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Anyone every try to buy / make stencils and use them for the shoulder pad logos on Marines? I thought even about possibly a rubber stamp. I've just put on 40 decals and even with basing a gloss finish, microset on the surface and microsol after placement I'm still not very satisfied. They still look too much like decals. My artistic skills don't lend themselves to handpainting the logos. So I was wondering if anyone makes a shoulder stencil or stamp to aid in the painted process of the DA shoulders.

I know exactly what you mean about the transfers. The other day I had a really great painting session, doing NMM on a BA captain. I was feeling really in the zone, blazed through the whole mini without putting a brushstroke wrong.

Right at the end, I decided to use a transfer for the shoulder decal, rather than risk messing up a freehand on what was otherwise a very neat paint job. I hadn't used transfers for years because I faintly remembered them not liking how they looked, but I figured I'd give them another shot.

Big mistake! 2 wasted transfers, a coat of varnish and many coats of paint later, it still didn't look right. I ended up basically having to scrape the entire shoulder pad clean with a scalpel and start over. Fortunately it was a metal mini so it wasn't too hard to recover, but there is still a faint line where the old coat meets the new coat. I ended up free-handing the decal, and covering the line with up with some flames. It looks okay now I guess, but far from perfect. I won't ever be using transfers again.

I have thought about making a stencil... Though obviously it does beg the question, how do you cut the stencil neat enough in the first place?

I did read about something the other day on Dakka where you could print off decals on a computer and then transfer them onto minis using somehow. I'm not 100% sure how it worked, maybe someone else could fill you in.

I print my own decals, It's easy, and works well.

1.) You will need a computer, some kind of graphics program, and an inkjet printer.

2.) You will need inkjet printer transfer sheets in either white or clear, as well as a can of high-gloss spray paint. The glossier the better.

3.) Go ahead and design your transfers in your graphics program, or download them from somewhere. Remember that inkjet printers do not print white, they leave white sections clear. If you use white paper, you'll need to trim each detail carefully. There is a better tutorial for doing this here.

4.) There is a great tutorial here for actually applying them.

Computer decals aren't really going to solve the problem I'm concerned with I don't think. Specifically a stencil would allow me to overlay it over the shoulder and paint over the stencil only applying paint were needed. I was thinking they could be etched out of bronze or lazer cut out of a thin enough / flexible enough piece of material.