Here Be Dragons - And Other Banners

You know - I've been doing this for some time.

Painting toy soldiers an' that...

It's my dad's fault. When my brother and I were growing up there was always military history stuff around the house. Books; model tanks; model planes and soldiers. Lots of soldiers.

1/72 scale plastics; 1/32 scale plastic army men; 54mm Historex; 54mm metals and lots of classic 25mm Napoleonics.

My dad was also (well still is) a model railway enthusiast, due to a partially misspent youth hanging around stations looking at steam trains. Although this never rubbed off on my brother and I - my dad used his terrain building skills to build us a battlefield. A 4-foot by 2-foot piece of plywood with plaster cloth draped across scraps of wood for hills and a central river and bridge which my 1/72 Airfix U.S. infantry and my brother's sneaky German paratroopers spent many a rainy afternoon fighting over with my Shermans and his half-tracks. We each had a model field gun which fired little plastic shells to knock the little fellas over - and of course - to try to fire up each others nostrils. I think I still have one in my ear.

My dad gave me a set of metal soldiers when I was about seven or eight years old. Pure lead painted with lead-based toxic paint that had probably been stored for years in an asbestos attic. He told me not to eat them, and that if I died of lead poisoning he'd know I'd disobeyed him and he'd be really cross. He was good like that.    

Like I said I've been painting for some time. I always thought I was alright at it, but compared to almost everyone else. I'm really not. That's probably because I took a twenty-year hiatus to run around a football pitch (unsuccessfully), to run around after girls (only partially successfully) and to play guitar in a rock band (unsuccessfully). Who knows how good I'd be if I'd stuck to painting the little fellas.

I never get asked about how I paint the little chaps, but every now and again I get asked about how I do the decals for my flags / banners.

As I've never blogged before it seems like something to blog as my first post.

So here goes...

1. Why do you want to use decals? Isn't it more oldhammer to freehand? Well, yes and  no. As far as I am aware the old studio team had all kind of tricks for shields and banners. But the truth is I do about 50/50 freehand and decals so I'm a little bit experienced with both. The main advantage of decals is that you might have a unit that has 20 chaps with the same shield design that would be really challenging to do freehand. I was chatting with Orlygg at a game at Foundry several months ago about my slowness with regard to painting the shields for Bugman's Rangers. "Freehand them," he said "I'd like to think they'd paint their own shields...". Sod that for a game of (toy) soldiers.

2. Once you've decided you want a unit with the same shield design and / or a banner you can't freehand. You need to decide if you have the art skills to draw it a piece of paper. Can you draw what you want? Do you know someone that can? Can you find images online that you can use (hint - the last one is usually brilliant). My advice is not to draw the original design much more than three times the size of the finished design as you will lose some detail with the resizing.

3. For my Dragon Company. I designed a flag and shield design based on Norse and Saxon dragon designs. Apologies for the lack of quality of the photos but when I took them for Bugman's Brewery it wasn't with a blog in mind.

I started with non-photo blue pencils and then inked in the designs for shields and the banner. You can see I abandoned the original shield design which has a curling tongue but I kept that for the banner.

4. I scanned the designs into the laptop and in photoshop adjusted the levels to remove the non-photo blue. Then I  copied the file back into a colour project and roughly coloured in the red fields on the banner and shields. You don't need to be massively exact here, because truth be told decal film is very delicate and it's very unlikely you'll get it applied without any scratches, so be prepared to have to do some painting to tidy it up. I added some edging to the flag also. It's not in the picture below but you can see it on the finished banner. I can't remember where I downloaded it for the life of me.

Using a hole-punch to remove the shield boss area I check this economy print on plain paper to ensure it fits the shield. The flag is also printed to check it's the size I want it before I commit to printing on the more expensive decal paper

5. I made sure the basic banner was roughly the right size by printing it out with the printer on economy mode. I did the same with the shields to make sure they fitted (I was using Essex Miniatures kite shields as per the link below this paragraph)

https://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/25mm-weapons-equipment-packs-war-machines-guns-all-periods/products/x32

It's worth noting that you need a certain amount of knowledge of an art package of your choice. Don't be scared if you currently have zero skills. There is a wealth of online tutorials telling you how to do just about anything with photo/art packages. Shields and banners are a nice basic area to start so dive in. 

