How to figure for decal placement before paint?

When I did my Santa Fe F3s about 30 years ago I painted them silver first and them put clear contact plastic over the shells cut roughly where the decals would fall. I then placed a spare set of decals on the contact sheet and after they had dried I cut thru the center lines of the decals. I then removed the plastic from the section to be painted red, masked off any other parts that weren't already covered and painted the red areas. After drying for several days I removed the contact sheet and applied another set of decals. I did't put on a clear coat because I've had problems with "blooming" silver when I sprayed a clear coat on it in the past.

You probably could do the same thing using masking tape as long as you were able to place them accurately. I used Champion decals and Tetsors silver along with Santa Fe red from I think Charles Wood.

The shell in the front' gives you some idea what the originals looked like.

Hope I explained this clearly, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the actual process.

Jerry

When I need to paint patterns to match decals I photo copy the decals, cut them out and use them to create masks or just mark tape applied to the model. I also use calipers with scribe points to draw lines directly on the model.

Photocopying them sounds like the inexpensive solution.

I'll have to try the copying thing....thanks folks!

Hard to believe they made the rock island doodlebug in HO and not in O too...I'll fix that.

Got the body nearly stripped of everything but the front glass...the dorks glued the snot out of it and it'll take the frames with it if I pull that clear insert...looks like window masking is needed here! I'll try purple power later today to strip the old SF paint off.