Heraldry Decals & Design Commissions

for War-gamers

This page contains guidelines, hints and tips for obtaining the best results when applying CitadelSix Custom Design decals to miniatures, as well as model making techniques.

All CitadelSix Custom Design products are genuine water-slide decals that are printed onto high-quality white (or sometimes clear) decal carrier film.

Tools & Materials

The recommended tools and materials you’ll need, when applying the decals, are listed below:

• Craft knife or scalpel, fitted with new, razor-sharp blade.
• Cutting mat.
• Needle-nose tweezers.
• Steel ruler or straight edge.
• Medium width, flat, soft-haired paint brush.
• Small, pointed, soft-haired paint brush.
• Acrylic varnish (see WARNING below) – gloss, satin and matt.
• Micro-Set and Micro-Sol decal finishing products.
• Decal-set.

Guidelines

To obtain the best results, it is highly recommended that you follow the steps exactly as described in the guidelines that accompany all CitadelSix Custom Design decal-set products.

Matching Paints to Decal Colours

The colours used in all the standard ranges of CitadelSix Custom Design heraldry decals are matched as close as possible to the original Citadel paints, listed in the table below. The table also provides the equivalent colours in other paint ranges.

When attempting to match paint colours to those used in the decals, it is important to keep in mind that the colours won’t be an identical match for the following reasons:

1. The colour of the painted undercoat will affect whether the base coat paint colour is lighter or darker than the actual paint’s colour shade.
2. Paint always dries a darker shade.
3. The thickness and the number of paint layers will darken the colour.
4. The colour of printed decal images will always be duller because they reflect light, whereas decal images displayed on the PC screen will appear much brighter because they are illuminated by radiated light.    

However, the printed decals will be a fairly close colour match to the paint colours.  

The best way to create a better match between the decal and the painted miniature is by blending the paint onto the edges of the decal’s surface colours.

WARNING: Do NOT use a solvent-based brush-on or any spray-on type finishing product to over-coat the decals. The solvent will damage the decal’s surface and the medium used to print them. An ACRYLIC type finishing product, such as Windsor & Newton Galeria matt, satin or gloss varnish, is highly recommended.

The following PDF formatted guidelines can either be browsed on-line or downloaded:

• Guidelines for decal-sets printed on WHITE carrier film.
• Guidelines for decal-sets printed on CLEAR carrier film.