Disintegrating decals

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Malcolm
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Disintegrating decals

Post by Malcolm »

One of the things I find really frustrating is the circular decals that go in the instrument bezels on most cars. Generally speaking the excess film compared to the coloured part of the decal is so large that they never fit properly in their prescribed space.

So on Saturday I decided to cut around the decals (these were Tamiya decals for the Lotus 25 dashboard) as close as I could to the printed area so that I wouldn't have the excess film to contend with.

However when I put the resultant (trimmed) decal in water, it essentially disintegrated. Not totally, but around 20% of the remaining decal just floated off into the water and the bit I was left with was all jagged and useless for anything.

Is this normal behaviour?

Thank you

Malcolm
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Hugeprong
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by Hugeprong »

Just as a thought - the raised "rings" around a lot of guages are often vastly over-scale in 1/20 and 1/24 kits in my experience and often would be 3cms high (or more!) if scaled up. I gently sand the rings down and then use Microsol/Set on the decals. This way you can often (not always) get them to conform to the guages more easily without cutting off the edges.

I did the L25 last year and dont recall any decal issues at all. Are the rest of the decals OK? Might be worth doing a test application as if you have problems with that, it might be worth getting a replacement set to save you a lot of time and heartache. I see Hiroboy are selling a Shunko replacement set for £12.99 on their website this morning.
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by Spiry »

Usually I first give a light coat of clear over the small decals to be cut before putting them in water, in this way the decal is not damaged...

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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by jaydar »

I don't think the trimming caused the problem, but if all the other decals have been fine then I may be wrong. If, however, these are the first you have used, there is a great likelihood that all the others are fragile and will need a clear coat first. If you use the clear coat, you will have to cut out the decals separately. You cannot put a piece of decal paper in the water with several decals on it. You have created one decal when you clear coat, in my experience.

Testors makes a spray clear coat for decals which I have used. There may also be brush on products, if so I would like to know them.
Regard,
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by Orso »

Microscale Liquid Decal film

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Malcolm
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by Malcolm »

Thank you for your helpful replies.

I had never heard about spraying/painting on to decals before applying to the model (we live and learn). Yes, overall the decals were pretty brittle and I had already decided to start afresh and I've ordered a replacement set from Indycals.

Best wishes
Malcolm

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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by MikeM »

I also find punches good for cutting these dials out. Again, Hiroboy sell Tamiya versions which I have.
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by tubegenius »

Does clear coating the decals while they are on the sheet eliminate the need to clear coat them after they are installed?
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Re: Disintegrating decals

Post by SteveNoble »

Use a punch and die set to "cut" the gauge faces out. As for them disintegrating, it sounds like they're old decals? But as already stated a coat of the Microscale liquid decal film will stop that happening..
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