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Hello everyone!

I have been in a mood to paint Ultramarines and I am on to the chapter markings. I have experienced troubles with decals in the past and have seen some good tutorials using both Micro sol and micro set. I am torn because I have been using the GW bits pads that are molded with the chapter markings but find the molds a little on the poor side.

My questions are as follows: using the micro products, are decals able to successfully done by a beginner? Second is what product to use (set or sol) for the shoulder pads if that is the better way to go?

Thanks all!

 Havok210 wrote:
Hello everyone!

I have been in a mood to paint Ultramarines and I am on to the chapter markings. I have experienced troubles with decals in the past and have seen some good tutorials using both Micro sol and micro set. I am torn because I have been using the GW bits pads that are molded with the chapter markings but find the molds a little on the poor side.

My questions are as follows: using the micro products, are decals able to successfully done by a beginner? Second is what product to use (set or sol) for the shoulder pads if that is the better way to go?

Thanks all!

Yes it's easy for you to do just watch some tutorials on it. You need both Micro-Set and Mico-Sol to apply the decals efficiently .

http://vimeo.com/34716909

http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/winterdyne_tutorial3.pdf Is this the tutorial you're refering to?

The most important tool is PATIENCE.

Doing decals well, doing all stages, is almost always slower than freehand.

Bear that in mind and you'll do fine. It's not particularly skilled work, but it is slow work.

There, the man spoke for himself.

GW do finecast shoulder pads for £6.00 per set of 10, which is probably $10.00 or something.

I always use these, as my decal and freehanding is awful.

Have a look at the blog in my sig for pictures of them, and see for yourself. This isn't just an excuse to advertise my project btw. But like, comment and subscribe!

I had massive issues with transfers, and I've got nearly a full battle company of marines. I could never get the transfers to stay on etc until I discovered Microsol and micro set! Honestly, that stuff is magic in a bottle. I've done maybe three hundred troops since I learned about them and it works brilliantly! Get them, now, and watch a few tutorials and you will never look back!

If you have microset and microsol, you can get transfers to work for you pretty well:


However, the shoulderpads GW sells are actually pretty tiny:


Personally, if I were doing a modern Ultramarines army, I'd wait for Forgeworld to put out their Horus Heresy Ultramarines shoulder pads and just grab those.

Don't be nervous to try microset and microsol. They are a godsend and once you use it, you'll never turn back. I use both products when applying transfers to all my Cadians and vehicles, and it seriously makes your transfers look as if they were painted on. In my opinion, using this method makes your models look more realistic and better looking than most peoples' abilities at freehand.

To make your transfers look even better, apply a coat of gloss or semigloss to the area that's going to have the decal - this allows it to better adhere to the model surface and prevents "silvering". Additionally, some relief cuts on clear portions of the decal help it lay better once you apply it to the model. Once the decal is dry, seal it with another coat of gloss/semigloss to protect it. When you give the entire model its final coat of varnish, you will be amazed with your results. All the models in my gallery have transfers applied with this method if you're wondering how it all looks when complete.

I have found the best results with transfers comes from using a decal medium to soften them, but then paint over the top of them once dried. The issue I have is that they are too white! Ive found by painting them a very light grey gives them that matt finish, and also then allows you to highlight with pure white. The result is a super neat symbol and it just look like you have done a pristine freehand. I would also go round the edge with the base colour and you will hide all traces of the transfer. Try it out and see what you think.

Decals are the one thing I dont look forward to when finishing a model. I have 7k of ultramarines and getting all the decals to look good was a pain. If you decide to go with the decals though you will have to make incisions in them before applying them, that way you dont get any air bubbles. When i do decals I apply GW ardcoat to the area, then apply the decal, and after letting it dry I seal it with GW lahmian medium.