30 year old decals...what to do?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bruce Jakes I'm building a 1/24 scale airfix hurricane. this kit sat in my old mans basement for close to 30 years.. as you can imagine the decals are dry and brittle. I tried to apply one set but they cracked and broke. I swore at them but that didn't help. Would Solvaset or some other product help to restore these decals so that I can use the second set? Because of the scale no one make decals for this kit.. Thanks

What I'd try, is get yourself some decal sealer.
You can get it with a decal kit by Testors.
Scan your decals into a computer for safety.

Spray the original decals with a new coat of sealer and let it cure a couple of days.
If the decals are yellowed, put them in the window and let the sun fade the yellow out.
(Takes several days to a couple weeks in the sun to do the trick)

If they still won't work after being resealed, make a new set from the copy you have scanned, using the decal maker kit.

I heard that you can spray the decal set with clear paint. before using it and then cut them in to pieces

just an idea, but how about some kind of flexible clear coat ? ought to work pretty well. alternatively, at 1/24 scale, masking and respraying isnt a bad idea.

Get a bottle of Microscale decal film, You just brush it over the decals and after 15-20 minutes cut around them, then apply as normal.

I used it on a very old Microscale 1:72 F9F-5 Panther decal sheet with 100% success.

:cheers:

Mike

I too would recommend the Microscale decal film. However, as old as your decals are, I would apply a minimum of 2 coats, possibly as many as 4. Also, have you considered making stencils and painting the insignia and lettering? Might be quicker and possibly look as good or better than 30 year old decals.

Bruce:
Just as a heads-up, Techmod has (or had) at least one nice set of aftermarket decals for the 1/24 Hurricane:
http://modelingmadness.com/others/decals/dixontech24003.htm

Greg

Someone on here posted a message a while back that they would print decals from your artwork. Can't remember who it was now, but I'm sure someone does. If not I'll search my bookmarks and see if I can find it.

Perhaps you could scan the original decals and then get some new ones printed from the scan. Or, if you don't have access to a scanner, send him the originals and have him scan them.