During the run of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television show, none of the Enterprise D model’s lifeboats (escape pods) on the outer hull were detailed. They were just painted squares as production did not expect them to be seen well on the small screen. However, when the ship appeared in the feature film Star Trek: Generations, the repainted six-foot shooting model was adorned with decals on each lifeboat as per the various blueprints created along the way:

While I am building my model to represent the television show version, I do love the additional, accurate lifeboat details provided by this new Lifeboat Hatch Transfers mod I received from the infamous Mike Lane.
If this spacecraft were real, each lifeboat would surely be numbered individually to be readily identifiable. But, on the 6-foot model, they just used the same few numbers over and over again. Again, it was not expected that this detail would be noticed in the movie. This mod provides 500 incrementally numbered dry transfer decals that we can apply to each lifeboat on our model. He also offers a less expensive, sticker version of the same decals.
I will be adding these to my build once the top surface of the saucer is completed.
When you do the escape pod trasfers you should put the odd numbers on one side and even numbers on the other side going up from the middle to the outside then the same on the underside then from the middle top of the drive section to the outer edge top then bottom
Yeah, I saw that is the ‘naval’ way of doing it. I have not decided how I will apply the numbers yet. We shall see!
I appreciate your input! I admit I had to read it twice to follow, but it would be a good pattern to follow.
How much is the decal kit? It’s in a foreign currency.
And why are the rub on recommend than the stickers?
Sorry nvrmnd about the second question. I’ve read the differences.
Right now, the vinyl version is £25 and the rub-on version is £110.