Estes Sidekick #7287 Build, Part 6, Upper Flame Decal

The second set of decals that Estes sent were a darker, richer shade of orange. I wanted the NC paint to match the orange in the decal.

Remember, under the flame decal will be black paint. Even with the white undercoat under the orange ink on the decal, it can be a tricky match. The nose cones were set in a scrap piece of white BT-20.
On the left is a test of my orange paint on the white plastic nose cone. The top of the decal beside it shows the sprayed orange on the NC is too light.
On the right - To darken the NC orange I sprayed some red first. The orange overcoat followed and the color was much closer, just a bit darker. This was a color test, I only sprayed the lower half of the nose cone.



The flame decals are two piece and go on the sides of the tubes leaving the center and sides clear.

There is a black border around the flames. I didn't want a black line between the nose cone orange and the flames below it.
The decal was set a little high with the black border line above the edge of the body tubes.

After the decals dried, the overhanging black line was trimmed off using a razor blade.

Be sure to seal the top edges with a wipe of Future clear acrylic applied with a Q-tip. This will prevent the decal edges from tearing and peeling back.

Here's how the two decals lie around the body.

The flame on the left (upper in the picture) tube is longer, the one on the right is shorter.

The view from the side showing the gap between the two decals.