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Post by landoflogic on Apr 11, 2022 7:51:27 GMT -5
Just finished my 3rd model car ever, and my first IndyCar. I chose Tony Bettenhausen's 1960 Watson. It's not perfect, but it actually came out pretty well. I also learned a lot of lessons, including how to spray paint well. Decals by Gary Sleeper. His decals were really nice, but I must admit the nose decal kicked my rear end, as I screwed up both white layers trying to make it look right. Not sure how to do the nose decals properly, so the car lacks the nose decal unfortunately. Maybe I'll ask him to send me more to hopefully get the nose decal on right... The color is probably not quite right either, but with old photos it's hard to tell. All I know is it's close to the sprint car from that year. I hope you enjoy!  This was Tony's last 500. Despite showing strong pace in practice, the car gave out during the race when a rod broke and sprayed hot fuel all over him. Also, the nose number is off center on the real car, so I did that here as well, not sure why it was that way but I can't complain... |
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Post by Dan Belcher on Apr 11, 2022 12:46:21 GMT -5
Looks nice! I'm not familiar with the decal that should go on the front of the car, but what trouble did you have with it?
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Post by landoflogic on Apr 11, 2022 13:30:01 GMT -5
Looks nice! I'm not familiar with the decal that should go on the front of the car, but what trouble did you have with it? The car had a red sort of shape on the front nose as seen below. What Gary normally does to make that sort of nose decal conform better is to put a split in the design so you can sort of wrap it around the nose. I probably did this wrong, but when I tried to line that split up it just caused a heck of a lot of wrinkles on the decal. I set it down and the decal just sort of fell apart on me. The second white layer (I ordered two sheets) came apart as I was sliding it off the decal paper, as a clear part of it was held under my tweezers. At that point I wasn't sure what to do, so I just decided to leave the nose decal off. I'd like to put it back on, but I have to figure out how to apply the white layer without causing tons of wrinkles  |
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Post by illeagle10 on Apr 12, 2022 5:23:08 GMT -5
Looks great Elijah! Couple of suggestions Elijah, next time it might be easier to paint the nose white and then apply the decal or paint both, depending on your painting skills. As for now, it sounds like some of the decals you're trying to apply are somewhat aged or there is not enough decal film on them. That is why they are falling apart. You may want to apply some decal film over the decals before applying them. However. this may make the decal a little thicker and may make laying the decal down a little bit harder around those compound curves. A good decal solvent should also help laying down the decals. When you use a solvent you will see it wrinkle a bit at first you need to let the decal dry before worrying about the wrinkles. If you still have wrinkles after drying you will need to hit the decal with some more solvent. It sounds easy but it is not. It takes time and experience to get these things just right. These are just some suggestions and not a cure all. I'm sure there are others here on the board that might have some other suggestions. Keep trying, you doing good work!
Jim
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Post by landoflogic on Apr 12, 2022 8:46:48 GMT -5
Looks great Elijah! Couple of suggestions Elijah, next time it might be easier to paint the nose white and then apply the decal or paint both, depending on your painting skills. As for now, it sounds like some of the decals you're trying to apply are somewhat aged or there is not enough decal film on them. That is why they are falling apart. You may want to apply some decal film over the decals before applying them. However. this may make the decal a little thicker and may make laying the decal down a little bit harder around those compound curves. A good decal solvent should also help laying down the decals. When you use a solvent you will see it wrinkle a bit at first you need to let the decal dry before worrying about the wrinkles. If you still have wrinkles after drying you will need to hit the decal with some more solvent. It sounds easy but it is not. It takes time and experience to get these things just right. These are just some suggestions and not a cure all. I'm sure there are others here on the board that might have some other suggestions. Keep trying, you doing good work! Jim Thanks for the tip Jim! That makes a lot of sense. I just see all the wrinkles and impulsively try to fix them then and there, but I should probably wait like you said. Modeling takes a lot of self restraint as I have come to find out. These were made by Gary Sleeper, and his decals are really good, it's so cool that we have someone who just makes decals for any car you want. His decals are also thin to conform better. I was used to thicker decals, so these were a bit more of a challenge for me. Also, the company who makes his decal paper advises against using decal solutions, so I tried to avoid using it because I have had bad luck with decals in the past. I did eventually try some on the back numbers and it worked just fine. I'll be sure to use it in the future now knowing that I can without any problems. Still not sure if I want to try the nose decal again or just leave it. |
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