Welcome To My US A2 Jacket Bomber Art Page.

This page came about after seeing the A2 flying jacket that came with the DiD Albert Ross figure for the Expo model show in the USA. Because as far as I could see the jacket would never be broken down from that boxed figure, I decided to see if I could make my own bomber art jacket in 1/6th scale. So off I went to get some model aircraft decals and the one's that I used on the back of these Dragon A2 jackets are as follows:

 

Note: Please read these instructions fully if you have not used model aircraft decals before, Also the darker edges and lettering will not show up on a jacket of this colour.

A2 jacket decals    Ageing an A2 jacket 


A2 jacket decals

Zoot Chute - Aero Master Products sheet No 48-743 Oriental Liberators Pt II Fancy Art

Axis Nightmare & Strawberry Bitch - Sky Models sheet No 72-054 B 24 Liberator (On the Axis nightmare jacket I used the flying lady from the Aero Master set as it looked to plain to me otherwise)

 

The pictures above show a closer view of the jackets and the decals that I used on them.

 

Important Note: If you are going to fit any decals onto the back of these jackets, I definitely recommend that this is done as the last thing with the jacket already fitted to the figure. Because in the course of making this page up I had to change over each jacket in turn to take the photographs. And in the process of doing this the decals started to come off from the back of the jackets, this was solved by the method below.

Decals Application

How to apply decals - Decals

How to apply decals - Decals

How to use Micro Set and Micro Sol

 

To set the decals onto the back of the jacket. Note: Please read the above for information about the using of model aircraft decals if you have not used them before, because with the cost of them it is better to take the time to understand how to use these items rather than ruin them.

My method of applying the decals

The first thing that must be noted is that I got carried away with decorating my jackets and I forgot to take the photographs as I went along. With the jackets I used I first cut the decal as close to the image as I could, because this helps to make the image look more like it was painted on rather than it is a decal. Plus it stops the edges from 'silvering', this is where the carrier that the image is on shines in certain light when dry. Before I even put the decals into the warm water to soak off I made sure that I had the figure laid down as flat as possible in front of me, with the back of the jacket as flat as possible. I then soaked the decal in the water and wiped the back of the jacket with the Micro Set solution to clean it, I then applied a little more where I wanted the decal to fit. I then took the decal and backing paper out of the water as soon as it started to loosen and placed it onto the back of the jacket.

 

I slid the decal off the paper onto the jacket where I wanted it to be and gently blotted it with some tissue to soak up the excess water. I left this for about two minutes and I then got a paintbrush and again gently applied the Micro Sol onto the decal. Note: The decal may slide about slightly but be careful in re-positioning it as the decal will become very soft at this point.

Don't fiddle with the decal!!!

This is where you just leave the figure and the jacket aside to dry, please don't get tempted to fiddle with it in case the decal breaks up. Because with me when I was fitting the flying lady to the Axis Nightmare jacket I broke the legs off the decal because I just had to adjust it. Note: This particular decal is a two part one, in that you have to fit the white background first and then the lady on top of that.

 

What I should have done as I did with my aircraft models, is fit the white background first and let it dry fully and then apply the second decal onto that. Once everything is dry check for any loose edges which may come undone, because of the folds in the jacket that come about as soon as you handle the figure. With my jackets I just laid the figure down with the folds in place and then applied a little more Micro Sol to the part of the decal that had come adrift and then left it aside to dry again.

 

Once everything is dry and in place I then gave the decals a coat of the Model Coat 520 Matt Varnish to take away the glossy look to the decal, which also helps to remove any of the 'silvering' as well. Plus it also adds to the effect of the 'painted on' look. On the three lower pictures above you can see the carrier film for the decals slightly, but in normal light this will not be noticeable. It has only shown up in these images because of the flash from my camera. Note: What I should have done with the Zoot Chute decal is cut out the carrier film in the middle so this would not show up as much.

 

This was a very big experiment for me to see if I could get the bomber art onto the jackets, and I am very pleased with the end result and it has opened up a lot of new ideas for me. But do remember that the less decal carrier film showing the better the 'painted' on look will be.


Ageing an A2 jacket

This jacket is another experiment by me to see what the result would be if I painted one with some Dullcote lacquer, mainly to see if I could lose the glossy look to the DML jacket. The first pair of pictures below show the painted jacket on the right, fastened to an un-painted one on the left.

 

These pictures are for a comparison between the two jackets, I have placed the pictures to show the changes that have occurred. The original jacket is in the first and third pictures, the painted and 'scrunched' jacket is in the second and fourth one's. Note: I have only rubbed the painted jacket lightly between my hands to get the effect above, which gives the jacket a sort of 'grainy' look to it.

 

I had an e-mail from Paul regarding the jackets.

 

The first thing that strikes me, is the color. Did the jacket really darken that much with the dull coat or is that just the "distressed look", but I'm not sure about the color change. I have a technical question is the dull coat when it dries gives it the at whiteish cracked look?

 

To help to explain this jacket is the one from Dragon and not the DiD one from Albert Ross, and to try to lose some of the 'whiteness' that Paul has mentioned which has come from the Dullcote. I have given the jacket a light wipe over with some brown shoe polish, which has helped to remove the 'white' from the cracks. Note: I have taken some better pictures of the jackets outside as shown above, as suggested by Terry and it does show off the coats better.

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