Current Decal Quality in Revell US Kits Question Answered

Didn't know that they needed improving... I've never had any problems with 'em...  'Course, that last P-39 I built last month was the "Confederate Air Force" kit and was released in 1985 or so, and the Do-335 kit was a Pro Modeler that was new about '96 or so... I just built it last year, and the first decal I used slivered into a hundred pieces, so I gave the rest a shot Testor's Decal Bonder and they were fine...  Got a pair of the re-released Revell P-38s in the stash as well as Revell releases of the B-29, B-17, B-24, B-25, and A-26 and all the decal sheets look fine..

What problems have you had?

Hans von Hammer

Didn't know that they needed improving... I've never had any problems with 'em...

Well.... the decals that came with the old Monogram or Revell aircraft kits ( at the time I used to buy 'em) were either sparce, thick, sometimes the colors were off register or the decals lacked detail. Maybe I was just unlucky?

One example was the 1/32 F104 US kit.....the German made kits, however, had very nice decals; again the 1/32 F-104 kits as an example.

The old 1980s issue Fw 190 kit was another example of poor decals. The 1/48th Revell - not Monogram-F-104 decals were off register, if I recall correctly.

As you can tell, I've not purchased for a couple of decades.....

Ahh.. Well, like I said, my last Arrow was a Pro Modeler, I think the Decals were Scale Master.. It had two sets of national insignia, one day-fighter, one nightfighter, and of course, no swastikas...

But if you mean the Revell-supplied decals in the Monogram re-releases, I think they're better quality than what was in the box in the 60's & 70's for sure...

The Revell 1/32 F-104 kit was a memorable one for me... Haven't thought about that one since I built it in about 1984, lol... I don't remember much about it, other than the clear parts were missing, and a politely-worded letter to them resulted in a new set of canopy parts, a catalogue, and a gift certificate for any kit in the catalogue (How's THAT for service, eh?)

As for the old kits, ya, they had thickness/registry problems, but I think that was limited certain kits... I bought several of the same kit over the years, had good decals, had not so good ones...  But from the sheets I've used in the re-releases, they're pretty good so far, especially for stock decals..  After market decals are always of better quality, for sure, but I haven't run into any that I would call unusable yet.. 

My purchases of kits stopped about 1995.

I abandoned the hobby in due to either disgust with the lack of decent decals, poor quality kits requiring excessive corrective surgery or no reference documentation for correcting the kits.

Most of my 1/48th scale "stash" is late 80s or early '90s and ended just after the last of the Revell Germany F-104 special series kits were issued. I had purchased the US mfr. Revell CF-104 "Red Indian" kit but found the decals lacking in detail compared to published photos.

I did recently check my late 80s issue Monogram Me-262 and Do-335 kit decals. All are either off register or inconsistent/variable colors.

Therefore the reason for my inquiry as I've not purchased the kits recently.

Recent improvement in subjects, kit quality, research information, after-market detailing accessories and decals have made the hobby attractive again, though current price trends make the old Tri-master kit prices of the 1980s appear reasonable.

Sorry I took so long to get back to this...

I forgot to mention that I did have a small problem with the P-39 decals being off-register ( the US Stars showed a little white on the outside from 6 to about 10 o'clock), but careful trimming fixed on that (except for the first one I put on, that is. Fixed it with careful touch-up painting)

I've never been much of a "Decal Nazi" since more often than not I can find some to replace bad kit decals in a the spares box or after-market... I prefer to use spurious serial, squadron, & group markings anyway, so I buy a lot of geberic number and letter sheets from the Model Railroad section at the LHS... Keeps the Rivet Counters at bay, ya know...

I also use plain white vinegar as a setting solution rather than any commercial brands... So far, there're  few decals I've had that don't settle down using it...   So overall, if the decals will settle down into the recessed areas, thick or not, they're ok for me... If they need a little "Fingernail setting" into a recessed area after they're dry, it's no big deal, either..

Hans von Hammer

Sorry I took so long to get back to this...

I buy a lot of geberic number and letter sheets from the Model Railroad section at the LHS... Keeps the Rivet Counters at bay, ya know...

