tips on decals?

totoroman · 16 February 2006, 10:49 PM

I haven't worked with decals in over a decade... I've been painting on various things since I was a little kid, so I don't feel to squeemish about that (even if I'm not very good)... but the second I put some of the Eduard decals in water they broke up into little pieces!!! I made certain I wasn't starting with ones I had set on showing up on the plane... even so, I was baffled. I also couldn't remember exactly how I got them off the paper... I seem to remember using my fingers last time... but it felt almost impossible to get them off the paper without ripping them up. I'm tempted to use an exacto knife instead... since these newer decals don't seem to be the thick and hardy decals I recall using on the cheapo models I built in days of yore...

any suggestions?

17 February 2006, 12:15 AM

Decals are what they once were. On some of my latest kits I have had to order...reorder new decals. It really s..ks when you put the decal in water and it explodes. Or you try very carefully to remove from paper, and it tears apart.

Are you using warm water...many of the new decals need warm water. I remove them very sloowly with my fingers....if they don't move I leave them in the water a little longer...until they will move off the paper freely.

jamo · 17 February 2006, 10:43 AM

This stuff can be hand painted all over the decal sheet before you cut them out. It dries thin and stops decals from shattering in water.
Happy Modelling

totoroman · 18 February 2006, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by topgun56

Decals are what they once were. On some of my latest kits I have had to order...reorder new decals. It really s..ks when you put the decal in water and it explodes. Or you try very carefully to remove from paper, and it tears apart.

Are you using warm water...many of the new decals need warm water. I remove them very sloowly with my fingers....if they don't move I leave them in the water a little longer...until they will move off the paper freely.

aha! hadn't really thought about that. it's literally freezing up here... and I can't say that the water was too warm. maybe I'll just wait until the air and water temperature gets above 45 degrees, lol!

thanks for the info! glad I saved the really important things for later... and it's handy that the profipack had lots of extra decals I didn't actually need to use!

Kitboy · 18 February 2006, 02:32 AM

Since this is about decals.

I always read a lot about future. What is the best way to use it?

Greetings, Nico

Jimmaas · 18 February 2006, 09:15 AM

Uh, no, I am not talking about a fortune-teller! Nico asked about Future and there is a very comprehensive article at http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

WillHendriks · 18 February 2006, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitboy

Since this is about decals.

I always read a lot about future. What is the best way to use it?

Greetings, Nico

See also:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...wan/tnt080.htm

hth,

Will

redalb2253 · 18 February 2006, 02:48 PM

I've just a mixed thing happen with the model that I'm playing with it's a forty year old Revell 1/28 Sopwith Camel that I bought on ebay along with Lukes Spad and Voss's triplane I first built these forty years ago when I was six

the roundels came off perfect so did the heart but the white stripes fell to pieces in the water so i'll have to paint them on I always use solvaset on my decals and have never had any problems. right now I've got a assembly line going with 2 revell and a hobbycraft Dr1 plan to make LvR's Jacobs and I haven't deceided on the third one yet, I'm taking a break on a He162 with eduard cockpit and a bunch of resin parts spent far more on aftermarket stuff than on the kit.

davecww1 · 18 February 2006, 03:20 PM

A good way to do the white stripes would be to use the Super Scale white trim film. These are solid sheets of white ink about 5" x 8", and you just use a sharp X-acto knife to slice off stripes to the correct thickness. They apply as thin as painted on stripes, and with some Micro sol they will fit around any curves on a Camel fuselage. For Barker's Camel you would probably want to put them on 1 stripe at a time to keep them all aligned.
Dave

redalb2253 · 18 February 2006, 03:36 PM

Thanks dave that's a great Idea I've seen that decal sheet at my local hobby shop and it would be a lot easier than painting the stripes on