MFH Guide to Applying Decals

[PJE]

Any thoughts about MFH decals on tires? I need to decal the tires for my 1/20 Lotus 56 and Gurney Eagle. They both involve lettering and a ring. Should I gloss coat the tire sidewall before laying down the decal?

Paul Erlendson

[jaydar]

Yes, the hairdryer comes to work after i placed the decal to the model, not on the paper sheet. This is what i was pointing with saying i don`t like it to be soft when i try to apply them. When it is soft on the sheet, you might get into trouble when placing it to the model. You can work from the middel of the decal to the outside, or start on the outside and work your way all over the decal. With the cotton swab you will not get into trouble cause you have more control over the heat and wrinkeling like a hairdryer which heats up the complete decal and it softens the decal much more like a hairdryer, but only partly which gives you more time to work on it. Even those decals on which a hairdryer is not working can be applied with this method, MVC (Marcus) had good success to rescue his door decal of his MFH P4 build where the hairdryer did not work. Another thing is that you can blow the decal from the model with the hairdryer, had such moments on my 1:43 builds, so i spend a bit more time and went over to the cotton swab.

Thank you for the clarification.

Best regards,

Joe.

[gp-models]

Glad that i could help with this and sorry for crappy english, tried to give my best but if you have questions left over, feel free to contact me

Any thoughts about MFH decals on tires? I need to decal the tires for my 1/20 Lotus 56 and Gurney Eagle. They both involve lettering and a ring. Should I gloss coat the tire sidewall before laying down the decal?

Paul Erlendson

I read that some people painted the tyres before they applied the decals, but never did it on my own. Don`t know if they are silk screen prints, would be interesting to know.
Personaly i use a method that it a bit dangerous cause i use Tameo extra strong softener or Tron extra strong softener for such decals, they meld down once the softener is applied. The dangerous thing is that you can`t touch it or correct the position once the softener is on, if you try it, you mess it up cause the decal is soft like colour, needs a couple of hours to dry. Good thing is, it sticks like a print to the tyres. I only apply a drop of the softener to an edge, it soaks itself underneeth the decal, but you have to be quick cause its getting soft in only a moment! That`s why you can`t touch it or move it anymore, so a big risk especially on such rings. Maybe it`s better to give it a clear coat before you put them on, might be safer that way.

[SteveNoble]

Never had to put decals in boiling water? Sounds like an excuse for poor quality decals. Why they don't just get a decal maker such as Cartograf to make the decals on their behalf is beyond me? Surely the high price of the kits warrants that?

[gp-models]

Never had to put decals in boiling water? Sounds like an excuse for poor quality decals. Why they don't just get a decal maker such as Cartograf to make the decals on their behalf is beyond me? Surely the high price of the kits warrants that?

Absolutely right Steve! Still wondering too that such high priced kit has none quality decals with it. All i heard is that the price of Cartograph has risen, even Tameo switched over to another supplier cause of the costs, but not sure if this is right.

[Inuyasha]

Yes, the hairdryer comes to work after i placed the decal to the model, not on the paper sheet. This is what i was pointing with saying i don`t like it to be soft when i try to apply them. When it is soft on the sheet, you might get into trouble when placing it to the model. You can work from the middel of the decal to the outside, or start on the outside and work your way all over the decal. With the cotton swab you will not get into trouble cause you have more control over the heat and wrinkeling like a hairdryer which heats up the complete decal and it softens the decal much more like a hairdryer, but only partly which gives you more time to work on it. Even those decals on which a hairdryer is not working can be applied with this method, MVC (Marcus) had good success to rescue his door decal of his MFH P4 build where the hairdryer did not work. Another thing is that you can blow the decal from the model with the hairdryer, had such moments on my 1:43 builds, so i spend a bit more time and went over to the cotton swab.

I tried this cotton swab technic on some parts yesterday and it worked great, many thx for this advise!

[PJE]

Glad that i could help with this and sorry for crappy english, tried to give my best but if you have questions left over, feel free to contact me

Any thoughts about MFH decals on tires? I need to decal the tires for my 1/20 Lotus 56 and Gurney Eagle. They both involve lettering and a ring. Should I gloss coat the tire sidewall before laying down the decal?

Paul Erlendson

I read that some people painted the tyres before they applied the decals, but never did it on my own. Don`t know if they are silk screen prints, would be interesting to know.
Personaly i use a method that it a bit dangerous cause i use Tameo extra strong softener or Tron extra strong softener for such decals, they meld down once the softener is applied. The dangerous thing is that you can`t touch it or correct the position once the softener is on, if you try it, you mess it up cause the decal is soft like colour, needs a couple of hours to dry. Good thing is, it sticks like a print to the tyres. I only apply a drop of the softener to an edge, it soaks itself underneeth the decal, but you have to be quick cause its getting soft in only a moment! That`s why you can`t touch it or move it anymore, so a big risk especially on such rings. Maybe it`s better to give it a clear coat before you put them on, might be safer that way.

No worries! Your English is fine. Thanks for the response. I do have a bottle of the strong Tameo softener but I’ve never tried it on tires. I think I’ll give it a try on a 1/24 scale kit (not MFH) where I’m about ready to do the tire decals.
After positioning the decal on the tire, do you first try to remove as much water as you can before putting down the Tameo softener?

Paul Erlendson

[gp-models]

Thanks Paul, but i often do mistakes in english as it is not my native language.

Yes i remove most of the water with a flat brush, let it dry shortly till it becomes sticky and can`t move from position, then i apply the softener. Too much fluid would cause the problem that the decal swim and is no more in position. If the softener does not do the full job in the first, i do it again after it is dry, sometimes i leave it till the next day. This can happen when the decal is realy hard caused by it`s age, in such case i soften it one more time. I would test this method first on some left over pieces to get a feeling of how the softener works.
Hope this helps a bit to get it done.

[jaydar]

Any thoughts about MFH decals on tires? I need to decal the tires for my 1/20 Lotus 56 and Gurney Eagle. They both involve lettering and a ring. Should I gloss coat the tire sidewall before laying down the decal?

Paul Erlendson

My technique is probably no so unique but on tires/tyres after sliding the decal off the paper and holding the decal with tweezers. i dab off the excess water from the back and slide on to the tire onto a puddle of water and white or acrylic glue mix. I then roll a dry cotton bud over to squeeze out the excess and to remove the glue from the tire.

Joe.

[gp-models]

Any thoughts about MFH decals on tires? I need to decal the tires for my 1/20 Lotus 56 and Gurney Eagle. They both involve lettering and a ring. Should I gloss coat the tire sidewall before laying down the decal?

Paul Erlendson

My technique is probably no so unique but on tires/tyres after sliding the decal off the paper and holding the decal with tweezers. i dab off the excess water from the back and slide on to the tire onto a puddle of water and white or acrylic glue mix. I then roll a dry cotton bud over to squeeze out the excess and to remove the glue from the tire.

Joe.

This is an interesting solution and sounds not as dangerous as the strong softener, i will give it a shot on some left over spare parts.
Thx for posting this Joe!