I also use plain white vinegar as a setting solution rather than any commercial brands... So far, there're  few decals I've had that don't settle down using it...   So overall, if the decals will settle down into the recessed areas, thick or not, they're ok for me... If they need a little "Fingernail setting" into a recessed area after they're dry, it's no big deal, either..

No problem ... my decal stash is mostly made up of old kit decals that just weren't worth using; therefore the reason for my comments about soooo many bad decals included with Monogram and Revell kits.

Again, my stash ended about the time that ProModeler series started so I'm either forced to buy after-market insignia/unit decals ( unless OOP ) or buy a re-issue kit like the Do-335 and use all it's decals on the old Monogram Do-335 models I have in my stash.

I suppose the only way to find out about the current kit is to spend the cash & buy it.

Thanks for the tip about vinegar, I will try it but I'm currently more concerned with bad decal register/color consistency in printing.

I will also take another look at the railroad model decals.

BTW.... sometimes I have found model rocket decals suitable for use on plastic model kits.

One rocket decal set will be supplying "kill" markings for the tail of an old 1971 vintage Messaschnitzel re-build- after I learn to make new cast resin exhausts matching the ones on the box.

Sprue-ce Goose

My purchases of kits stopped about 1995.

I abandoned the hobby in due to either disgust with the lack of decent decals, poor quality kits requiring excessive corrective surgery or no reference documentation for correcting the kits.

You left just when the industry was starting to provide you with the things you wanted.

soooo many bad decals included with Monogram and Revell kits.

Your standards must be a lot higher than mine... I've rarely run into any bad Monogram or Revell sheets...  I mean, they're not ultra-thin by any means, but they are robust enough to withstand re-positioning a few times...

Oh yeah, one other thing ...  I don't know what you mean by "inconsistent/variable colors." ...   Are you talking about the ones that were "faded" or "pre-chipped", or something like that?  Or is it like the same sheet is different colors from one kit to the next?

HawkeyeHobbies

 

Sprue-ce Goose:

 

My purchases of kits stopped about 1995.

I abandoned the hobby in due to either disgust with the lack of decent decals, poor quality kits requiring excessive corrective surgery or no reference documentation for correcting the kits.

 

 

You left just when the industry was starting to provide you with the things you wanted.

Yep !

I did buy a few TriMaster kits on sale in the early 90s, but stopped building. I don't recall at that time finding suitable quality aftermarket decals for completing my Monogram  kits and that influenced my hobby exit..

I didn't want to spend $60 + per kit because Monogram or Revell wouldn't provide decent decals.

I did recently buy an old ProMaster He-111 for $10.00 ( decals look good much better than normal Monogram )

with the intent of modifying into a V-1 launch craft but Revell must have read my mind and is issuing their kit with a V-1.

Again a good reason to inquire about current Revell decal quality.

I have recently found aftermarket decals for my Monogram Me-262s  but was too late for the OOP Do-335 decals, therefore my initial inquiry re: current kit decal quality.

Might wanna check these out:

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/do335decalreviewbg_1.htm

Hans von Hammer

 

soooo many bad decals included with Monogram and Revell kits.

 

Your standards must be a lot higher than mine... I've rarely run into any bad Monogram or Revell sheets...  I mean, they're not ultra-thin by any means, but they are robust enough to withstand re-positioning a few times...

Oh yeah, one other thing ...  I don't know what you mean by "inconsistent/variable colors." ...   Are you talking about the ones that were "faded" or "pre-chipped", or something like that?  Or is it like the same sheet is different colors from one kit to the next?

I have two early 1980s Monogram Me-262 decal sheets. The running wolf decal blues are two different shades of dark blue.

As I mentioned before the decals in the early Fw-190 were off register.

Unfortunately, I reorganized my decal stash and am having trouble locating the specific decals.

I must presume date of production and inferior subcontractors are also involved because I just relocated Monogram & Revell decals made before and after the offending items.

I have two 1970s Do-17 Monogram sheets ( but one kit ?!) - both look good.

Also two 1990s Revell Bell X-1 sheets (again only one kit ?! ) - both look good.

To be fair- at the same time I also ran across Hobbycraft and Airfix decals of the same era--really bad !

Hans von Hammer

Might wanna check these out:

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/do335decalreviewbg_1.htm

 

Thanks, but I've been there....Meteor appears to be out of business.

