Hobby Decal

1/32 AIM-120A/B/C Dry Transfer Missile  Stencils

product # ST32061V1

Review by Steve Bamford on Dec 15 2005

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This new decal sheet from Hobby Decal includes dry transfer stencils for the 1/32 AIM-120A/B/C missiles.  Full sized 1/1 missiles have their stencils painted on using paint stencils.  Regular decals are ink printed on a clear carrier film....which is fine, but they are not as accurate in look and application as dry transfers.  Dry transfers are reverse printed on a  temporary clear film.  When you apply the stencils you lay the back of the stencils on the painted surface of the model and then burnish (rub) them down through the clear temporary carrier film.  
The dry transfer sticks to the model and dis-engages from the clear carrier film.  The beauty of dry transfers is on models with bare metal finishes.  On bare metal finishes you do not have any clear carrier film as you would have with regular decals.
The dry transfers are very clearly printed and will replicate the actual stencils on the 1/1 missiles perfectly.  

I must confess it was quite difficult to photo these tiny stencils and accurately capture them in an image for this review.  But rest assured....these are very clearly printed and you will be impressed.  To apply the dry transfers you need a rounded tool to rub the clear carrier film to burnish the dry transfer top the painted surface of the model.  Below is the tool sent to me by Hobby Decal....my wife recognized this as a Crochet needle....a type of knitting.

Photo above is blurry.....actual decals are very clearly printed.
The 2 pages of instructions are clear and include 1 page of Black and white line drawings showing stencils placement.  Plus a second cardboard page which includes 8 steps of instructions with drawings and text instructions.  This page is cardboard to give protect to the product and avoid bending during shipping.  The Hobby Decal website also has instruction on installing dry transfers. 

If you want maximum realism.......then try these dry transfers, you will be impressed.  Hobby Decal has a variety of dry transfers for a large variety of aircraft. 

Click on images below to see larger image 

Instruction Sheets

Steve

I would like to thank Hobby Decal for providing me with this review sample.

Photos and text © 2005 by Steve Bamford