A night of firsts

On to the decals. The good thing about armor models is that there is usually not much decal work. Since I was making the Company D version I had to use the Dragon decals for the majority of the time. The Dragon decals are decent with average thickness; they go down using Miro Set and Sol. I put several light coats of MircoSol on to get them to move into the future.

For the elephant I used the yellow version from Archer Fine Transfers. This is the first time I used Archer transfers and I have to say that I am impressed. Two things you need to watch out for; 1) make sure you have nice clean surface (no debris) and 2) doubly make sure you have it the correct position. I positioned the decal using low tack tape on both sides as this would allow me to lift it up to make sure that of the entire decal was rubbed off. After I had in position, I used a soft lead pencil and basically rubbed the backside. I liked using the pencil because it marks the areas were you worked. The first decal did not completely “transfer” (the elephant was missing his trunk and leg) so I just laid it back down and rubbed it until it came off. The finished decal seems as tough as regular decals and there is no chance of silvering. I highly recommend Archer Fine Transfers and will be using them in the future.

Below is the completed decaling – not much compared to a plane. After the decals dried I sprayed a light of future.

This was another first. I also used Mig Filters for the first. I had mixed results and I am not sure it was worth it. Mig Filters are supposed to “unify and vary the tone of the base coat”. I used Green on the turret and upper hull and Brown for the lower hull and boogies. I put on 3 coats with a 2 hour wait in between. There is somewhat a difference in tones – the green is too forest green for my liking. I am not sure that it is worth it because the future weathering will cause this work to disappear. The jury is still out on Mig Filters.