"1/285th German Number Decals - Black w/White Outline?" Topic

I would think these should be easy to find, but it seems they're a bit more scarce than I recall, back in the Paleozoic Era.

Looking for 1/285th scale German Number Decals, that are Black with the White outline border.

Also, any idea how tall these are, roughly, in millimeters?

Need some for WWII and West German, Cold War era armor.

Any good sources, preferably in the USA, but others will work too, I guess.

I-94?

I've had a quick check of my I-94 stock and the only black/white outline ones I can see are for 15mm unfortunately.

I-94 will be at Cold Wars. Have someone check them out in person if possible. H

I've used some decals on my 1/285 tanks, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort. Look at the model you want to put the decal on and see if there is a nice, flat surface, or if there are some fiddley bits. I found that a lot of the tanks didn't have that much room for decals. The other problem is that the number decals don't stand out all that well. Looking at them from side-of-the-table distance, and I couldn't say if the decal was right-side up or upside down. To give some contrast, the decals on the 1/600 airplanes really stand out. I don't know how high the numbers are, but you notice the thickness of your blade when cutting them. All that said, decals can be done if you want to go through the trouble. GHQ has some models that are painted and have decals nice enough to photograph for an ad. Go to their website and take a look. If you are impressed, take a shot at it. But if you're meh about it, I wouldn't bother.

Yes, I was going to suggest I-94 and/or GHQ …

I'm planning on using them for 1/144th – 1/150th scale minis, and think the 1/285th ones should be about 2mm high, which would be perfect for that application.

I guess I could go without them, if necessary, but they might make the vehicles look a bit better.

SMS has some designed for N gauge (1/160th) scale armor:
ss-sms.com/smsown2k7.html

Not very many numbers I am afraid. They are a two part system. You put the white numbers down first and let dry thoroughly and then add the black centering so you get a white outline.

FYI my GHQ German WWII numerals are a hair under 1 mm tall.

I found these on E-Bay, but I've never purchased them, but have been considering buying them.

auction

Thanks for all the tips, and links.

I'll check them out.

I imagine I need about 2mm – 2.5mm high, for these, with the latter accounting a little for hull/turret sloping.

The problem at that size is that the thickness of the white is often less than the error margin aligning the black and white layers – Scale Specialties' two-part solution is really the only way to be sure of the alignment not going wonky. The smallest I do are 2.5mm high, intended for 10mm tanks, but they're a bit tight on smaller types – I think they should fit on a Panzer IV, especially if it has turret skirts, but they're better suited to Panthers and Tigers to be honest. I may try a smaller size at some point, but it's definitely into problem alignment territory.

Here's what I printed as a test yesterday. Three different settings on the same numbers. The top two are fairly similar. The bottom one has a wider, white line.

Kevin

Dom, 2.5mm will probably work, since I need them for 1/144th scale minis, and 2mm – 2.5mm seems to be about right, given some of the vehicles I've been looking at.

I understand about the registration issues, so two-part decals wouldn't be a problem for me. Certainly better than gluing down one number at a time, and not having the white outlines.

Thanks Kevin, for posting the test photo. Those look great!

I especially like the third row, which looks about right for some of the vehicles I've seen photos of.

I'll need to go back and look at them again, before making a final decision, since the ones with the narrower white portions look quite good too.