Need advice - custom stencil or transfer?

[JMGraham]

So, I'm working on an Eldar army, painted in the colors of the Void Dragon Corsairs. I'd like to be able to add some Void Dragon symbols to them, but I'm not certain the best way how. Forge World sells some transfers, but the sheet only has a few Void Dragon symbols and contains a bunch of other faction symbols from IA11. Not sure why they did it that way. The thing is, I want to try and stick to a 3-color scheme throughout the army, so I'm also worried that transfers would look too different from the bone color I'm using. My current thoughts are:

 

- Have some custom decals made up, in a color that's close to the color I use as a base for my bone color (Deneb Stone). Then I can apply the transfers, and use them as a base for painting the highlights over top.

 

- Have some adhesive-backed vinyl stencils made, adhere those, and paint the symbols in using the stencils. To get the painted look I'm after, this sounds a lot easier to do than freehanding over a decal, provided the stencil masks the paint well.

 

I've never tried any of this, so I'm not really sure how anything would work. Maybe I'm overcomplicating things, and maybe some plain white transfers would be fine. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Some example figures for the army are here: 

 

You can see the Void Dragon symbol on this drawing from IA11:

 

[splinx]

If you are going custom i love getting a stencil made and then airbrushing in the design. This method in my experience looks a ton better than decals and you can use them as much as you want. 

[JMGraham]

Any suggestions on where to get custom stencils made, and some how-to videos out there on how to get the most out of them?

 

EDIT: I was previously looking at Fallout Hobbies - not sure if anyone knows anything about them: http://www.fallouthobbies.com/ 

[Justjokin]

Seems like you nailed it with these:

 

Evil Elven Vehicle Tribal Airbrush Stencils

6.5×11″ sheet of low tack self adhesive vinyl airbrush stencils

 

Just send them your custom design.  I love the concept of low tack self adhesive.

[JMGraham]

Cool! Do you think those stencils would work if you applied the paint with a brush? Or would the low-tack mean the paint could more easily bleed under it? Either way, I really do need to learn to use my airbrush for more than basecoating.

[Sammy]

Vinyl cut stencils might not work as well for the figures, but the 28mm vehicles would be great.

[splinx]

Jim i would get your airbrush out and just give it a bit of practice. Using stencils and brush work can lead to a lot more work and bother. All you need is the stencil and some low adhesive tape around the symbol and its pretty easy to give it a quick spray and onto the next one. Im going to be doing an airbrush class at the Portland Gaming store in the near future if you would like to come and take a look?

[JMGraham]

I'd love to do an airbrushing class, but the commute from Bellingham would be a killer!

 

OK, my current plan is to get off my duff and learn to airbrush. I'll order some stencils in various sizes (the smallest probably being what would fit on the hull of a jetbike), and possibly some decals for smaller symbols. Hopefully I'll have something not-too horrible to show for it in a couple of months!

 

Thanks for the advice, all!

[Justjokin]

I picked up the Valejo Non Metallic Metal paint kit, and followed the step by step instructions.  This kit introduced me to painting NMM, got me more comfortable with my airbrush, and taught me about the awesomeness that is preshadding and applying a glaze(candy paint for car heads).

 

I'm still not any good, but I am pleased with my novice results: