good finish. If only I'd known about this or realised before I'd covered the top wing .

I've just sprayed the first patch with water to shrink it...ooh err. Wish me luck!

[fychan]

Good luck - in all seriousness - I feel for you

Still, just imagine the sense of achievement at the end when you remember what you had to go through to get to where you are

[cdwheatley]

Thanks for your good wishes fychan - nice to see another Brit here too!

[fychan]

Ah ha! I hadn't seen your location

Where do you get your supplies from? I had a horrible time trying to find a 0.049 (and 0.020 come to that) engine... Ended up buying both from Americans on eBay...

As I've mentioned on another post - I can't find any tissue anywhere near me - from this post I'm guessing you use esaki rather than the kit supplied tissue... Where'd you source that from?

[cdwheatley]

I have no idea where to get engines from as I'm strictly rubber powered! Magazines such as Flying Scale Models and AMI (Aviation Modeller International) available from WH Smiths carry lots of adverts though, so you may be able to find something of interest in one or both of those.

I have a couple of model shops nearby(ish) which although they stock mostly plastic kits, Hornby and Scalextric stuff, still have one or two things I need e.g. paintbrushes, and tins of Humbrol enamel paint.

Otherwise I've had to resort to the internet. I bought my dope, sanding sealer, knife and blades and a few other bits and bobs on eBay. The Esaki tissue I got from Sam's Models www.samsmodels.com/, and my supply of Guillows kits are from here www.netmerchants.co.uk/. Halfords sell wet & dry paper in various grits, and also cellulose thinners.

Hope this helps.

[cdwheatley]

Oops, the links don't work sorry!

[fychan]

I have a couple of model shops nearby(ish) which although they stock mostly plastic kits, Hornby and Scalextric stuff, still have one or two things I need e.g. paintbrushes, and tins of Humbrol enamel paint.

Everyone I spoke to looked at me as if I was mad when I pondered painting the planes in enamels - they all said they'd be WAY too heavy - which of course with a dirty great battery in the plane & a 0.049 c.i. engine on the front I wasn't too worried about a bit of paint But I'm giving acrylic's a go now - mainly for the experience of something new And of course after seeing DD's results....

I bought my dope, sanding sealer, knife and blades and a few other bits and bobs on eBay.

My local shop does all this stuff - although they only ever have 1 tin of dope in... and I bought their last lot of scalpel blades last time... And the fuel he had to scrape what looked like a good 5 years of dust from

my supply of Guillows kits are from here http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/.

I got my 400 series Spitfire from:
http://www.iaiamedia.be/bestbalsakits/kits.asp?man=5

Halfords sell wet & dry paper in various grits, and also cellulose thinners.

Fortunately my model railway shop does these bits, balsa sheets, push rods & connectors - so that side of things is covered

[Xanadu]

Wow................pretty expensive ove the pond I see by the website you listed.......ouch....

1 Canadian Dollar = 0.65806 Euro..........so that $102 Euro Series 2000 kit over there is equalivent to paying $155 Cdn, or 132 US.

But our actual in store cost is only $84 US, or $98 CDN.

That sucks for you all over the the pond. For one, teh doaller exchange, but 2, the price is so much higher.

You would be better off to order from here maybe, overseas shipping from Canada is quite cheap, its subsidized by the govt. Its actually cheaper for me to send a package overseas, than into the the USA.