Making transfers (Decals) for 6mm Late Roman shields

I have tried freehand painting shields for 6mm figures in the past but  I decided that I didn't like the results.  What I needed was a different approach that would look OK at tabletop distances or if possible closer.  The obvious solution was to use a water slide transfer but I couldn't find any in 6mm scale.

I have been down this road before when I needed some World War One lozenge camouflage for my 1/300th German aircraft.  No one seemed to make it  for that scale so I made my own.  I found a site that had details of the actual  colours used and examples of the patterned fabric and I was able to import an image into paint, brighten the colours slightly and resize it.  I was really surprised and pleased with how it looked.  So when I needed Late Imperial Roman shield patterns, transfers seemed like a workable option.

A work in progress but look at the detail on the lozenge pattern.

To be honest creating transfers is not difficult. The key things to keep in mind are:

• Transfer paper comes with either a transparent or a white backing.  For most modelling uses white backing is best.
• Do a test print of the transfers onto ordinary printer paper to test the size and colours are as expected.  Transfer paper is about £1 a sheet ordinary printer paper is about a tenth of that cost, so make your mistakes on the cheap paper!
• Home printed transfers are not on individual pieces of transfer film.  Instead the entire A4 sheet is one big piece of transfer film.  You will need a good sharp pair of nail scissors or similar (small pointed blades) as you are going to need to cut the printed transfer to the shape you want.  One benefit of the clear transfer paper is that you don't have to be too accurate with this stage, the down side is that a home printer doesn't print in white so any areas that will be white have to painted in before laying down the transfer.
• As printed the transfer isn't water fast until it is sprayed with a varnish.  Two or three light coats of acrylic varnish is best.  Make sure it is really dry before using them.
• Placing the transfers is not any easier that it used to be on those Airfix kits of yesteryear!  In fact it is even more difficult as (in my case) the eyes are not as good as they were back then and the models are a lot smaller.  A couple of fine probes helps get the transfers where you want them.  I use an old paint brush handle with a pin glued and lashed to the end and some probes (like dental probes) I got from Maplins to help place them.
• Even using the standard MS paint software that comes with a windows PC some quite detailed designs can be created if you design at a much larger size that the final product.  Resizing to the required size and re touching the shrunk version can give remarkably good results.  The resizing doesn't create a perfect copy of the larger item hence the need to edit after shrinking the image, but it does capture 90% of the layout and colours.  This might be easier on a more advanced graphic program such as Paintshop Pro.
• Using a specialist product like Decalfix softens the transfer and helps it mold around the model which is useful in dealing with shield bosses. I also hand paint more varnish over the applied transfer when it has dried to ensure good adhesion and to protect the transfer.
• Last but not least experiment with the best way to apply the transfers before going for the final attempt on what will be the finished models.  For very small items I tend to slide it off onto my fingertip to ensure it stays flat then carefully work a probe under the transfer to lift it,  

Example page from the Notitia

Details of the patterns are easy to find on line from the Notitia Dignitatum.  There are no original copies in existence and what we now have available are medieval copies so we cannot be certain of the accuracy of the designs or colours.  In fact there are some discrepancies between the surviving examples.  Another point to be aware of is that the shields are depicted as round but all other evidence shows them to have been oval.  The use of circles was probably to make copying easier.   The WRG book Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome illustrates all of the shields for the western empire but only as black and white outlines.  Life is a lot easier now we have internet images in colour to work from.

Because I was working with 6mm figures I could simply hint at the finest details of the patterns as they really don't show up that well.  A small dot of colour in the centre of shield boss will probably be a single pixel on the final transfer, so either exaggerate it it or leave it off.

Armegerii Propugnatores Iuniores - those shields are around 5 x 3.5mm

The results I have got are more than good enough for me and are far better than I could have achieved by hand painting the designs.

The entire unit