Transylvanian TYW Flag - Free Samples

At the end of September I posted an article about the above. I was very pleased to get a reasonably "historical" flag for my Transylvanian ally general so quickly.

At the end of October I placed an order with Donnington to bulk out the samples I'd bought to a fully fledged allied contingent. The parcel arrived two days ago and the first thing I did was clean up the figure to bear the Transylvanian flag. This meant I had to decide what to do about the flag.

My first plan was to paint the design by hand using a black and white printed version as a guide. I don't own a colour printer. My second plan was to get some flags printed at the local copy shop. This afternoon it was time for plan two. After a phone call, an email and a quick walk round the corner to the copy shop, I had more Transylvanian flags than I knew what to do with. All for a quid!



I was so pleased with the printing that I cut out and mounted a printed flag within two hours. As with all printed flags the main issue is the white edges. The image below shows my work to match the main colours. It wasn't that difficult and I knew the smaller flags would come in handy for something. I'll use them to test the varnish when the standard bearer is painted and ready to varnish.



I mounted the flag using UHU general purpose adhesive not PVA (white glue) as the former doesn't wet the paper as much ensuring the inks don't run. Plus, when dry, it really helps stiffens the flag. This time round I shaped the flag and stuck the halves together but didn't stick it to the lance immediately. I painted the edges before attaching the flag to the lance with a touch of super glue; much easier.

It was a good job I had a matching paint colour. Shaping the flag round the lance cracked the blue ink layer, not badly but it needed fixing. Strangely the yellow ink didn't crack. As I touched up this area I worried that this would result in a noticeable difference between the printed and painted areas but it looks like I've got away with it.

As I mentioned earlier I now have more Transylvanian flags that I know what to do with. To be specific I have 5 sets that will cover 15 - 20 mm (4 flags) and 3 sets that will cover 15-18 mm (3 flags). So if you don't fancy getting your own printed and would like a set, email me using the contact form below, letting me know where you are and which set you'd prefer, and I'll happily post you a set. I'll PayPal you for the postage (£1.00 UK with a bit more for airmail) or you can send me a stamped, self addressed envelope.

By now you may be wondering what happened to the first plan to hand paint the flag. I did paint a version by hand. As the design is a little intricate in 15 mm I painted the flag flat, not mounted on a lance as I usually do. It turned out a flag of two halves. The top half looked great but the "black beastie" ended up bigger than I'd intended so when I added the sun and moon the flag was wider than it should have been.



This wouldn't have been an issue except that I'd already painted the seven castles the right size and in the right position. The end result was a little too much yellow at the edges of the flag. It looked unbalanced. If I was to attempt this again I would paint the top half flat, mount & shape the flag and then paint the seven castles. A more difficult approach but better artistically.

Despite this I was happy with the hand painted version and I was going to use it until I compared it to the printed version this afternoon. The depth and vibrancy of the printed colours was streets ahead of the hand painted design. The intricacies of the design meant I just couldn't put down enough thin layers of paint to get bright, dense colours that would "pop". 1-0 to the colour laser printer it seems.