but, does print scale suck?

[Bobo1953]

hi everybody.

i want to share with you a problem i have had with print decals since the first time i used them.

in truth, they're almost unusable, unuseful; they are very palatable, but really, how many of the decals  -all the more so stencils- in a 1/72 sheet can you really put to use without having to trash them in the process?

is it my problem that can not handle thin decals after 50 years of modeling?

after the last disappointment, i sent to print scale the following.

hope that i won't be killed by some ex-kgb agent...

 

"hi at print scale.
i don't want to brag, but i am a very experienced modeler, and i have dealt with all kinds of decals.
let me say that i appreciate very much the effort your company is making in order to offer the modelers a very wide range of novel and innovative opportunities for their models.
actually you are covering a lot of neglected themes in aircraft modeling with many very detailed decal sets.
it is sad that your decals be made to be watched at, but not to be effectively utilized by any modeler.
in facts you're luring modelers with very interesting subjects that simply are so in theory.
when you try to place one of your too thin and self-curling decals you sadly discover that they're more prone to attach on themselves than on the model. as a matter of fact, as you try to slide them from the paper, they bend over on the other side of the same paper. this gives start to a fight to have the decal displayed on the surface of the model while it bends, curls, rolls on itself until it folds: at this point there's no more hope to salvage it. even dipping the decal free in the water cup, it remains stuck firmly folded and is lost.
an examlple for all: your very palatable, innovative set #72-001, "u.s. ww ii/korea bomb & rocket markings".
a sheet of stencils in 1/72...yumm yummm!
very finely printed, with the least of support film trimmed just at the edge of the stencils. (too close!)
at first, enthusiastic, i open the plastic bag.
first disappointment. i believe that there's no modeler who doesn't know that stencils on olive drab in the u.s. weaponry are yellow. well, all stencils in the set are black! fortunately the rings are almost the right yellow...
i have 4 HVAR to make. i cut one by one the yellow stripe with a -white...?!!- sort of stencil attached first.
as i feared from previous experiences, the yellow strip is supported only by the (too) minimum film around it. on the very wet (another trick learned with print scale) surface of the rocket i gently push the strip-attached stencil with my trusted brush...and the yellow strip bends on the other side of the paper spport. i pull back the stencil but the yellow band warps on itself. to cut short, i tried to turn the yellow band the right side but in vain. it eventually folds over and it's stuck. i try to bath it into the water cup to no avail, it remains stuck.
second try: now the decal hesitantly slips on the rocket, i move it to  center keeping a lot of water because i have learned that this kind of decals "floats" onto water and this way they're better manageable. in short, this time it is the stencil that folds down on itself and the band in a definitive way. third try: in a sort of a miracle the decal "rides" down the drop of water i placed on  the hvar, and although with a very whimsical attitude i end up placing the decal roughly at its place...but the yellow band is too short, so it doesn't fit end to end. ok, this side will go under the pylon and will be hidden. fourth and fifth (i had cut out another decal from the sheet) attempts: a blob of decals with the same  bending-over, curling and folding process.
i decide to give up and come to the pc and write this letter of complaint as, stencils apart, if i had masked the little thing and painted it a yellow stripe myself i would have saved time and health.
i had a previous experience with such decals and particularily the stencils of another attractive print scale set, the #72-019 for uh-1 hueys, and it was a nightmare.
let me  say again that i'm not a beginner, albeit an experienced modeler who has fought his battles on many different battlefields. then my point is: why you make decal sets that are very attractive but in the end hardly usable?
a nasty answer could be: because we flood the market with products which are -probably- very cheap to produce, we lure modelers with rare or non-existent decal-themes, and we sell at high but competitive prices a lot, and we make a whole heap of money.
i can't see any other reason why an apparently respectable and laudable decal company would produce decals that are hot subjects but are so deplorably useless.
i look forward to hearing from you, thanks.
with doubtful regards, dr. marino -bobo- romeo."

[HistnScale]

I am getting ready to use some Print Scale decals on an A-37 model.  I'm wondering now about spraying the decal sheet with a decal film to possibly thicking the decal and prevent the rolling issue.  Has anyone tried this?

 

Cheers, Dave.

[Bobo1953]

Dave, you re a genius!

I don't know how i didn't think this myself; perhaps i've been always so concentrated on the rebelling decals that my brains  had no space for anything else.

Sure! You shoot a good thick coat of micro liquid film and you solve both the rolling problem and  the one connected to the too little film around complex shaped decals...

GREAT,  dave, i believe that this could be the way or that it would anyway help.

Pity i'm abroad now otherwise i would immediately run for the airbrush and shoot the sheet with a full bottle of microscale liquid decal film...i will have to wait until monday...aaarrrghh...

I will let everybody know how it worked.

Infinite thanks and best ciaos, bobo.

Edited December 9, 2017 by Bobo1953
Addendum

[82Whitey51]

12 hours ago, HistnScale said:

I am getting ready to use some Print Scale decals on an A-37 model.  I'm wondering now about spraying the decal sheet with a decal film to possibly thicking the decal and prevent the rolling issue.  Has anyone tried this?

 

Cheers, Dave.

 

Haven't tried it myself, but have read about folks doing just that and it worked out well for them.

[Bobo1953]

yeah guys, i made it.

thanks to the fundamental contribution of HistnScale/Dave i can tell you that i have found a way to tame the eel-like print scale decals.

actually, as in every touch of genius (dave) there ain't no miracle or strange way.

i just shoot with my airbrush some 5 ml.* of microscale liquid decal film thinned 50/50 with isopropylalcohol (the liquid's thinner) on the 72-001 (u.s. bombs and rockets in ww ii and korea) print scale sheet of decals.

as many genial thoughts it's just simple...but not a smpleton's thinking...

the decals, even the smallest stencils, tretaed this way become submissive and easily manageable.

i'm in touch with ms. chekhovskaya, P.-S. owner, and i wish that my feedback on our difficulties and visions about decals ain't but the start of a serious exchange of perspectives and perceptions for the future.

*=very likely quite less than that. i'm still experimenting, and actually -look out!- with this thickness, come problems of decal-paper separation and also, of decal compliance with the most sharp curves and unevennesses. had to work quite a lot with micro sol and tamiya decal adhesive, and with my trusty "decal brush".

anyway, better have to work on the decal than trash it.

i will go on testing, but i believe that 2.5 - 3.0 ml. (50% thinned) of liquid decal film evenly shoot on a whole print scale sheet format could become the right proportion.

please test yourselves, and let me have your feedbacks both via P.M. or -what i encourage- as answers to this thread.

have a nice modeling!

best ciaos, bobo.