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 Transfers
are a great way to finish off that Crisis Battlesuit, Devilfish,
or XV15 Stealth team you just finished painting. Just looking at
all the cool markings, Sept symbols, and Tau language bits on the
transfer sheet can fire up some new ideas in your head as to where
they should go. There are decals for use around the edges of a Devilfish's
Drone holding area, warning symbols for exhausts, and Tau script
squad markings for battlesuits.
But how do you get them off the
sheet and onto your model?
Well...upon flipping the sheet over
you'll discover a set of instructions on how to apply transfers.
Although they tell you how to apply transfers, a practical demonstration
is always much clearer. In this article we'll show how to apply
transfers in a few simple stages illustrated with photographs. Work
along with us by gathering up a transfer sheet, a finished model,
a small dish with some warm water, hobby knife, napkin, and an old
paintbrush.
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Place
a transfer into the water and wait for
about
30 seconds. The transfer will separate from
the sheet during this time. Now, carefully
use
your hobby knife and manoeuvre it below the
transfer while lifting it slowly out of
the water. You
may notice that the transfer slips around a
bit in the water. This part can be tricky,
but
don't worry about it as you should have a bit
of extra room on the backing sheet to
compensate
for any play because we planned ahead just
for such a factor. (By leaving some space
around
the transfer itself when cutting it from the
sheet.) You should now have the transfer
out
of the water and on the edge of your hobby
knife.
With your free hand, use
an old brush to quickly dab a very small drop
of water on the surface where the transfer will
go. Now, slide the transfer off the paper backing
by gently coaxing it free with the brush. Discard
the paper backing and get ready to move the
transfer into place because at this point it
is probably not exactly where you want it, now
is it.
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Using
the brush, gently push, poke, and prod the transfer
around on the surface of the model until it
rests in the appropriate place. If you get a
stubborn transfer that refuses to budge, place
a very small drop of water on top of it. This
will loosen it up and allow you to move the
transfer around freely. Once the transfer is
in its absolute final resting place, use the
square corner of a dry napkin to soak up any
excess water from the model and secure the transfer
into position.
In the last two pictures
above you'll see how an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit
was given its Tau homeworld Sept symbol and
Ta'lissera bonding knife in under five minutes!
Such is the beauty of transfers!
After trying this out for
yourself a few times, you'll be quite well versed
in the act of applying transfers. More advanced
and creative hobbyists can attempt to delve
into the realm of cutting and combining transfers
to produce truly unique symbols and markings
for your models. If you feel up to it, then
give it a shot and see what you can come up
with!
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