Decals for 1/87 Scale Kit?

Bruno Stachel · 18 September 2006, 08:06 PM

Guys, I'm planning on trying building plastic kits again. I loved building them as a kid, and my son has expressed an interest in building them. I have a Williams Bros. 1/87 (HO) scale Stearman PT-17 kit I'd like to assemble with him. It should be an easy one to get the juices flowing with. I'd like to begin building some WWI types soon after.

The problem is, I'd like to build it as an Army trainer. But it doesn't come with decals, and I'm no artist. Can anyone tell me if it's possible to find decal sets for this scale. I haven't had much luck with the model railroad suppliers. I'm considering cheating with 1/72 scale decals. (It doesn't have to be perfect, just want to dress it up a bit.)

StephenLawson · 19 September 2006, 12:17 AM

Since its a one time project try copying a set of 1/48 0r 1/72 decals in colour then take your copy and a sheet of laser safe decal film to a "Kinkos" copy store. Tell the projects director what you want and for instance you want a star and meatball to be 3/8 of an inch across. The whole sheet will conform to the resizing. Reassure the projects director that the decal film is laser safe and this is what they make it for. an 8 X 10 sheet of decals costs about 2-4 .00 USD. Otherwise for lettering and numbers try Microscale railroad decals.

Bruno Stachel · 19 September 2006, 01:17 PM

Thanks Stephen,

Turns out I was able to contact Williams Brothers via email today. (I didn't think they were up and running yet - new owners and all.) I asked about the availability of decals for this model. They offered to send a set to me free of charge! It will be interesting to see what quality they are.

That's a neat tip about Kinko's. I wonder if they could enlarge some decals for radio control projects? I suppose going from 1/32 to 1/6 or larger wouldn't look right. But I'll remember this for the plastic kits.