You build a model in a "special" one of paint job for the decals that came with the kit, your paintwork is beautiful, your glosscoat is smooth as glass, and when the decals hit the water they shatter into a million fragments leaving you with a "one of" model that you can't finish....
Jeff - That happened to me a while back while building an old Revell Eindecker. Since that I've taken a minor decal, usually the one of the company logo or sheet description and soak that one first. If it slides onto my ceramic lamp shade (chosen especially for this purpose!) that means the rest are pretty much good to go. If it shatters (and only a couple have since), I coat it was some Micro-Scale the I have on hand for making my own decals. HTH, ............................The Old Timer
Ouch!
You might be able to find decals somewhere out there (eBay?). Or maybe buy another kit for the decals (and this time spray them with clear to make sure they don't fall apart.
Or if this kit is so very special, you could have set of decals custom made for it.
All is not lost...
Peteski
This seems to be a common trait, now that so much of the decal industry has gone in the "cottage industry" direction. Many of the airliner decals are now ALPS or laser printed, due to the outrageous cost of the old traditional silk-screen print method. And virtually all of these guys recommend coating the sheet beforehand, with MicroScale decal film. Many even suggest that you take a *sharp* xacto, and lightly etch around each individual decal, only then cutting them out with scissors. Many of the decal films, though admirably thin, will not survive "just scissors".
On a related note --- does Future work for the purpose of the pre-usage overcoat?
I guess it depends...
These are Monogram F-104 kits. One was the "tour of duty" and it shattered completely. Luckily I had enough regular decals to fudge something together. When I tried to "save" the remainder of it's decals with a future overcoat, they all curled up on the edges when they dried and notheing would make them lay correctly. The other is that yellow and black Luftwaffe one. I haven't started it yet. I am going to scan a copy of its decals so I can print them out on my Alps printer just in case.
The last one this happened on prior was a Monogram "Chippy Ho" F-18 and I stupidly started with the eagle graphics on the nose and didn't make a backup scan. I had to complete it as a "plain jane" F-18 from the spares box. I really wanted to do that one too. Those "chippy ho" schemes are sharp.
Yep! I bought a specialty sheet for the 1/144th Electra and they just fell apart in the water. I just passed the whole mess along to an airliner modeller. He has more decals than some suppliers.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr
As amazing as it might sound I'm not a Future fanactic. I walk to a beat of a different drum.
So, I haven't tried to use it as a decal clear coat. But I suspect that Future might be water based (like acrylic paints), so that would make it incompatible with the adhesive on the decal paper. By "incompatible:" I think that it will start dissolving it.
Why not just use Micro Scale Decal Liquid Decal film? It is specifically designed for this task and at the quantity you would use it is quite affordable.
I also sometimes load up my airbrush with plain lacquer thinner and just hevily spray the cracked decal sheet. That "melts" the cracked decal film back into one piece and it doesn't affect the decal paper or adhesive.
Peteski
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