Decals for JSI 1/18 F-14 Tomcat

[Fightertown Decals]

First post here and I wanted to introduce ourselves. We make model airplane decals mostly in 1/48, 1/32, 1/72 and some 1/144 but are looking at doing some sheets in 1/18 for the JSI Tomcat. We actually did the art for the JSI release. All of our sheets are printed by Microscale or Cartograf and have the highest standards for accuracy and detail.

We are open to suggestions, and I've looked through the threads here so far and would love to hear your input. So fire away -

One of the first things we were thinking about doing was an aftermarket set similar to what the JSI boxing comes with for anyone wanting to repaint.



thanks!
-brian

[exether_mega]

Hell Brian and welcome aboard ! I am sure many people here will be happy to see you have interest and maybe solution for 1:18 JSI F-14.

For my part, here is what I would like to have :

ref : FTD32-004
VF-84 Desert Storm

I hope you will also make decals for other 1:18 planes.

phil

[trex0770]

Welcome Brian!

Decal sheets would be great.

My picks for the "A" model (even though some were early A's with the ALQ-100 and no TCS) :
1) VF-111 Sundowners "Miss Molly"
2) VF-111 Low Viz
3) VF-1 "Wolfpack" 1974/75 Saigon Air Patrol
4) VF-41 "Black Aces" 1978 and/or 1981 "Fast Eagle 107" Gulf of Sidra Su-22 shootdown

Thanks for asking for input!

[grunt1]

This is great, thanks for posting. Just the No Step decals alone would help me out as long as a sheet was pretty reasonable. Having some alternative schemes, not only for the F-14 but other planes, would be awesome.

[thatf14guy]

welcome aboard first of all. i like to see some decals for vf-111 low viz, vf-1 wolfpack, vx-9, vx-4, and some other vf-84 schemes, that would be great.

[Black Lion VF-213]

Brian that's awesome you're taking the plunge for decals for the JSI Cat. Your decals I’ve used on a1/72 Tomcat that I’ve built are awesome, especially those Cartograph printed ones.
It seems that among most any collectors here the most requested will end up being:
1978 VF-41 Black Aces
1978 VF-84 Jolly Rogers (there were be several requests for other VF-84 liveries over their years both low and high vis)
late 80's VF-111 Sundowners
VF-4 Black tailed with Playboy bunny.

Those are all great choices. I think that you'll get a 50/50 blend of requests for squadron liveries that don't match the mold JSI built their Tomcat and some for exact matches.

- My top pics for exact matches for this “bombcat” mold JSI made would be:
1. VF-14 Tophatters 80th Anniversary CAG 1999 like your 1/48 set you already created.
2. VF-154 Black Knights 1996 CAG. The black tail with red stripes and the star with black tanks with the white sword.
3. VF-41 Black Aces final cruise 2001
4. VF-211 Checkmates final decommission scheme

- Top pics for very close matches. (Ie, NACA gun vents correct, ECM bumps correct, older LAU-7 Sidewinder rails):
1. VF-21 Freelancers 1996 decommission scheme with black tails and yellow bands on top
2. VF-201 Hunters black tail with red Texas

- Top pics for halfway close. (NACA gun vents, no ECM bumps, old Sidewinder rails)
1. VF-33 Starfighters final decommission scheme
2. VF-84 Jolly Rogers final cruise scheme. Not a lot of pics for these birds. Rare.

- Top pics for not even close:
1. VF-213 Black Lions 1984 cruise, blue fin cap and rudder with yellow stars with the muscular blue climbing lion (like the early 2000’s F-14’s had), not the skinny black lion with the yellow head. Oddly enough all the even number modexes have the blue lion, the odd have the black and yellow lion. Awesome looking scheme. Too bad pics are hard to find.
2. VF-2 Bounty Hunters 1977-1980. Those all looked the same. Awesome looking “Americana” paint jobs.
3. VF-41 Black Aces 1978. That scheme is too darn good looking to pass up
4. VF-111 Sundowners 1986-1989. Same as #3 just above.

[thatf14guy]

when will these be availible? and what about ordnance decs?

[tkjaer21]

Very nice and welcome. I hope to do business sometime.

[Jericoeagle1]

The Blue Splinter F-14A Tomcat of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC/TOPGUN) would be cool. These are designed to look like Russian Aircraft. But also, just some generic decals to replace those that were removed along with the spots would be nice as well.

[glcanon]

One of the first things we were thinking about doing was an aftermarket set similar to what the JSI boxing comes with for anyone wanting to repaint.
thanks!
-brian

Hey Brian, aka Fightertown Decals
What's the smallest decal you can print, or that is practical? I've done some prelim drawings of the AIM-54C Phoenix, after researching the net for all available closeup photos, as well as my F-14 refs; I used Estes decals at 1/5 scale as starting pt for my research.

Since the JSI phoenix is 8 5/8" long, could prob make decals to super detail it (more than JSI anyway).

There seems to be no real consistancy with the fonts used although most are of a stencil type. My fav of the Mil Fonts isn't to be found on any of the font sites, I've search them all. So I've modified & created some fonts. They're 72 pt in size. Would you be able to shrink decals images in 72 pt down to 1/18 scale? Send me a quick note w/your email and I'll send a couple prelim images along w/some questions.

