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Dashboard Decals?


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Hello, everyone. I was just curious how many of you use decals to detail your dashboards? I use the ones from BMCP whenever he has one for a kit I just bought. For a little over $2, I think they add a very nice touch to the interior! But, unless they are part of the kit's decal set, I rarely ever see them mentioned in WIP threads. I would like to know how many of you use them, or, if you don't, why not?

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Oh I've definitely used those!

In my '67 Mustang...............

PC255329

PC285331

And in my '59 Chevy.............

PC065491

Little hard to see, but definitely adds some pizazz to the insides.............. ;)

39:481921719756

BestModelCarParts has been my go-to guy in recent years for gauge faces as they're quite nice, and while they're not super duper legible on some, they're much better IMO than trying to paint those gauge faces which is frustrating at best for me.

He's got a very wide selection of cars he does, and I have him bookmarked as one of my favorite sellers on the 'Bay when I'm in the market for needing gauge faces.

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Ditto to everything that has been said above about Best Model Car Parts dashboard & gauge face details.  They're not decals as they are printed on kind of "thick" paper, almost like thin cardboard.  Sometimes they are a real pain to trim to size.  I use a pair of tiny nail scissors and hold them with a pair of hemostats.  I glue them in place using clear enamel paint and the next day apply a drop of clear epoxy over them as a gauge lens.

Fortunately a lot of the newer kits include actual decals for most of the dashboard details.

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Ditto to everything that has been said above about Best Model Car Parts dashboard & gauge face details.  They're not decals as they are printed on kind of "thick" paper, almost like thin cardboard.  Sometimes they are a real pain to trim to size.  I use a pair of tiny nail scissors and hold them with a pair of hemostats.  I glue them in place using clear enamel paint and the next day apply a drop of clear epoxy over them as a gauge lens.

Fortunately a lot of the newer kits include actual decals for most of the dashboard details.

Yeah, Richard, I used the word "decal" loosely for lack of a better term for BMCP's products. But, they are still very nice, and better than trying to paint those gauges! Also, thanks for sharing you technique, I may have to try that!

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I've gotten quite a few from him & he also has a big selection of old license plates for most of the states.

I've done business with Michael quite a few times also. One time he sent me a dash set for a '60 Plymouth when I had had ordered one for a '58 Plymouth (I have a '60 in the resto pile, but it is far down the list), when I contacted him about it he sent me the '58 set immediately, let me keep the '60 set, and threw in a set of '55-'59 license plates for my "inconvenience"! He is great to do business with, and seems to be an all around great guy, too.

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How are his resin bodies"

His resin is very nice.  I have had the opportunity to see the development of some of his masters.  Michael researches everything he does thoroughly and his detail and casting work are some of the best I've seen.

Michael is working on something right now that will impress a lot of builders.

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Has anyone tried using the "decal-it" craft stuff? You coat the face of the artwork you want to use, then use warm water to gently wash away the paper backing leaving just the ink. Then trim it to fit in the area you want it after it's dry.

Seems like it might work on these to help get them a little thinner, also if you have used some of these type of items you'll sometimes have the white edge of the cut of the paper show up, a tip is to use a sharpie and just run it lightly along just the edge of the paper. It will hide the white edge and won't show up when you're done.

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Has anyone tried using the "decal-it" craft stuff? You coat the face of the artwork you want to use, then use warm water to gently wash away the paper backing leaving just the ink. Then trim it to fit in the area you want it after it's dry.

Seems like it might work on these to help get them a little thinner, also if you have used some of these type of items you'll sometimes have the white edge of the cut of the paper show up, a tip is to use a sharpie and just run it lightly along just the edge of the paper. It will hide the white edge and won't show up when you're done.

If it is printed on any standard CYMK consumer printer and the colors used are other than black then it will need to be applied over white colored surface or the colors will not show properly. The CYM inks are translucent and they need white background to show their true colors.  That is why Alps MicroDry printers (which can lay down a layer of white ink under the translucent CYM inks are so highly prized in the modeling world.

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