Monogram Chevy Die Hard truck

[krazyglu]

Been working on this one for a few weeks now. Box stock build..this is my first nascar build and I will say there a little difficult. I'm working on the paint right now, but i'm afraid these monogram decals do not seem like there going to go on right. The few I have put on are really milky even after they dry. Anyone have any suggestions? I will post more pictures once final detailing and the body is complete.Thanks for looking

[Dr. Cranky]

Very nice execution. Love the subject matter. Hope you make more progress.

[bandit1]

oh i really would love to get one more of these kits but im not financially able to yet so... i guess it goes on the wish list!

[Haubenschild]

I cant wait to see this one finished!

[JustBill]

Thats a very clean looking build you got going! As far as the milkyness under the decals.... it may be "silvering" instead of milky. Could you post some pics?? Not much you can do with the decals that are on already. However, take the rest of the sheet and put a couple very light coats of testers clear coat on them. Let them dry over night. Then cut your next decal out of the sheet as close to the print as possible. Let it soak in some warm water til it loosens. Once it loosens, take some regular old white elmers glue that you used back in elementary school and put a dab on the body were the decal goes. Take a brush and dip it in the water and swirl the glue around on the body. You want to use the water on the brush to thin the glue. Place your decal on the body and work the glue and water out from behind the decal. I use my brush and paper towel to set the decal and remove excess glue. Don't worry if you don't get the glue out 100% cause it drys clear Just make sure the decal is flat and no wrinkles and is on straight. You don't have to worry about getting all the excess glue off the body right away either. Let it dry completely then you can go back later with a wet paper towel and wipe the body clean and it won't bother the decal. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!!

[krazyglu]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. Bill I took a couple pictures of what I mean and upon further inspection it appears to be bubbles. I guess I'm not getting the decal flat and air bubbles are underneath it causing it to be almost white when it dries? I have used decals on newer kits with no troubles so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I use warm water and pat the decal down with a q tip. I thank you for sharing that technique as I'm sure I will use it with all these older kits I like to build. I got some gloss black on...and day glo red will be shot on the bottom. It takes weeks for me to complete a paint job so It will be a while until I post again. Thanks everyone

[JustBill]

MAN!!! After looking at those pics your dealing with typical Monogram decal BS. Nothing will frustrate you more or turn a good build into ###### then having a bad decal job. At least for me anyway! I'm a fan of NASCAR nineties and its mostly all I build. This is the best your gona get with the kit decals. I've even had this problem with after market decals. The trick I explained up top is something that was taught to me and I'm just passing on the good word. The reason you want to clear coat them first is to keep them together while handling. These old decals are very brittle and will break apart or even sometimes shatter when they hit the water. However after you clear coat them it turn the sheet into one big decal! So that's why you have to cut the decal out as close to the print as possible. It also looks better too so you don't have all that clear decal paper around the image.

Here is an example of the same thing I had to deal with before I learned the glue trick...

[JustBill]

I did these cars using the glue trick....

Also too, you might want to get whats called Solvaset. I would still clear the decal sheet like in the other method but with this stuff you won't need glue. Just put some of the Solvaset on the body where the decal will go, place your decal down, pat it dry and make sure its flat and straight, then put some Solvaset over top the decal and leave it alone!! The decal will do its own thing from there. The decal will get wrinkled up and look ruined. Just give it some time to dry and it will lay flat like its painted on. This stuff is awesome exspecialy for any curves and roof flaps and such. Its like the decal gets sucked onto the body!!

[bbowser]

What Justbill said about Solvaset. I only use it on compound curves or when decal needs to snuggle into a door line or roof flap. Works great, and don't panic when it looks ruined!

[krazyglu]

Wow that stinks....I mean without the decals its just a plain race truck..the decals are kind of the whole point with a professionally sponsored race vehicle. The particular layout on this DieHard truck is going to make this crazy hard. I will have to do a ton of precise difficult cuts..haha and this was suppose to be a quick in between box stock build. Well nothing I can do now except give it a try. Guess I will begin this decal process as I'm waiting for my paint to cure and such. I want to give you Bill a big thanks as I would have been pretty upset with how they would have turned out..and once there on its to late. You took the time to pass on a cool tip and for that reason alone I'm going to give it my best shot. The paint on your cars looks out of this world...The Aqua Fresh car looks like all the sponsors were painted on. Thanks again guys I will post up as soon as I finish the paint and it will probably take a year or so for me to get the decals done

[krazyglu]

Back with a little teaser for you guys....paint is quite dirty and lots of orange peel, but I will take care of that after I shoot the red. Got the clear on the decals and I am going to start cutting tonight! I really love the look of these trucks.

[JustBill]

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