Approach to installing large decals

[11bee]

Guys, out of curiosity- how would you handle a large, multi digit number decal?   Would you simply apply it in one piece or cut out and closely trim each individual digit? 

[dnl42]

Aligning numbers is always a concern, no matter the scale. But, large decals are also a concern. I usually apply others on the sheet first to see how they generally behave. If they go well, then I get to the larger ones.

The fish on this Academy 1/48 MiG-21MF went on wonderfully.

[speedlimit]

Wow that big decal looks pretty indeed. Good job. I’d probably have my heart rate go up while placing that in there.

[Janissary]

Depends on the decal thickness and whether the clear film of the other decals from the same sheet is visible after application, but if you are to trim around each digit, you could use Tamiya tape (tack lessened) as an upper or lower straight edge to aid in vertical alignment. 

[Stalker6recon]

On 12/1/2018 at 11:48 PM, dnl42 said:

Aligning numbers is always a concern, no matter the scale. But, large decals are also a concern. I usually apply others on the sheet first to see how they generally behave. If they go well, then I get to the larger ones.

The fish on this Academy 1/48 MiG-21MF went on wonderfully.

I'm an idiot...... I looked at the picture and thought, damn, those number must have been hard to lay down....... Then I read on, WOW, that is a BIG FREAKING FISH!

 

Looks awesome, nice job. I have skipped model options because the decals were too big, but nothing that size, impressive indeed.

 

Anthony

[dnl42]

3 hours ago, Stalker6recon said:

I'm an idiot...... I looked at the picture and thought, damn, those number must have been hard to lay down....... Then I read on, WOW, that is a BIG FREAKING FISH!

 

Looks awesome, nice job. I have skipped model options because the decals were too big, but nothing that size, impressive indeed.

 

Anthony

Thanks. I loved the markings, so I grabbed the kit when I saw it. But, I did sit there for a week between painting done and decal start because of concerns about the size and complexity. But Academy did a really good job planning the decals because they fit really well. I've had much smaller decals that were a nightmare due to poor fit.

[Stalker6recon]

11 hours ago, dnl42 said:

But, I did sit there for a week between painting done and decal start because of concerns

Did the fish come in several sections that needs to be lined up, or one big piece? Also, back when I was young and decals for the most part, were terrible, I used to run a very fine grit sandpaper over the big ones to open up microscopic holes, which allowed for better adhesion and easy  to remove bubbles. Did you ever try that? Another method I tried with less success, punching hole in the decals while they were dry and still on their sheet. This did work, but it also made the decals more susceptible to tearing during placement.

[dnl42]

It was several pieces, one per surface. The largest was the upper fuselage part, which ran from the nose, including the Bort #, above the wing to the trailing edge and below the wing to the MLG doors (just aft of the white "gill" line). The next largest piece was the fish tail, which was everything behind the wing trailing edge. The wing upper surface was a single piece, and then rest of the pieces included the MLG doors, and the fuselage aft of the MLG doors. All the pieces aligned beautifully, quite a testament to Academy.

 

Those markings were also available as AM from Albatros Modelworks. I actually bought those before I bought the kit, but then forgot about them by the time I found the kit. I've sold them since. No clue how well those decals work...

 

I've never tried to scuff decals. Didn't that damage the decal surface? I have deflated air bubbles by piercing small holes with a #11 blade tip.

[Stalker6recon]

8 hours ago, dnl42 said:

It was several pieces, one per surface. 

I wish we could have seen the whole thing, it's very nice work.....

 

8 hours ago, dnl42 said:

 

I've never tried to scuff decals. Didn't that damage the decal surface? I have deflated air bubbles by piercing small holes with a #11 blade tip. 

Actually yes, it did damage the decals surface, it actually removed the sheen from the decals, which helped blend it with the surrounding paint job. The air bubbles wouldn't usually need to be popped, as there were enough holes in the decal to prevent them from forming. It has been a very long time ago, and my memory is not what it used to be, but I believe it worked pretty. Back then, the decals were a lot thinker than they are today. The kits were also pretty bad, unless you had enough money to buy the hasegawa kits. As a teen with no good source of income making $3.50 an hour bussing tables after school, I could only afford the Revell quality kits, and back then, they were horrible. One kit in 1/48 would usually cost around ten dollars, then I had to buy the paints, which were almost exclusively testors enamel fs paints in little tiny bottles, I think they still sell them today, but they have improved their quality (I hope) to keep up with the changing art of modelling. It would appear that all the manufacturers that I could afford, have also improved their quality as well. I figured that by todays standards, Revell would be bottom of the barrel trash by comparison to the more expensive brands. That is evidently not true, as I see lots of posts and reviews praising their kits. There is lot more competition these days, so the monogram/testers/revells of the world had to either up their quality, or drop down to nothing but snap together kits for kids. Guess they did the former, which is good.

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing the fish, if you have more pictures, I am sure that we would all enjoy seeing that. As for hitting your decals with a fine grit sanding stick, I recommend you don't try that these days. But, if you have spare decals from a kit because you went aftermarket, it might make for an interesting experiment on some spare styrene sheets, see what happens.

 

Talk to you later,

 

Anthony