Will 29 year old decals fall apart

JohnnyK

I am working on a 29 year old Monogram B-25. What do you think? Will the decals fall apart when I soak them in water? The reason that I am asking is because I will need to paint the nose of the airplane in yellow before I add the green decals and the mouth. 

 

I always do two things before doing anything else with the decal sheet.  I scan it into my computer in case I screw any decal up.  Then, most decal sheets have decals that you will not use.  Sometimes even the name and product number of the sheet is actually a decal.  I find such a decal and try it.  If it breaks up I coat the sheet with decal film.  There are a couple of vendors for this stuff- I use the Micro brand.  It is self leveling and you can just brush it on and leave it flat on your bench till it dries.

 

Monogram decals are pretty solid. I used some that were 30+ years old on my Flak Bait build a couple of years ago with no problems regarding staying together. They just had to soak a good long time to come off the backing paper. But it might be a good idea to test something off the decal sheet before you commit to the major markings. The title listing on the bottom of the sheet is ideal for that.

I second what Don and Stik said.

Those old Monogram decals are notoriously hearty...but whether they've held up or not is solely dependent on how they've been treated in the intervening decades. If they've been protected against light, moisture, drying out or 'critters,' they're probably fine. But as suggested above, test first...and be prepared with a back-up plan, just in case.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

I agree with Don. I've used Microscale decal film on my Vulcan Shuttle project and MPC Eagle 1 transporter. The Vulcan shuttle decals from Round 2 are notoriously delicate and the decal film worked wonders with those. The Eagle decals were old and I did have some shredding so I did scan them and brushed on the film for the rest and it worked out great. Tom

Thanks everyone. Those are great suggestions. I'll give them a try and let you know what happens.

Now, when you coat the paper with decal film, you then need to cut out the decal as close to the original clear backer as you can. Otherwise the liquid film can bond the decal to the surrounding paper.

I just placed an order for decal film. That should solve any potential problems.