Thursday, July 20, 2017

Dammit - decal dramas...

Bloody hell. I've not had this happen before. My aftermarket decals have dried with horrible ugly wrinkles in them, and I don't quite know how to fix it...


They are Eagle Editions decals - EagleCals EC-102 "P-51D Mustang To war with the Yoxford Boys". I've used Eagle decals several times before, and they have always been absolutely perfect. I would recommend them in a heartbeat.

Source.

But this time, something funky has happened. The smaller decals are fine, but the large decals (the 4 x star national insignia and the nose chequerboard pattern) have all reacted badly to the Mr Mark Softer setting solution.

When you put on setting solution, the decals wrinkle and bubble and generally look like they have been destroyed. I like to do this last thing at night and then go to bed, so I don't have to witness the carnage. When you wake up in the morning, hey presto! they are settled perfectly. Usually there is a bubble or two, but if you poke a tiny hole in the decal with a scalpel blade and re-apply more setting solution, it disappears perfectly.

But for some reason this time the wrinkles did not disappear. The large decals have dried wrinkly.



Pictured: "Oh shit".



I have tried poking holes and multiple re-applications of Mr Mark Softer. No change, even after about 6 attempts.

I have tried sanding the wrinkles out - all it does is remove the ink from the decal, not the wrinkle.

I'm a bit stumped.

All I can think to do is to apply multiple coats of gloss on top of them, to try to bring the surrounding surface up level with the wrinkles, and hope that hides it, and even then I feel that's a bit of a heavy-handed and ugly approach. The alternative is to try to remove them and apply the original kit decals, but I don't think the metallic surface is durable enough for that to work without major re-spraying of the model, and I can't face that.

Will Pattison told me that this kit would test my patience. It has, it continues to every day. I'm officially at the stage of not really enjoying building this Hasegawa Mustang any more. But this time, I can't blame the kit, it's the decals which are causing me grief.

Bugger. I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers,

Dave


1 comment:

  1. Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn and decal bubble. !

    ReplyDelete