Small Scale Military Headquarters

I'm going to be doing a custom one the BBI Hornet but of course no body makes a full set of water slide decals that scale so the next best thing is I have the decal set in 1/32 I want to use. I know that I can scan them and size them up to meet 1/18's requirements but I don't think I have any proper software that will help me.

Meaning, I could use my Microsoft picture manager or paint, but I'm not sure if they will do the trick in getting rid of the fuzzy lack of clarity around the sharp lines once I enlarge the image.

What software have any of the serious customizers here on the forum used that have sized correctly, and most importantly, sharpened lines and edges to make it look good?

Thanks!

I mostly use photoshop for all my image editing.

If you want to minimise loss of detail when enlarging (and if your equipment has enough grunt) try scanning / copying the originals at the highest possible dpi settings. That way, when you enlarge the image the dpi should still be proportionately high.

Just my 2 cents.

For the best results I highly recommend that you re-create all the graphics in a vector based program such as Illustrator (AI) which is my product of choice or you can also use CorelDraw. Vector images are also infinitely scalable and there are no issues of fuzzies of which you speak, in short vector based print outputs are far superior to that of a bitmaps.

Compared to scanning and enlarging I will have to admit that doing this kind of work in AI requires a certain (even high) skill level and it is all extremely time consuming but the results are well worth the effort in the end.

If you are not too fussy. close matches for many font styles can be found if you look hard enough, I myself on the other hand are very fussy and I generally will re-create my own alphabet set when needed.

The real key to doing any such custom work is lots and lots of good clear reference material. Google searches using “walkaround” in the search criteria will quite often give good results, but more often than not the detail you seek especially where stencils are concerned is usually just out of shot or to Lo-res to read and you may have to try and contact the originator of the images to see if they are prepared to let you have some higher res’ shots, so unless you have direct access to the actual subject and a digital camera you will need to be patient as it can take ages to track down an image of a particular elusive detail you seek.

Some AI artwork examples that I have converted to Lo-res bitmaps for display here:











This thread shows a little of the process in making the LOBOS sheet above

viewtopic.php?t=6326&highlight=lobos

This image of the Dr.I below was solely created in AI and gives you an idea of what is achievable without using Photoshop, and I can make this image as big or small as I want without any loss in detail.



As a reference tool bitmaps can be imported and scaled within AI and placed on their own layer and locked in place, then they can then be used as guides to creating your own vector graphic, the following image is an example showing such a bitmap (jpg) being used as a guide to create an AI graphic.



If scanning and enlarging is your only option then, I would recommend either Adobe Photoshop or for the budget minded option try Jasc Paint Shop Pro (if it is still available).

If you dont have the options listed above, try this place:
http://www.cal-grafx.com/scale_up.htm
You send them your existing stickers, they scan them and make entirely new sets in any scale you want. They might be a bit pricey though.