Monday, August 31, 2020

New BT-20 Sized DECALS for Patreon Supporters!

I'm pretty excited about this one - 
These are generic roll patterns to be applied around standard BT-20 tubes. Below the roll patterns are many pieces of "spot" art to decorate your rockets.
Some of the roll patterns are based on the old Centuri sport model decals. You'd sometimes find one packed in the kit bag.

TIP: Home print decals are not a full opaque print like you'd find in an Estes kit. The Estes decals are printed "old school", by silk screen. Placing a home print black decal over gloss white paint will end up a very dark gray, not a full black. I have used doubled decals (setting a second print over the first) for best results. If you set a black ink jet decal over other colors (even yellow) it will look a more dense black.

Have you ever had a kit supplied roll pattern decal that didn't quite match up after you rolled it around the body tube?

All these patterns have been tested for size on a standard painted BT-20 tube. The picture on the left shows one test. See if you can find the two side edges of the decal wrap. (It's right in front!)
These decal drawings took a while to draw up. After the first print, I ended up going through two more decal sheets adjusting the widths through test fits. Each sheet got three coats of gloss clear acrylic. Between each new print, micro size adjustments were made for a (near) perfect fit!


If you are a Patreon member supporter, I can email this PDF to print your own decals!
Email me at oddlrockets@bellsouth.net and ask for the BT-20 Decal PDF.
More Decal PDFs are on the way in BT-50 and BT-55 sizes!

NOTE: These are home print decals for you to print at home. I don't print up custom decals or send them out through the mail.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Chris! An easy question which will probably cause you to dowbt my intelligence.

    "I have used doubled decals (setting a second print over the first) for best results."

    Does this mean: print twice on separate pieces of paper, assemble laying one decal over the other? Or does this mean print twice on a single sticker/decal sheet? Is that second idea just plain folly as I suspect it must be for a home printer?

    Cheers,
    Bob P
    Sparks, NV

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    Replies
    1. Hi Bob,
      It means - print twice on separate pieces of decal paper, assemble laying one decal over the other.
      You can't run one sheet through twice, the ink and register will be off.
      Set one decal down on the model, let dry. soak the second decal - lightly wet the first decal (already on the model) and set down the second decal.
      I do three sprays of Krylon EV clear gloss and it still makes a fairly thin, but workable decal. You could probably get by with two coats of the clear.
      I don't understand your last question about it being a plain folly?

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