review Hobby Decal 1/32 P-38 Dry Transfer Stencils ST48012V1

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Hobby Decal
*1/48 P-38 Dry Transfer Stencils*
product # ST48012V1
$12.98 from Hobby Decal
Review by Steve Bamford on July 25 2007
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This new decal sheet from Hobby Decal includes dry transfer stencils for the 1/48 P-38. Full sized 1/1 aircraft 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 decals are beautifully printed on 1 decal sheet.

One complete set of stencils is included on this decal sheet. You also get a full set of yellow numbers for the tail serial numbers as well as prop decals and prop stencils.

The dry transfers are very clearly printed and will replicate the actual stencils on the 1/1 P-38 perfectly and the P-38 had plenty of stencils.

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These dry transfer stencils 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.

The 3 pages of instructions are clear and include 2 pages of black and white line drawings showing stencils placement from 4 views of the P-38. Plus a third cardboard page which includes 9 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 instructions on installing dry transfers.

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Crochet needle for applying decals

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Sample photo of another HobbyDecal sheet		Instruction sheets

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If you want maximum realism.......then try these dry transfers, you will be impressed....and for a bare metal finish there really is no substitute for dry transfer stencils. Hobby Decal has a variety of dry transfers for a large variety of aircraft from prop aircraft to modern jets. When you consider the twin engine layout of the P-38 and all the warning stencils and fuel filler stencils etc.....then you can see that having a full set of stencils like these will really make your P-38 come to life.

Steve

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

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