6. You need to understand what printer you have...or alternatively...you need to need to understand what printer you have access to at work. Decal paper comes in two types of two types. You can buy it on Amazon at about a quid a sheet (usually in packs of 5 or 10). Do you have a laser printer or inkjet? You need to make sure you buy the right type of decal paper for your printer. Inkjet decal paper requires sealing with lacquer once the design is printed and before you let water anywhere near the decals. I've never used it but if you use inkjet paper please read the instructions and...you know...follow them.

Secondly - they come in clear and white types. It's worth doing some online research if you're not sure which type better suits your needs. Put plainly - as everyone knows, most home printers do not come with white ink. It means that any "white" areas on clear paper are see-through, and if you want them to appear white on the finished model then they need to be fixed to a white surface. White decal paper is all white and the printer ink goes over it. Every design therefore needs to fit exactly and be cut out accurately. Both have their own pros and cons. For the record, in this post I am using clear paper. 

7. To make the banner I am using an old tomato paste / puree tube. I'm told that thin brass modelling sheet works great too. I have been told by several chaps on the American side of the pond that it can be a challenge to get tomato paste in a tube over there, but it's worth sourcing if you have an Italian grocery store nearby, or finding another foodstuff that comes in metal tubes. Mrs Street is well aware that curries and tomato sauces do not taste as good if you roll up the tube causing too many creases.

Once used (or you have decanted the puree into Tupperware in the fridge for future use) cut the tube open with you modelling cutters and open it out. Wash thoroughly in hot soapy water, being wary of the fact that the cut edges can be sharp. Wear marigolds or chainmail mittens if you're not good at not cutting yourself. 

Other brands of puree are available. I can recommend Aldi at £0.40 a tube!

Banner poles are notoriously short and annoyingly bendy (especially the ones from the 80s) so I always cut them off to replace with a piece of brass modelling rod. The Dragon company has a nice banner top so I drill a hole into this and fit on top of the rod. I then cut out the correct size of flag for the decal from the tomato paste tube. I superglue this to the rod by folding over just enough to wrap around the banner pole. If there's a noticeable "lip" and you care about that stuff then you can fill this in with green stuff. Note that I tend to paint the model and banner separately and attach to the model when both are complete (you just need to make sure you don't forget to drill the hole in the hand of the standard bearer).

8. As I am using clear decal paper, I need to ensure that I apply the decal to a white surface. One side of the tube obviously had the product writing on so I usually apply several coats of grey car primer before finishing with white Tamiya fine surface primer. Decals are supposedly more "manageable" when applied to satin or gloss.

9. I'm sure we all know how to apply decals, but if you're not sure then there should be some instructions on the paper packaging - and if you're luckier than me it won't just be in Japanese. Apply some water to the flag first which will give you the ability to move it around if you don't get it in the right place first time. You can also use commercial products such as Decalsoft and Decalfix to help you. Both are available from a variety of manufacturers. You'll notice from the pictures below that my tweezers have scratched the surface, this is kind of inevitable and can be fixed with some careful brushwork.

10. I've tidied up the flag with some brush magic and some red paint. I've used the imaginatively named Humbrol "Red" for it's awesome coverage and matt finish, and when dry - using standard GW nuln oil - I run some shade into the folds of the flag. I tend to mix it 50/50 with Lahmian medium and build it up over several layers.

11. Using some lightened red and pure white I highlight the raised areas. Then I apply some Testor's Dullcote. And when I say "some", I mean "all of it". Decals always dry shiny so the matt lacquer is really needed. In the UK we sometimes have shortages of Dullcote due to some strange change to postage laws and we have to wait years for it like a Westeros winter. 

12. When all is done I attach the banner pole to the standard bearer and touch up any areas that need it (always remembering the edges of the flag itself).

So decals - it ain't that difficult to make your own. Anyone can do it.

Perhaps a slightly better view of the way the banner is highlighted.

The finished Dragon Company with shields and banner.