Academy Decals question

Some of the new Academy decals are very good, as long as they say "printed by Cartograph" somewhere on the decal sheet.  The other ones resist any kind of curving, and when coaxed onto a slightly curved surface they tend to curl back off of the model within a few days.  IMHO, I would replace the kit decals if they are not printed by Cartograph.  Just my

Well, I just checked and mine are NOT printed by Cartograph. In addition, I examined them up close and found that all the reds are printed out of register! The blacks are fuzzy and....yes, I think it's off to find some aftermarket stuff! Thanks for your ! It's certainly worth a to me!

Yahoo! I located a set of AeroMaster decals, set 72-216, Southern European Mustangs Pt. 2, at a local shop! Off we go to work on my 'stang! Also gives me enough for several of them, including some 'B' models....Hmmmmmm......back to the Hobby shop!

Aeromaster decals are fantastic. I've done a few of those and been 100% happy every time.
Regards, PWB.

I am decalling an academy F86F right now but was warned just like you NOT to use the kits decals, especially the bigger ones. So i purchased an aeromaster decalsheet too.

One hundred procent agree with what has been said before: the aeromaster decals are a delight to work with, respond very well to the set and sol too unlike the academy decals. This is the third academy kit i build and im overall very pleased with the kits themselves but those decals....rubbish all the way.

Richard

Regretfully, I have an Academy Stuka dive bomber kit sitting on my shelf and have yet to any aftermarket decals for it.....

Haven't had a chance to work on that Mustang as I decided to concentrate on the SU-27 and complete it. I wanted to say "I finished one entire kit this year!" 

Try Gunze's Mr Mark Softer & Setter solutions.

These are formulated to deal with those Japanese & Korean decals which apper to be made of leather.

Just go easy on them, as they are pretty potent.

Test on some spare decals first.

Ask me how I know!

Karl

Personal experience - I used the kit decals on my Academy P-51 "North Africa" model and they went down fine over a coat of Future, with just a little Microsol. I allowed them to dry for 24 hours, as is my normal practice, gave another coat of Future, allowed that to dry for another day or so, and gave the model it's final overall dull coat. It was a week or so later that some of the decals cracked in places, long after the point of no return ...

That's odd, I used the kit decals on my Academy P-38, and other that the opacity of the inks being a little poor on the white items, I didn't have any issues (that weren't of my own making)…

 

I've used their kit decals on a number of other kits (unfortunately no photos) and haven't had any problems. However, quite often it's "better to be lucky than good…"

 

Wanted to add to the comments made sofar that i had better results using handwarm water as opposed to straight from the tap. Used cold the decals sometimes needed a full minute (!) of soaking before they started to slide off.

Using warm water it was more like 20 seconds.

Also found that after applying the decals the normal way (i.e. set, soak, apply, dry and sol), it would definately help to puncture the decal very carefully at some places and give it another (few) coats of sol. This worked especially for the bigger decals.

You can use the academy decals and get good results, they just need more work

Richard

My only experience with Academy decals has been with their M151A2 kit. The sheet has manufacturer, product, and copyright information in addition to "Printed in Korea." One decal--the one that goes on the valve cover--has been cut from the sheet and stuck on. As I recall, it didn't give me too much fuss when I applied it. It has also, despite poor storage, remained stuck on that valve cover (no doubt the flat-coat helped with that) for over two years. Thankfully, all the decals in that particular kit go on flat surfaces...