"Little Big Men Decals" Topic

I have started putting decals (from Little Big Men)on my Gaul shields.

The instructions for these are precise and tell you what you need to know. The trouble is believing the instructions.

You have to cut out the boss area and trim to the edges of the shield decal before application. I thought this was going to be a real pain but these decals only require you get close -- not precise. -- so . . . actually the trim process isn't all that bad.

Then you stick the decal front (well it looks like the front) directly onto the shield. The sticky isn't too bad either as you can move the decal around quite a bit or peel it off and start over -- so positioning is not an issue.

After considerable angst and trepidation I applied water, waited a minute and peeled off my first paper backing . . . Will-ahh!! it worked -- like wow did it work. The 'front' is really the back, the decal colors are fantastic, and the decal position is perfect!

The only error I made was applying the decal to a non-white under surface. You know, this wasn't all bad because I have a lot more than 48 Gaul shields to do (they only make 48 different shield designs for A&A figs). Using different under coat colors effectively gives you a lot more options.

These are great products -- highly recommended!

mjc

"The instructions for these are precise and tell you what you need to know. The trouble is believing the instructions."

MJC, just having *read* the instructions--just like reading the instructions for any new purchase, or reading the operator's manual for a more complex device--puts you in the top 2.7% of humanity! You are a rare and gifted being!

The "new" format LBMS transfers seem counterintuitive, but they do work, if one folows the procedure. I have to be careful as I still have a mix of old and new LBMS transerf, so I have to go back and forth between application procedures.

Allen

They are fancluckingtastic! They look amazing then the matt varnish makes them look like you painted them yourself. Not that I would ever make such a spurious claim unless showing off to a civilian.

Only problem I had was forgetting to paint the shield white before applying, they don't work over black thats for sure.

I picked up old format ones off the net so hoping they are as easy to apply as the new format when I get round to the next army.

Righto,

The old ones are a lot more fiddly. I've done a Greek Hopelite army with the old ones and it was time consuming Sometimes I would destroy a transfer.

A question on these. I have jsut got some MIR legionnary declas for my A&A figs. My qiestion is what base colour is best for to use on the shields before applying the LMB transfers? These new transfers are mainly red. I have used them only once before on my Augustan Marines and made the mistake of starting to paint the shields blue and found the transfers wher really muddy so went to white and that worked better. I wasted a few experimenting and don't want to this time.Do others think white the best option?
cheers

Yes spray the shield with white matt car spray a couple of times before applying transfers. The better the white the better the transfer turns out in my experience.

Keith

I spray matt white, couple of coats, let it dry and then a coat of spray gloss varnish (and let it dry thoroughly); this really helps the transfers stick on.

Simon

Thanks guys. I will go with the white

cheers