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Forums - Modelling / Painting |
The painting forum is for the discussion of techniques on the painting, decalling and weathering phases of AFV modelling and the tools and materials used. |
| Topics | 1432 |
| Messages | 7349 |
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| Subject: | Re: German armor markings - application methods |  |
| Date: | Dec 23, 2005 |
| From: | Christopher C. Tew | |
John -
There are photos of both hand lettering and stencils being used, and at least on series of hand lettering is being done by a guy with sign lettering experience so good that he doesn't need a stencil. Hand lettering seems to be quite common on Zimmerit due to the rough texture, but even there it looks like some units used stencils with or without a bare section of flat metal to work on.
Most units were pretty consistent in how the numbers and letters were shaped (e.g., 3s with rounded or straight tops, 4s closed or open at the top, &c.) within a given time/location.
Many markings manufacturers don't pay enough attention to the peculiarities of unit styles or the need to vary hand-painted characters from one position/side to another, imho.
The best I can advise is to look at as many photos as you can find of the unit you're interested in for a certain model, try to decide how those characters were applied - it's usually pretty obvious if you can find more than one photo, and then hope that you can locate dry-rub or water-slide markings with the proper style and size characters (never throw away the unused parts of decal sheets!) - or find a manufacturer who has done the markings correctly for the vehicle you want to model.
The only gripe I have with a certain series of how-to books is that the editor/chief author details down to .01" but pays so little attention to markings and camouflage as to not even be in the ballpark.
Yours,
CTew |
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