Thanks! For the graphics I get the stars/bars from sig mfg online, they also sell some sheets of "no step" type of aircraft markings that add a little bit of detail. They also sell letters. coverite used to make black vinyl letters, and that's what I used, but recently they stopped selling black for some reason. I think office max carries some vinyl cut black letters in different sizes. Lately I've just made some templates of letters and trace and cut them out of the monokote self adhesive trim, although that can take a while..
For the details I just use black or silver sharpie pens. I use a clear drafting triangle and ruler to make the markings to add some panel lines, rudder outline, etc. For curves or circles I just use glasses or plates or whatever might give me a good radius and then use that as a starting point to cut out the trim material or draw.
For the rest of the stripes/markings I just used self adhesive trim monokote sheets. They are at my local hobby shop for about $3 a sheet in many colors as well as silver/gold...I just mark and cut them and apply. I usually cut a small part of the backing off and then make sure it is in the right spot, then roll the marking on as I remove the backing to avoid bubbles. but a pin can normally remove the bubbles after applying. Sometimes I'll make a paper template if it is a complex shape, make sure it will fit right, then use that to mark the self adhesive covering. The trim monokote is some sort of mylar I think, and it adds some strength to the surface as well. Sometimes I'll use that as the hinge material as it sticks pretty well.
I'll try to apply the markings over slot/joints if I can which helps to reinforce them and hide them as well if applicable.
On the alcm, the CG marking is made up of a red circle, black circle and two "pie" pieces of white just layered on with the stripes as separate pieces. For the mouth, I cut the red mouth piece out then layed it onto a black sheet. I cut out the black leaving an outline of black on the outside and inside the teeth about 1/16". I left the teeth "open" so that when applied the white depron showed through. You could have just used a red mouth section and used a sharpie to make the black outline and save a bit of weight/material but I think this turned out good enough.
On my star blazers flying battleship I covered the foam sheets completely with red/grey trim monokote before assembly and used a sharpie on top of that for details. It added an ounce or so to the overall weight but I didn't have to paint and it really reinforced the depron. In a few cases where you have compound curves I'll need to use UHU por contact cement to make sure the sheets stick around the curves, but not normally.
I mostly do this freehand, and haven't really buckled down and tried making markings using a drawing program and printing them on decal sheets. Normally those would need some clear overspray to prevent smearing, I think. I also haven't tried the cut vinyl from stickershok on the unpainted depron so don't know how well that would stick, but I want to try a test. One issue with the stickershock vinyl, since they use a sticky backing to place them, it might pull off paint on the depron that wasn't primed and clear coated, but on the raw depron it might work ok.
Hope that helps.
Frank
Frank,
Great flights!
Your gliders look fantastic both in the air and on the ground - can you give some tips on how you do the graphics? They really look sharp!
Mike Mc.
