Els Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Hello all, I bought this kit a few years ago at a show and this Group Build is an push to get building on some of the Japanese aircraft I have in the stash. The kit is dated 1990 and the decal sheet has yellowed pretty badly. Usually I just put them in the rear window of my car and the Florida sun bleaches out the yellow in a couple of days. The problem is that we are having a good rainy season this year and have not been getting much sun. Anyone know any other tricks to whiten up an old decal sheet? This is what I am starting with: Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 8, 2014 Author Share Posted July 8, 2014 I finished all the steps on the first page of instructions today. So far everything is going good. I will work on page two tomorrow. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 After leaving the decals in the back window of my car for a couple of days the yellow is all gone. Now I can get back to the build. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Great save with the decals! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 I would sugest applying decal sealer on your sheet. My experience with sun bleaching decals made them very brittled and some got damaged when applyong them. I know micro sol makes the product for ppl that print their own decals Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 Thanks for that tip. The decal sheet rolled up quite a bit while it was in the car (probably from the heat) so I had to flatten it out again. I hope that it didn't crack the decals. I will try out one of the decals for the other aircraft to see if there was any damage. I was pretty surprised when I opened the kit at the amount of aircraft that can be done with this sheet. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Yep Neo be right. I am thinking of doing this scheme in 1/48. Do your instructions suggest Gull Grey 36440 over white? The CAM decals I have suggest 36320 but that can not be right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 (edited) Phantom, these are old school instructions, there are no FS numbers. It just says light gray and white. I agree that 36320 couldn't be right, that seems way to dark. I am going to try 36220 first and if that is to light I will probably go with 36440. It is hard to tell how light it is in the pictures that I see online. I think the reflection of the sun makes it look lighter than it really is. You have probably seen this site but it has some great pictures of the Japanese F-4's. I am not that big of a fan of building 1:72 F-4's, I wish more of these schemes were available for 1:48. JASDF SIG Els Edited July 14, 2014 by Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 I am thinking its 440. In fact I am pretty darn sure of it, as thats how they first came out of the paint shop. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 The instructions for my Fujimi F-4EJ lists the main color as FS16440, Light Gull Gray. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 White Wolf, I went back and looked at the instructions again and I was wrong. It does have FS16440 for the top. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 It is starting to look like an F-4 now. The seats that come with the kit are to high. When I tried to put the canopy's on it wasn't even close. I sanded down quite a bit off the rear seat so that the canopy would fit. I have not done anything with the front seat so that you can see the difference. I also had a set of mask's for the canopy that I put someplace where I wouldn't lose them and now I can't remember where I put them so I guess I will just have to break out the Tamiya tape and get on with it. I am sure I will find the masks as soon as I am done with the kit. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 Since I could not find the masks, I ordered another set and put them to use so I could get some paint on the kit. After a couple of coats of future I started with the decals. Unfortunately it was one of those days were it seemed like no matter what I touched it wasn't working out so I just gave it up for the day. Here is where it is at until tomorrow. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RKic Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 I like the shading effects. This is going to look very nice on your display shelf. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 I am still plugging away at the decals. They all worked fine exept the Hinamuru's. Even after I overcoated the decals with decal coat the red parts of the Hinamaru's cracked all to pieces as soon as they hit the water. This kit also has large groups of stencils grouped together on individual decals. This worked well for the top but the ones for the bottom are not correct. I should be done with it this weekend. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 Nice .. man thats a ton of stencils Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Great work, sorry to hear some decals cracked. If you need replacements let me know. Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Els Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 I am calling this one done. It was a good little kit to work on. The decals were a bit of a pain but they were getting old like me so I will cut them some slack. Arnobiz, thanks for the offer but I just decided to press on with what I had. I should have left them in the window for a couple of more days though. It looked like all the yellow was bleached out but after I put them on the kit and overcoated them with future I could see yellow around the stencils. I am really enjoy seeing what others are working on for this group build. The JASDF has some great schemes. Els Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pollie Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Great job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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