Product Review: Archer Fine Transfers ?Real Details? Resin Weld Bead AR88006 - Arc Weld Beads .015, .025, .030 and .040 wide; $17.95 AR88018 - Arc Weld Beads .025 wide; $17.95 AR88019 - Arc Weld Beads .030 wide; $17.95 AR88020 - Arc Weld Beads .040 wide; $17.95
Advantages: produces beautiful, even details under paint; can be used nearl y on any plastic or resin surface (or brass for model railroaders)
Disadvantages: may seem expensive
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommendation: for all modelers needing weld bead or smoothed casting mark s
I have been a fan of Woody Vondracek since I first saw his Archer Fine Tra nsfers years ago, and have eagerly sought them out when working on various projects. I was happy when his first series of ?Real Details? resin det ails came out about 10 years back, and now he has advanced on to what amoun ts to his third generation of detail transfers.
This generation is the best yet, and provides for true raised details of v arying types for use on armored vehicles, cars, trains, ships, or any other modeling subject where the modeler wants to have details ?pop? through the painted finish. This generation is an improvement over the second gene ration in that they are also water-slide and not dry transfers, but in this version they are also flexible and can be bent or moved around corners if care is taken.
All of the AFT details are applied to the decal film in black resin, and a s such what you see is what you get. Woody noted that there are knockoffs f rom competitors but so far most of those are not as thick and also are clea r resin over black shapes on the backing paper; once you wet and remove the m you may lose sight of the detail if not careful!
The best way I have found to use them is to identify where you want to use them on a model, apply a thin strip of clear acrylic to them (e.g. Future, Johnson?s Kleer, or another brand), measure the length required and cut it from the sheet, apply it to the model, use a setting agent, and once dry put another coat of acrylic over it. A final coat of primer or a Mr. Surfa cer product completes the detail application.
While the price for these details seems high, they are far easier to use t han etched metal products or homemade options like putty or ?soup? (spr ue soaked in liquid cement) for clean, neat details. Note that they also in clude such effects as non-skid coatings, no-slip gridding, casting and foun dry marks, woodgrain, and other special effects.
The newer single size sheets each provide up to 170 linear inches of weld bead which is enough to do several 1/35 size projects in armor and at least one large vessel in the same scale.
Overall this is the original and a hard product to beat, and for the appea rance, reduction in hassle and time saved by using them fully worth the cos t.
Thanks to Woody Vondracek for the review samples.
Cookie Sewell