I'm also posting similar mssg in another thread for another fellow decal maker, to see if he has interest or capability of doing these small decals.

Here's small prelim drawing, shrunk down about 7X.

[deankleines]

Just found the markings for my bird!!!

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=697190

Yee Ha!

[thatf14guy]

no comment

[Folkwulfe]

I must have missed something here. I went to their site and....even though I see no reference to 1/18th scale decal sheets....the 1/32nd scale sheets are going for an average $20.00 each. I think that's reasonable.....even if 1/18th scale sheets are a little higher in the $25.00 to $30.00 range depending on the accuracy and quality. Everything else considered, it looks like they have both of those traits in their corner. Maybe it's just me...did I miss something here?

[thatf14guy]

no comment

[tkjaer21]

Just found the markings for my bird!!!

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=697190

Yee Ha!

That is very nice. All you would have to do is get the correct decal (Testors) paper and print. The decals themselves are right at 1:18.964 scale so they are close enough. There are many (Hi-Vis) schemes to choose from as well;
VF-84_Jolly_Rogers

VF-1_Wolfpack

VF-111_Sundowners "Miss Molly"

VF-31_Tomcatters

VX-9_VAMPIRES

VF-143_Pukin_Dogs

F-14_Tomcat_Sunset (Farewell Scheme)

Screw paying $80-400 to get them. This is the way to go as you can take to a local printing shop and print on the right paper/decal sheet for less than $20 total if you do not have a nice laser printer yourself and the paper which may cost only $2 per sheet from Testors.

Heck, you could even use them as templates to airbrush the patterns on to the bird itself. It should be real easy by cutting a reverse transfer pattern.

The designer, may even have Lo-Vis schemes.

[Jericoeagle1]

they might go cheaper when actually in production...

I'll wait and see what their production quote is.

[thatf14guy]

no comment

[Folkwulfe]

For absolutely sure!!! If we are talking one-only custom graphics, I think it's reasonable to expect to be charged for the development and printing processes. But Fightertown is broaching the subject of production (if I read this right) of "aftermarket" decal sets starting with the standard graphics package in original markings. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but it seems Fightertown is asking if there is enough interest in 1/18th decal packages to make this venture worthwhile for them....so let's take this to the source. Yo Fightertown......what price point are you talking here for the decal sets?

[thatf14guy]

fair enough, i asked them about the jolly rogers repaint decs they never answered me on the subject, it could be the size of these decals, and complexity of these decs, that could be part of it too. but i hope they do produce decals in 1/18 but not for 300 bucks!?

[flyboy_fx]

PLEASE MAKE TANK DECALS!! !

[thatf14guy]

flyboy, you live in mt airy nc? if so well hi, cause so do I.

[flyboy_fx]

I live in hendersonville so about 3 hrs away

[glcanon]

Just found the markings for my bird!!!

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=697190

Yee Ha!

Well, they're not exactly 1/18. The JSI Tomcat is 41.25" long while Steve Shumate's R/C Tomcat is 39.8" long.

But I hv to admit those are some nicely designed decal sheets (even if there's no ordnance decals):

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=89637

I'm actually partial to the VF-1 Wolfpack scheme:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachme ... id=1322289



I PM'd Vexarillius and Fightertown Decals about doing my AIM-54C decals.... no reply from either yet.

[Fightertown Decals]

Thanks for the suggestion about the Phoenix markings. We actually have full sets of weapons artwork - AIM-7/9/54, GBU-10/12/16/24/31/38 - from our 1/48 F-14 data sheet. We're looking at a way to do a full weapons and data sheet in 1/18. Our Phoenix art is accurate to 4 AIM-54C and 2 AIM-54A actual missiles and sections.

Keep the suggestions coming! I think people will like what we're working on. The trick is that we have to sell 100 or so sheets before we break even. But for people that want the accuracy and professionally printed waterslide decals, we'll do our best.

thanks!
-brian

[Fightertown Decals]

Wow, I didn't expect to come on here to get slammed...

thatf14guy - You asked for CUSTOM decals. That means I do the artwork custom for you, not a production run. In the professional decal printing world, you can't get 1 sheet - the minimum print run is 250. I never suggested you pay for a print run. I just gave you some info on how it works. I offered you a custom printer option that we work with that runs $80 per sheet. That's print cost. I thought offering you the best possible cost, especially discounting my time cost well over 50% was doing you a favor. We had friendly emails and I didn't expect to get dragged out in public. Doing a decal business is something I do for fun on the side. I run 2 other companies in my real world job. You may think that a custom 1 off decal sheet shouldn't cost what is does but... I'm happy to sell the art and you can figure out the printing.

To answer your other question about the price point cost, we're still working on it. I'm glad I didn't give you inside info as a suggestion seeing as you posted the emails in public. I'm sorry I couldn't answer your question within your less than 4 hour time limit. I'm still sorting through emails from the weekend. In addition to yours and 40 or so other decal emails today, I put in a real world work 14 hour day.

We're still working on what size the 1/18th sheets will be and what the price point will be. I'm doing my best to figure that out and quite honestly debating the very real possibility that we'll never actually cover the cost to keep the price in the $25-35 range.

I never came on here talking about or even offering custom decals. You came to me asking me to do a custom job for you. Most of the time I turn down custom jobs in part because it's not worth my time.

I came on here talking about doing production run decals.