Estes Citation Patriot

Just talked to John Boren about the decals again. He believes (but wasn't 100% certain) that only the first run of the re-release has the identical Patriot/Logo decal. I asked around Estes, and couldn't get a firm answer on if the 2nd run was corrected or not (it likely was). Clearly the decal has been corrected for kits produced in late 2018.

Problem with mirroring the Eagle is that it is white, and not too many printers (save for ALPS, or very expensive commercial machines) can print in white (or metallics for that matter). Tango Papa might be up to the task, but matching the golds (and other colors) might not be as easy. I'm certain that Stickershock could do it, but this would be printed on vinyl. Either way, you'd likely want all the decals to be similarly printed for consistency.

On the DIY front for making the decals, I can see a few options. One possibility would be to copy the Eagle decals on white labeling paper (one correct, and one mirrored), and hand painting the gold trim (gold Sharpie?). There you have a problem about sealing the stickers that would be made (otherwise the white isn't going to be white for long), there's the issue of repositioning the decals if you made a mistake while applying it, and then you'll have to worry about clear coats that might make the white paper translucent (or the black ink bleed), and you might have to deal with the black paint of the fin bleeding through (though masking the space for the Eagle(s) before painting the black might work). If someone were to try making waterslides, I can see two options... Knowing how how to silkscreen, that wouldn't be such a problem, OR printing on white waterslide decal paper, and dealing with the issue of the gold trim. I know that Sharpie ink is sensitive to some of the chemicals in spray paint (not so certain with the metalics, but red, black and blue all bleed with the paints I've applied over them). So, sealing the decal might be an issue no matter what you try. If you manage to match the gold with a paint, you would likely not have an issue unless the clear coat reacts with the paint. Testing on scraps would be the best course of action. After typing all that, @Nathan... I wonder how hard it would be to make a mask of the decal, that would allow you to simply paint the white, apply the mask, then paint the black of the fin (and the black outline of the Eagle), remove the mask (exposing the white), and paint the gold trim before a final clear coat? This might be the best solution outside of 3rd party decals.

The idea of a gold fin is interesting. However, trying to find a matching gold paint to the wrap decal would probably be as frustrating as trying to match blue decals to paint. I would not try to use a gold Sharpie for painting an entire fin.

A further complication could be created if someone was using an original Citation Patriot (MK-3) or the later Patriot (0652) for a similar project as the older golds *MAY* not match the reissue. Rumor has it that the later 0652 version had a more bronze color than the original. Unfortunately, I don't have a sample of the original MK-3 or 0652 here in China to compare with the latest version.

@GlenP In my sims, I found that the logo can be made to fit on the fin for the Patriot/Logo decal, but the placement is going to look odd.

 

Yes, metallics and white decals over dark backgrounds remain a challenge for me with print at home decals. I have tried several techniques and they just never quite get there. As well as color matching the kit decals. Part of the fun is in the trying, seems like you can get pretty close as long as you keep your distance...

 

That's an oxymoron for you.

 

I talked to Bruiser about this, and he did me a favor... Here's what the design would look like with a payload section. He may never fly it that way, or display it that way, but this is how I envision the design. Thanks for that Bruiser!!



To help sell the original design, I did reposition the Estes Logo to a location closer to the actual unaltered decal location.