AV-8B+ Dark Harrier Stenciling Data Questions - Authentic Decals Sheet

[ESzczesniak]

I'm finally decalling! I'm building Hasegawa AV-8B+ (plus a lot of extras) as a VMA-311 bird from Authentic Decals Dark Harrier Sheet (BuNo 165425).  The stenciling diagrams have a seeming million decals labeled as 66L, 79R, etc.  And that's literally what the decal is on the sheet (random numbers).  I've attached an example section of the instruction sheet and this section of the decal sheet with all these decals.  They're small pictures, but I think gets the idea.

 

Short version, what's going on? I have this walkaround of a VMA-311 bird and I don't see any of these markings on the bird (https://www.net-maquettes.com/pictures/av-8b-harrier-ii/).  Are these errors, factory stencils not always applied, or something else?

[Mstor]

Those look like panel numbers. They are usually very small and not always easy to see in photos.

 

Hope you have better luck with Authentic decals then I did. Had a sheet for the Su-24. The decals didn't want to release from the backing paper and shattered as soon as they hit the model.

 

Just went through the pics in the walk-around you posted and I see no panel numbers on the aircraft at all. I think you can safely leave them off. BTW, on pic 46, how did they manage to get boot prints on the bottom of the wing?

Edited September 15, 2018 by Mstor

[ESzczesniak]

I didn't know about panel numbers being stenciled on the aircraft, but that seems likely.  Are they always on the aircraft.  This picture shows the area of the instructions I took pretty clearly (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3718/9227681131_b5b40a3aa2_m.jpg).  The larger version is on page 5 of the walkaround linked above, but I can't directly link the photo.

 

According to the instructions, there should be about a half dozen panel numbers seen.  However, this shot is detail oriented and shows this area pretty well.  I'd expect to see some evidence if the scale of the decals on the sheet is correct. 

 

Luckily, I've been having good luck with the decals so far.  They are going on very nicely.  Sorry you had such an unfortunate experience with them. 

Edited September 15, 2018 by ESzczesniak

[Dave Roof]

They're door numbers and should be in opposing grays. 35237 stencils on upper 36118 paint, and vice versa. The AV-8B is probably the only aircraft in the Marine Corps that will almost always have all of the stencils applied.

[ESzczesniak]

Thank you both!

 

Now that leaves me with the dilemma what to do with them.  They all seem to be in the same gray.  Not sure if I'd rather omit them, or call something better than nothing. 

[Mstor]

15 minutes ago, ESzczesniak said:

I didn't know about panel numbers being stenciled on the aircraft, but that seems likely.  Are they always on the aircraft.  This picture shows the area of the instructions I took pretty clearly (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3718/9227681131_b5b40a3aa2_m.jpg).  The larger version is on page 5 of the walkaround linked above, but I can't directly link the photo.

 

According to the instructions, there should be about a half dozen panel numbers seen.  However, this shot is detail oriented and shows this area pretty well.  I'd expect to see some evidence if the scale of the decals on the sheet is correct. 

 

Luckily, I've been having good luck with the decals so far.  They are going on very nicely.  Sorry you had such an unfortunate experience with them. 

 

Here's a link to a larger version of the photo you posted. You can enlarger it further. You're right, I don't see any of the door/panel numbers referred to on the decal instructions. I suppose it is possible that they are extremely small, but then the decals would still be useless as they would be too large.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3718/9227681131_b5b40a3aa2_b.jpg

 

[Dave Roof]

Here's a good shot of that area on 231's 2009/2010 Command Jet showing all of the stencils.

 

 

[Mstor]

2 minutes ago, Dave Roof said:

Here's a good shot of that area on 231's 2009/2010 Command Jet showing all of the stencils.

 

 

 

Yes, you can definitely see them on your pic, but they're definitely not on the one in the walk-around photos. I would guess one would need to try to find photos of the specific airframe they are modeling to determine whether to add them or not.

[ESzczesniak]

After doing some Google searching, I'm leaning towards these not being correct for my bird.  It is hard to get pictures of the exact airframe at the exact time frame...and hard to see these.  But I have a few pretty decent pictures of 165425 during it's time with VMA-311.  None are the exact time of the decals, but I am not finding a trace of the panel numbers on any of these...

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP-8nHkebLlFpPHx2R0eUXpyJAoGef2ODSfQiWB

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM03j8a4AK82eamVpHjowyePJmiotiO3XkoRZrW

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMeL2J82a8an4ltodQHJWmAGhbqeWBH2X-J7jf5

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNWOiuM2gYJeNReevi8szFK9Dk8wcmJaonhsdeV

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN8Z4U5p-1B3izB_1un9r92TO8bIiFhVY-zU-M7

[Mstor]

2 hours ago, ESzczesniak said:

After doing some Google searching, I'm leaning towards these not being correct for my bird.  It is hard to get pictures of the exact airframe at the exact time frame...and hard to see these.  But I have a few pretty decent pictures of 165425 during it's time with VMA-311.  None are the exact time of the decals, but I am not finding a trace of the panel numbers on any of these...

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipP-8nHkebLlFpPHx2R0eUXpyJAoGef2ODSfQiWB

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM03j8a4AK82eamVpHjowyePJmiotiO3XkoRZrW

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMeL2J82a8an4ltodQHJWmAGhbqeWBH2X-J7jf5

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNWOiuM2gYJeNReevi8szFK9Dk8wcmJaonhsdeV

 

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN8Z4U5p-1B3izB_1un9r92TO8bIiFhVY-zU-M7

 

ESzczesniak, none of the links are working. First, it made me log on to Google and then they give me a 404 error. URL not found.

[ESzczesniak]

I tried sharing through Google photos for the first time, and apparently that didn't work.  I'll try Dropbox that I'm more familiar with:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lxcnbi6836as2oa/01.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bu7qze9t74dnu3e/02.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ijya0exku7r1xe/03.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/65hu6awup3p9afb/04.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmweiqfvanzdt6e/05.jpg?dl=0

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/637qh1cvdyb64m6/06.jpg?dl=0

 

On another note, I'm a bit less than happy with the decal set as I'm getting through the process.  Every stencil has only a single copy.  I know things are not absolutely symmetric from port and starboard sides, but many stencils are based on other kits I've built.  It seems they've left only enough stencils to do a single side of the aircraft.  One stencil specifically (decal 42, a cockpit/ejection seat warning placard) is specifically called out twice, but only one decal is on the sheet.  They don't even include a diagram for the starboard side.  I figured they just assumed to be symmetric, until I started finding decals that are shorted even by their instructions.  Looks like I may need to buy a second sheet. 

Edited September 16, 2018 by ESzczesniak

[Mstor]

Those links worked. The only Harrier I can see door/ panel numbers on is the lower one on the last pic posted. If you zoom in you can see them as blurry spots on the various doors and access panels. The airframe above it doesn't appear to have any though.