Re: Crimson Fists - Rogue Trader Space Marines
Those that have been keeping an eye on this thread, know me and water slide transfers while not enemies, don't get along quite as smoothly as I'd like. I like these things I really do, when they are done right they really add value to the overall effect. So I thought I'd have another go. I bought some water slide transfer paper and got cracking.
Fired up the computer and started designing, painting, scanning...
Printed out nice, all well and good. Spray matt varnish over it to hold the colour in water and not be shiny on the model, yes, yes good!
Then, roll on 4 hours and countless attempts with this stuff. I got so fed up of cutting out the Fists decal for the big flag I changed the design. The problems are, unlike 'normal' decals, this stuff is on super thin stretchy white plastic. If you apply too much pressure with your finger on it when cutting, the plastic stretches (but the paint don't) and cracks/tears. When you soak it and it comes away from the backing, it LOVES to stick to its self and then that's that. If you manipulate it too much the plastic moves but the paint don't, so cracks/tears. Once you get this stuff on the model/surface, unless you've got it bang on in position first time, that's it. You can't move it no matter how much water you put on or under it. Try and move the whole thing with a finger, cracks in your paint, try and move a little bit with a brush, stretches and cracks in your paint. In short, I really do not recommend this stuff for the novice. As opposed to saving time and adding value, its more headache that its worth. Also the paper its on is quite thick and dulls a stanley knife blade quick. Oh and when it drys, haha, it hardly sticks to the surface, you need to varnish it on.
I managed to get some sub par results I'm keeping, purely for the suborn reason I spent sooo much time and effort on it! I'm hoping with a bit of paint/brush work I can marry it all in.
You know what, I genuinely think if your printed the design on thin paper, matt varnished and sanded the cut edges down, you would have a better result!