Pavla
1/72 Vultee BT-13
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The Pavla decals
are for a blue and yellow BT-13A , a two tone blue SNV, and a
French BT-13. My set were unusable and I thought especially the
US ARMY lettering for under the wing were
poorly done. I made the decals using an ALPS MD-1000 and Corel Draw X4. By not coating the decals after printing they remained very thin and the transparent areas between numbers are very
nearly invisible. To protect the decals, as in the uncoated state
the pigments will scratch easily, I overcoated the model with
Alclad Aqua Gloss Clear. That changed the sheen of the
aluminum
and silver areas somewhat but the result is I think better than any
other clear coat I have used over natural metal finishes. I
am thinking just a bit of a flattening coat might get it where
I want it but I am chicken to experiment further on this model.
The basic metal finish is Alclad dull aluminum with areas rubbed down
with SNJ aluminum powder.