What Happened Here!?

Vinegar is an acid, so it looks like it ate into the finish. I know setting solution smells like vinegar, but it may de deleted with water to protect the finish. Straight vinegar may be too strong.

Did it attack your gloss coat? Is it future? Maybe once the decals dry you could gloss coat over them and it might tone down the damage

I've had that happen before. I sprayed it with Future and the "stain" miraculously disappeared. Not sure about white vinegar. I had it happen with solvaset.

Two possibilities.  First, white vinegar is not pure acetic acid.  Depending on the brand it can have a lot of solids dissolved in it- seasonings and such, that can deposit out when it dries.

Second- the picture almost looks like silvering to me.  It may be the surface was not glossy enough, and the effect did not show up until completely dry- a common problem.  Decals cannot be used over matt paints.

I had something that looked very similar to that happen to me on a P38. Black finish, sealed with Future for several days, decals applied, then given a 2nd bath of MicroSol to make sure they snuggled down well over the details. Came back the next day to find exactly what you're looking at, only on a few of them though. I figured "what can it hurt at this point?", gave the affected decals another bath in MicroSol and... poof! the white was gone. I have no idea why.

If the magic trick doesn't work, I'd poke a few little holes in the decals & give them some Future.

@Don:  Nah, it's not silvering.  I gave it two coats of Future on Sunday and hadn't touched it until last night so I know it was thoroughly cured.  It looks like the white vinegar, Heinz brand, did attack the Future.

@Vance:  I used SolvaSet to snuggle them down initially.  I'll give that a second shot tonight.  Like you said, what can it hurt?

Thanks for the opinions, guys (all ov ya)!  What's messed up about this, aside from the obvious, the decals on the other side came out perfect!  I might have to cannabalize the decals from the Skif MTLB kit I've got if the second coat of SolvaSet doesn't work.

If the second coat of solvaset doesn't work, I'd recommend spraying some Future on it. Like you say, Can't hurt at that point?

Ive had this happen when applying vinegar over future. After applying another coat of future after it dried, the cloudy stuff went away. You could try that. Hope it turns out alright!

Thank you ma'am! 

I'll give that a shot!

EDIT:  Holy crap!!  I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes; but it worked!!  A little Future gently rubbed around the area and it freakin' disappeared!!  Fantabulous!!

I did notice that the russian flag decal did shift out of line by about a millimeter.  Just enough to be noticed. 

Thanks, Owl!