Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How to choose and place waterslide decals on Gunpla — the full decal pass on the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex, Bandai's Iron-Blooded Orphans (IBO) kit, painted entirely by hand, no airbrush anywhere. Every builder applies decals. Almost nobody talks about choosing them — and random decals are what make a hand-painted Gundam read like a toy instead of a machine.
Bandai kits don't come with waterslides, so every marking here came off seven different sheets collected over time — one Bandai, the rest aftermarket from Japan. In this video: why I choose dark grey over black stencils at this scale, why I ignore the scale printed on the sheet and keep markings small and tight so the machine reads big, and how I place markings on a machine that has no reference at all — building the REX a maintenance life it never had, using real jet fighter stencil logic for hatches, filler points and ground crew warnings.
Also covered: gloss coat with Mr. Super Clear straight from the can as insurance against decal silvering, and why these thin sheets went down perfectly with Mr. Mark Setter alone — no Microsol, no rolling, no fussing. Read the decal, match the process to it.
Stickers, decals, waterslides — whatever you call them, they're a detailing decision, not an application step.
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📖 Free Studio Sampler — studio technique, paint breakdowns, and gallery pages from recent builds:
store.paintonplastic.com/pages/studio-sampler
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📖 SCI-FI F.A.Q. — 428 pages. Full colour. The reference book for sci-fi scale modeling — Gundam, Maschinen Krieger, Macross, and Warhammer 40K in a single volume. Written by Lincoln Wright. Published by AK Interactive. Hard to find at US retailers — buy direct from the author:
store.paintonplastic.com/products/sci-fi-faq-ak8160
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Paint on Plastic — Japanese-trained sci-fi modelmaking. Direct to collectors.
📖 Store: store.paintonplastic.com
🎙️ Patreon (Monthly Members Q&A): patreon.com/c/paintonplastic
📷 Instagram: instagram.com/paintonplastic
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00:00 Why random Gunpla decals look wrong
00:20 Bandai kits don't include waterslides — building an aftermarket decal collection
01:25 Using a previous build as a decal placement reference
01:50 Choosing decal colours — why black stencils make a model look like a toy
03:01 Ignoring the scale printed on the decal sheet
03:45 Where to place decals when there's no reference — jet fighter stencil logic
04:50 Gloss coat before decals — Mr. Super Clear from the can, no airbrush
05:32 Applying waterslide decals with Mr. Mark Setter — no Microsol needed
06:36 How long a full decal pass actually takes
07:03 How decals tighten a hand-painted finish
07:51 Free Studio Sampler + the rest of the REX build
#Gunpla #Gundam #Barbatos #ScaleModeling #PaintOnPlastic #Decals #Waterslide #IBO
How to choose and place waterslide decals on Gunpla — the full decal pass on the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex, Bandai's Iron-Blooded Orphans (IBO) kit, painted entirely by hand, no airbrush anywhere. Every builder applies decals. Almost nobody talks about choosing them — and random decals are what make a hand-painted Gundam read like a toy instead of a machine.
Bandai kits don't come with waterslides, so every marking here came off seven different sheets collected over time — one Bandai, the rest aftermarket from Japan. In this video: why I choose dark grey over black stencils at this scale, why I ignore the scale printed on the sheet and keep markings small and tight so the machine reads big, and how I place markings on a machine that has no reference at all — building the REX a maintenance life it never had, using real jet fighter stencil logic for hatches, filler points and ground crew warnings.
Also covered: gloss coat with Mr. Super Clear straight from the can as insurance against decal silvering, and why these thin sheets went down perfectly with Mr. Mark Setter alone — no Microsol, no rolling, no fussing. Read the decal, match the process to it.
Stickers, decals, waterslides — whatever you call them, they're a detailing decision, not an application step.
─────────────────────────────
📖 Free Studio Sampler — studio technique, paint breakdowns, and gallery pages from recent builds:
store.paintonplastic.com/pages/studio-sampler
─────────────────────────────
📖 SCI-FI F.A.Q. — 428 pages. Full colour. The reference book for sci-fi scale modeling — Gundam, Maschinen Krieger, Macross, and Warhammer 40K in a single volume. Written by Lincoln Wright. Published by AK Interactive. Hard to find at US retailers — buy direct from the author:
store.paintonplastic.com/products/sci-fi-faq-ak8160
─────────────────────────────
Paint on Plastic — Japanese-trained sci-fi modelmaking. Direct to collectors.
📖 Store: store.paintonplastic.com
🎙️ Patreon (Monthly Members Q&A): patreon.com/c/paintonplastic
📷 Instagram: instagram.com/paintonplastic
─────────────────────────────
00:00 Why random Gunpla decals look wrong
00:20 Bandai kits don't include waterslides — building an aftermarket decal collection
01:25 Using a previous build as a decal placement reference
01:50 Choosing decal colours — why black stencils make a model look like a toy
03:01 Ignoring the scale printed on the decal sheet
03:45 Where to place decals when there's no reference — jet fighter stencil logic
04:50 Gloss coat before decals — Mr. Super Clear from the can, no airbrush
05:32 Applying waterslide decals with Mr. Mark Setter — no Microsol needed
06:36 How long a full decal pass actually takes
07:03 How decals tighten a hand-painted finish
07:51 Free Studio Sampler + the rest of the REX build
#Gunpla #Gundam #Barbatos #ScaleModeling #PaintOnPlastic #Decals #Waterslide #IBO
