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I'm now at a stage where I need to put some decals on my TBM-3 "mule" - I've already ruined the model so now I'm hoping to finish it as a practice kit for another Avenger I have. Anyway, I have some SuperScale decals that were breaking up into hundreds of little peices as I attempted to slide them into position. I scanned the rest of the decals, printed them on my waterslide inkjet paper, let them dry for 15 minutes and sprayed them with a light coat of Testors decal bonding stuff. I waited a couple hours and sprayed another light coat. Then I let them dry overnight. They still broke up while I was trying to position them.
So, having run out of the bonding spray, I do have a can of Testors dullcoat lacquer. Should I try the same procedure using that?
What am I doing wrong?
Mike
Hector Berlioz
I've had similar problems with decals. It seems that sometimes you just can't save certain ones so it appears that you haven't done anything wrong. I had Hasagawa decals do the same thing on a F-16 1/72 Thunderbird I am now building and had to bite the bullet and order AM ones. The darned decals cost more than the kit.
I'm finally retired. Now time I got, money I don't.
You can get Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic coating #1303A at most hardware stores.
Same spray that MicroMark uses in their decal making sets.
The testors dullcoat won't hold up.
Website:
David's Scale Models - https://www.davidsscalemodels.com
I have used Dullcoat to seal inkjet decals. Too heavy of an application does tend to curl decals which hurts adhesion. Dullcoat will dissolve some inks. In any work with inkjet decals you need to test the seal coat you want to use with a test. Fortunately, newer inks are less likely to dissolve in clearcoats.
There is a whole forum dedicated to decals, down below the Model Subjects group. Inkjet decals are frequently discussed there.
Don Stauffer in Minnesota
Wolfman_63 You can get Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic coating #1303A at most hardware stores. Same spray that MicroMark uses in their decal making sets. The testors dullcoat won't hold up.
Krylon? Stay away! They're absolutely pure garbage. Ask me how I know.
There are aftermarket decals you can buy if the need is desperate.
JJ, Wolfman, Don, and Blacksheep:
Thanks all for the replies.
These are aftermarket decals since I didn't want to paint the kit overall semi-gloss sea blue. I had decided on a tri-color scheme and the kit decals would not have done. I now have two more TBM-3 kits (both Bunker Hill - one boxed by Accurate Miniatures, the other by Academy) and plan to build one of them with the over all sea blue scheme and with the wings folded (I bought the after market wing fold kit). The other I'll build without wings folded - just want to get it right this time - hopefully .
I've used another set of after market decals (TechMod) which, although they've torn as I was positioning them on the model, are not breaking up into lots of little pieces. I've been able to use some of them successfully on my test mule so far and will complete the kit in spite of all the mistakes and unfortunate bungling I've made on its build.
Don, I really should have started in that forum - thanks.
BlackSheepTwoOneFour Wolfman_63 You can get Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic coating #1303A at most hardware stores. Same spray that MicroMark uses in their decal making sets. The testors dullcoat won't hold up. Krylon? Stay away! They're absolutely pure garbage. Ask me how I know. There are aftermarket decals you can buy if the need is desperate.
Really, I have not had any issues with the decals I have made. I have even used it on an old set of decals that would disintigrate once wetted. I was able to save and use the rest of them. The only issue I ever had was when I used generic ink in the printer. The ink ran. Now I only use the HP ink.
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