Finished putting on the decals for my Moebius Classic Battlestar about a week ago.
There are several long thin stripes broken up by small spaces (the forward hull sides), all of which are on parts that are not smooth by any means. Because of the tight parallel lines of the setting, any slight imperfection would make them look silly. That was the warmup. Then came the wrap-around pieces for the front and back of the launch bays. These go all the way around cone shaped areas with large bumps every couple of millimeters. Just to top it off, the decals for those were in one piece, but there was an area that needed to be trimmed out after it was in place. What???
Even with Micro Set at hand, it was extremely difficult to get the things in exactly the right spot. And then when applying Micro Sol with as slight and steady a hand as I could muster, some of them wanted to pop out of place. Of course at that point things go crazy and I am panicking but trying to stay calm and nudge things around without tearing them in their delicate state.
In the end, they all got applied mostly to my satisfaction except for one, which was not save-able. I bought another copy of the kit, and printed the decal set off onto printer decal paper this time just in case I messed up the second copy, which thankfully I did not. So that kit is now in the stash, in case the Galactica needs a wingmate on the shelf some year in the future.
I didn't enjoy this process at all. I felt like a gardner trying to do brain surgery. It was tedious, un-fun, horribly demanding work that was definitely the low point of the kit because of the pressure I was putting on myself, and the difficulty involved. The result was worth it in the end... but WOW.
So lesson learned, in the future, for really difficult decal sets, I'll print a back-up copy before I start, just to be safe. Then I think it wouldn't have been such a big deal.
Would love to hear about your most difficult decal experience.
Mark