Oh to decal, or not to decal, that is the question!

[Buggyjam 144]

Do you ever have in your minds eye what a project will look like and when you've finished the paint you don't want to cover it?

 

ive just finished painting my 72 Chevy clodbuster. I'd bought from the USA some nice Parma decals that have lots of retro sponsors on that I thought would, you know look a bit monster trucky, that sort of thing. Now looking at the paint I don't want to stick the decals on a spoil the clean look, yet I do because it's not "finished" as I have the decals sitting there :-/. 

 

I am aware this all sounds very OCD. Also do you ever spend such a long time on something you want to keep it as a shelfer, yet actually you want to run it? This project is full of conflicts ha

[ALEXKYRIAK 1046]

Get one for the shelf with decals, ones for the shelf without decals, one to run with decals, one to run without decals, one NIB with decals...... etc

Repeat for all cars

I just finished painting a lexan body shell and thought exactly that. With decals  on, a lot of that beautiful finish ends up covered, to the point I was kind of thinking to get another shell and just leave it naked (ooh err).

[skinned 134]

just put a couple... a little is a lot...

[Ian_Gsi16V 533]

Had this exact situation myself recently, repainted my runner Monster Beetle and i love the colour so much I decided against adding all the decals, stuck a few on but nothing that hides the colour

Any excuse for a picture...

 

[TurnipJF 9192]

I know the feeling - it was like that with my F103. Although bought 2nd hand, it came with a fresh clear bodyshell that I painted Camel Yellow to match my mate's one. It looked great sitting there all yellow and new and shiny, and I didn't want to decal it.

 

However once I got over the novelty of shiny yellow lexan and put the Camel Lotus decals on, it looked even better, so I'm glad I didn't leave it plain yellow now.

[Buggyjam 144]

16 minutes ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Get one for the shelf with decals, ones for the shelf without decals, one to run with decals, one to run without decals, one NIB with decals...... etc

Repeat for all cars

I just finished painting a lexan body shell and thought exactly that. With decals  on, a lot of that beautiful finish ends up covered, to the point I was kind of thinking to get another shell and just leave it naked (ooh err).

I could have several bodies that's true! 

[Buggyjam 144]

7 minutes ago, Ian_Gsi16V said:

Had this exact situation myself recently, repainted my runner Monster Beetle and i love the colour so much I decided against adding all the decals, stuck a few on but nothing that hides the colour

Any excuse for a picture...

 

I loooove that colour. 

[Pumesta 407]

When I restored my original Blackfoot, I actually had it painted by a car body shop.  The paint is just so perfect that I can't bring myself to cover it up with decals.

The only decals it got was the spotlights

[Buggyjam 144]

Here she is with her feet in the air. First one is propped onto axle stands (paint tins!!). I had to do this as it flat spots the tyres in no time I've noticed - to say this thing weighs a ton is understating. Seems to go well though. Dual 2s lipos, dual esc's, dual servo's. 

I can't claim originality on the idea of a red and white clod. I saw a pic of another one and really liked it. I wanted to come up with my own style of red though. The pics don't really portray the colour. I did 3 light coats of Tam translucent red, then a whole can of gold, then silver. The silver prob does nowt but the inside is backed silver (don't personally like black). It's a rich candyish bright burgundy  red with a real gold creaminess under light. Rear window, light smoke.

 

I'm no painter  but I quite liked it ha.

I'm going to Tamico to get those blue stabilisers swapped out for black parts when I can justify the money.

 

[ALEXKYRIAK 1046]

Am loving the paint job and method used to achieve it, Buggyjam. Nice! 

[Buggyjam 144]

Cheers Alex!

[Buggyjam 144]

1 hour ago, Pumesta said:

When I restored my original Blackfoot, I actually had it painted by a car body shop.  The paint is just so perfect that I can't bring myself to cover it up with decals.

The only decals it got was the spotlights

Sweet truck. That black is immaculate. 

[markbt73 5315]

If you have some smaller sponsor-type decals, put them in the back window. Kind of a scale location. Not uncommon for trucks to have so many stickers you can't see out the back: Edelbrock, Crane, Monroe, maybe Amsoil...

[WillyChang 1814]

3 hours ago, Buggyjam said:

Do you ever have in your minds eye what a project will look like and when you've finished the paint you don't want to cover it?

Nah, paint & decals are both part of the planned scheme - cover that sucker! 

Sometimes not much paint left showing  (white, metblue, silver)

On occasion also gotta let the paintjob shine:-

Then again, what would I rather look at on the shelf - painted plastic or the work-of-art chassis...

[Crash Cramer 617]

I always vote for X-ray bodies, but I don't paint so well, I get it done for me. Decals are sometimes very trying to say the least, the smaller and skinnier ones give me fits.

[Frog Jumper 3658]

Depends on the style you paint.  My intention is to paint my Frog body to look realistic and then I will add decals.  I have some custom decals in mind, related to my build and my favorite beers and restaurants...  On the other hand, my Bush Devil has a flashy modern SRT style painted body, and won't get decals...

Terry

 

[Buggyjam 144]

15 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

Depends on the style you paint.  My intention is to paint my Frog body to look realistic and then I will add decals.  I have some custom decals in mind, related to my build and my favorite beers and restaurants...  On the other hand, my Bush Devil has a flashy modern SRT style painted body, and won't get decals...

Terry

 

Do you order the custom decals? Can you get decals made of any logo you choose?

[Frog Jumper 3658]

11 minutes ago, Buggyjam said:

Do you order the custom decals? Can you get decals made of any logo you choose?

I haven't gotten that far yet...  I have some ideas, but nothing more than a few MS Paint pictures...

Here's a typical logo I'll use...  My fav chicken shack:  

Terry

 

[Buggyjam 144]

5 minutes ago, Frog Jumper said:

I haven't gotten that far yet...  I have some ideas, but nothing more than a few MS Paint pictures...

Here's a typical logo I'll use...  My fav chicken shack:  

Terry

 

The idea of getting unique decals done opens up alsorts of possibilities!

[Supercoolnothing 721]

I usually go for a less is more approach for my cars. I really don't like seeing body's that have obviously had a ton of work put into them plastered with a ton of stickers people have gotten free with servo's etc. 

[Buggyjam 144]

10 minutes ago, Supercoolnothing said:

I usually go for a less is more approach for my cars. I really don't like seeing body's that have obviously had a ton of work put into them plastered with a ton of stickers people have gotten free with servo's etc. 

At the minute I'm the other way, I've only got the grill on .  That's it.

 

These are Parma old school motorsport decals. Very nice looking scale set actually. I did this with my Neo scorcher. Ended up with just the windows 

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Nothing wrong with a clean approach...

[WillyChang 1814]

yeah some models can't have stickies 

imho Brats & Bruisers look better clean too

tailgate & bumperstickers excepted  

[IronSights 225]

Sometimes the bare necessities are all that one needs!

[GregM 1109]

I build, paint, decal and run my cars. Without decals, the majority of R/C cars look bland to me.