I also located a webpage showing photos of the shuttered shop.

Back to Revell I guess.

have two early 1980s Monogram Me-262 decal sheets. The running wolf decal blues are two different shades of dark blue.

On the same sheet or different sheets?

If they're on two different sheets, that doesn't matter to me.. If they're two shades on the same sheet, that can be irritating, unless the prototype actually was two different shades...

Hans von Hammer

 

have two early 1980s Monogram Me-262 decal sheets. The running wolf decal blues are two different shades of dark blue.

 

On the same sheet or different sheets?

If they're on two different sheets, that doesn't matter to me.. If they're two shades on the same sheet, that can be irritating, unless the prototype actually was two different shades...

Two different Me-262 models, two different sheets; not two different shades on the same sheet.

Unfortunately, the blue was too dark - contrast not much different from the black center band and based on the information I have-very inaccurate.

No aftermarket decal sheets for the Me-262 were available in 1/48th at the time and so I didn't build the kits.

Maybe just unlucky of me to buy Monogram when the decal subcontractor produced bad product?

Maybe just unlucky of me to buy Monogram when the decal subcontractor produced bad product?

Probably... I think everyone has gotten what I call "Monday Kits", where the QC folks had a rough weekend and weren't in the groove come Monday morning...  Some (not all) manufacturers today will replace bad decals with a corrected sheet, or at least add a small sheet with corrected ones on it... Others will send you a replacement sheet without much fuss if it's a problem that they've encountered on a regular basis in a kit run...  Monogram didn't target the "adult/historian" demographic exclusively like other makers did later, they were targeting the teenagers of the 70's and the "Semi-serious" modelers in the adult range, near as I can tell...

As for me being "serious" about the historical accuracy of unit markings, it didn't really matter to me until after I had been in the Army a while, and later really started doing the research into WW2.  When I started doing WW2 re-enactments and also had first joined the CAF, that's when I turned into a "detail-freak" about their accuracy...

But it ws't until I got internet access in the late 90's that I found out just how much bad info their was out there...  It was no wonder that folks got the stuff wrong from time to time... THere's just too much to keep a "paper library" on-hand...  You have to pick a couple of the more reliable sources and just run with them, hoping they're right..

I purchased the Revell Do-335 re-issue and was pleasantly surprised by both the decals in the kit as well as the notice printed on the box stating the model was produced and packaged in the USA.

The decal sheet includes not only the Hakenkreutz but call letters for two aircraft and a set of stencils.

In any case, I should now be able to scrounge what I need to build all the old 1970s vintage Monogram kits as well as the newest Revell version.

Curiously, Revell flattened the tires and inscribed the words (copyright) Revell 1974 inside one wheel well.

Revell did use dot matrix to darken the RAF red to the correct late war shade but it is so subtle that a magnifier is needed; certainly good enough for my future display case.

I also purchased the re-issue 1/32 Revell Me-110 C and was even more impressed with the markings for two aircraft along with complete stenciling and the Hakenkreutz .

Bravo Revell !

Hans von Hammer

 

 

When I started doing WW2 re-enactments and also had first joined the CAF

HRS?

I realize you hail from the sovereign state of Texas so you may have been other than HRS.

Ever travel as far north as Weldon Springs army base?

Yupper WW2 HRS, 2  Panzer... Later joined up up with the 20th CenturyTactical Studies Group also, 918 BG (USAAF) and 351 Infanterie. 

Can't say as I've ever been to WS, no...

Hans von Hammer

Yupper WW2 HRS, 2  Panzer... Later joined up up with the 20th CenturyTactical Studies Group also, 918 BG (USAAF) and 351 Infanterie.

ever appear as a downed aircrew?

I have old B&W movies which include the old Terry Johns Hetzer and a Sherman as well as an AAF crewman in flight garb being captured at Weldon Springs, I believe.

Sprue-ce Goose

 

ever appear as a downed aircrew?

Other guys did, I was usually one of the ones trying to capture them, lol...   In the 918th, I mostly did Living History events at airshows...  Did mostly the "Coming in on a Wing & a Prayer" stuff, where we were from a "shot-up" B-17 that just landed and the ambulances were coming to get wounded aircrew...