Thanks for the kind words Mitch and Joe! I hope this was the first of many of these birds I'll build, so next time I think I'll look into some aftermarket decals.

Despite the decal issue, you have done a magnificent job on your Corsair Andy. The construction and paint work are very nicely done. 

Seems evryone else has touched on viable solutions. I'm in the camp with Joe and harp in that it's likely an issue with tamiya's decals themselves. I've encountered my share of difficulties with them and I'm also usually looking for AM decals when building a Tamiya kit. It still eludes me that Tamiya punches out such fine kits yet seems to fall short on the decals. You would think they would have addressed that. 

Thank you for sharing your top rate skills.

Joe

My solution for Tamiya decals silvering is to buy aftermarket decals for any Tamiya kit I build.  Its a costly solution but it usually works.  On the one's I have used I just wet sand the primer, the base coat, the post shading, and if necessary - the gloss coats themselves.  I use 2000 grit paper but you could probably do with an extra fine (600 grit) sanding stick.  For the coats that aren't visible you can even dry sand it.  Certain paints seem to have more of an issue than others too (the Navy Blue/Dark Sea Blue MM paint I just used on my Hellcat is an example - stuff had a crazy orange peel finish and its supposed to be glossy!).

As for the build - she's a knockout.  But I'm biased because I love Corsairs.  The engine is phenomenal.  Great work!

Great job - the Tamiya Corsair is one of my favourites.  I have four of them.

I have done the following to deal with decal silvering.  First try to cut close to the image and cut out separate letters and numbers. This may not be possible with small numbers/letters.  For things like "O", or "Q", or "R", "8" etc - numbers with an enclosed area, cut the letter/number in half to cut out the carrier film.  It isn't too difficult to place the images back together on the model.  If you're not confident on your decaling skills, you can get rid of the silvering by carefully cutting out the silvering when the decal is on the model, with a hobby knife using a new blade and a light touch.  The silvering image can then be removed with a small piece of sticky tape - I like to use Tamiya tape.  I have used this technique as a last resort if the image has unacceptable silvering - say in the middle of a "D."  This seems to work for me even after a covering of Future or other surface finishing treatment.  Having said all this, I always like to make sure that I have an alternate decal on hand in case of distater.  

Good luck.

Very nice build, I like the belts :-)

I also try to "bed" the decals into a little future, it seems to work well.

Theuns

Mike,

Please let us know how those work out. I'm always on the look out for something that might help me...because I sure need it! LOL

Fine work on this kit of my favorite aircraft.

I wish I could help with the decal carrier showing but I'm having problems with that myself on my stringbag. I've just ordered some Gunze products to see if they're any better than my usual Microsol and Microset. I've also ordered some Solvaset for my real tough silvering problems. I hope both the Mr. Mark Setter and the Solvaset work well. I'll see.

Mike

Great work. The Tamiya kit is very nice to work with and you did a fine job. Thanks for sharing it.

BK

I did the same kit, folded wings same decals and also had the same problem with silvering. The decals seemed a little thicker on this kit than Ive seen on other Tamiyas. I guess even Tamiya can have a problem.

I would personally like to say that, that's one of the best Corsair builds I've ever seen.  You did a fantastic job!  Of course that's my number one aircraft of all time!

Toshi

Beautiful job there, darn shame about the silvering. 

As Aggieman said the pinhole and setting solution idea is a good one. The silvering is caused by the decal not sticking perfectly to the model surface and light getting underneath and bouncing back out. I've also had some success with doing the pinhole thing as well as slicing the decal with a penknife and brushing Future over it trying to get it to soak in underneath the decal to close in the gaps. If you can plug them the silvering will go away and then you can spray her with another coat of matt. Be careful the Future can get away from you and make a big mess, trust me I found out the hard way.  

Thanks Aggieman & Eric! Aggieman, I actually used that trick on the side numbers and it did help some...you should have seen them before that That future idea is a good one Eric...I'll have to try that on the smaller decals. Next time I think I will cut each number out separate if they are large enough to do so. Thanks for the feedback!

I think you Corsair looks great!  I see what you mean about the decals silvering though.  It still happens to the best of us.  On my last couple of builds, I had a couple of areas that I just wasn't 100% sure if the surface was going to be smooth enough to avoid the silvering.  As a precaution, I put a SMALL drop of Future on the spot where I was going to apply the decal.  When I placed the decal, it caused the small drop of future to spread out under the decal.  As a result, I didn't have any silvering whatsoever.  I don't do that to every decal I place, only on the ones that might be questionable.  So far, I've had good luck with it.

After all the decals have been placed, you can then apply your favorite clear topcoat to seal the whole works.

Eric

Great work. I love the look of the Corsair, and I like that yellow cowl ring. As for the carrier film, I have read suggestions to poke tiny holes in the decals to allow decal setting solution to swap under the decals as a way to obviate this issue. someone correct me if I am wrong on that. 

I typically cut as much carrier film from decals as I can, although that is next to impossible with squad numbers such as on your cowl ring.