Quality of rocket decals out of the box...

[ewomack]

I'm not sure where to post this question, but since I'm still a beginner I thought I would include it with all of my other beginner questions.

I built an Estes Black Brant III but I did not put the decals on. I wanted to wait until it flew and survived to go through the extra effort. It has now flown well with a "B" engine and I would like to put on the decals.

Has anyone here put the decals for the Black Brant III on directly without layering? They involve a white on red combination that could likely result in a pinkish tone without an under layer.

I came across this subject in a blog post from 2014 by a modeler building a Black Brant III when it was out of print: https://modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com/2014/09/estes-black-brant-iii-part-15-decal-fix.html. The blog relates how the white decals "bled through" red and didn't look exactly wonderful, so he layered them.

Do Estes decals typically have enough thickness to prevent this? Or is layering recommended? The stickers for the Alpha III I assembled (it came in a launch kit I purchased) definitely have a "thin sticker" look and the black bleeds through the orange. I'd like to avoid this for the Black Brant III.

As always, thank you!!

 

[kuririn]

Meh, depends on how picky you are. The white is a bit translucent. I've attached pictures of mine. Note the area in front of "National" where the two white decals overlap.
It doesn't really bother me but if I wanted to correct that I would use white decal paper (instead of clear) and trim to shape and use it as an under layer. In other words a double decal. Relatively fast and easy.
For me, it's not worth my time.



BTW it's an excellent flyer.
Cheers.

 

[kuririn]

P.S. Rocketarium has a slightly larger version. Different livery, they use a white vinyl strip and waterslides are applied on top of it. No translucency problem. They also have fin gussets, but no tail nozzle. I like 'em both.

 

[neil_w]

Even I wouldn’t worry about that, to be honest.

 

[ewomack]

Thanks for the photos and for the perspective. Your Black Brant III decals look just fine without layering, which is kind of a relief. I wasn't exactly looking forward to layering mine. I will just give it a go as-is. If they turn out as well as yours, I'll be a happy dude.

And I may have to check out that Rocketarium kit one day. I really like the Black Brant III look and design - and you're correct about it being a flyer - mine flew excellently this weekend with a "B" engine for its first flight. I'm looking forward to feeding it a "C" engine next time.

 

[neil_w]

Even I wouldn’t worry about that, to be honest.

I'm thinking I should elaborate on this a bit.

If I am printing my own decals for a scratch build, I worry about this plenty, although I haven't yet done any decal layering. For a kit, I would generally trust that if I finish with the recommended paint scheme, and use the included decals, that it will look good. Maybe not *perfect* (due to non-opaque decals), but good enough. If I had some direct knowledge that some particular vendor supplied lousy decals that will not come out good, then I might do some enhancement. But that's a hypothetical; hasn't happened yet for me (I also haven't built that many kits).

The translucent BB decals that kuririn showed look totally fine to me. Would I prefer the white to be absolutely pure white? Sure. Would I go the extra mile to layer them to make it happen? Nope.

 

[kuririn]

Chris has to live up to his reputation, so he ALWAYS puts out showpiece builds. Fortunately, I don't have a reputation to live up to.