Anyone use SMS carbon fiber decals?

[Mike Kucaba]

How well did they work? were the templates accurate?

[Chillyb1]

My experience with SMS carbon fiber decals has been uniformly positive. The only templated set I've used was for the Carrera GT and I think they were all accurate; that is, I can't remember any problems. If you have recent decals sheets from them, then you have their best stuff to date. I've bought some older sheets both at stores and online that were next to useless: they simply disintegrated when in the water or as soon as you remove them from water. Some of these were partially salvageable with Microscale's liquid decal film and some clear coat.

As I mentioned, recent decals (in the last three or four years, that is) have surpassed their earlier excellent composite fiber decals in ease of use, durability, and adhesion. That said, I prefer the KA Models cf decals though their range is much narrower and they don't have templated sets.

[jaymcminn]

Never used the templated sets, but I had really good luck with the SMS decals on one of my latest projects- the Revell 599 GTO. The trick seems to be following the directions SMS provides- make sure you use plenty of setting solution and a blow dryer to shrink the decals to the surface. This was my first time using these decals, and here are the results...

On the rear diffuser- I made templates from Tamiya tape. I think this wound up being about 12 pieces of CF decal.

The engine bay- three pieces.

It's almost like magic when you hit the decals with the blow dryer and they conform to the surface. After trying some other decals (Hobby Design) that were too thick and wouldn't conform to any curves, these were a revelation.