Give me some advice on decals

[Zophos]

Hi,

I just applied the decals on my Mercedes G230 paris dakar and I'm not really happy with the results. I used MR MARK SOFTER but still it was pretty hardm How do you approach the rally car decals? A problem I faced ia being unable to move the decal after the slightest touch with the surface. How do you approach rally car decalals?

Edited July 17, 2014 by Zophos

[Art Anderson]

Decals are best applied by positioning the wetted (soaked) decal, still on it's backing paper, OVER the area where you are trying to place it, then SLIDE" the backing paper out from underneath the decal itself, allowing the decal to go down at least very close to where you want it. Decals, particularly large ones, do not slide easily on the painted surface, although often they can be "teased" at least a little bit into their final position.

Art

[Harry P.]

Another trick you could try is to cut large decals into several smaller pieces; the smaller pieces would be easier to handle.

[Chief Joseph]

Don't apply the Decal Softener or solvent until the decal is exactly where you want it on the model. The model's surface should be wet where you apply the decal-- wet enough so the decal sort of floats a bit. A tiny drop of dish soap in your water will help the water "wet out" the surface instead of beading up on the surface. Position the decal and wick away excess water from underneath with a dry paintbrush or the corner of a paper towel. Cutting a large decal into sections is a great idea, especially over compound curves, but watch out for edges that may not mate up correctly.

[ZTony8]

Don't use decal softener unless absolutely necessary(and most of the time it's really not necessary).Compound curves are the most problematic but can be conquered by cutting darts in the decal or cutting it into pieces.

[jbwelda]

yep like they said using that softener to initially position your decals is a problem. I usually let the decal dry in place or mostly dry anyhow and then lightly flow or brush on some microsol, then LEAVE THE ROOM and don't come back for at least half an hour. reason being: if you stay in the room you are probably going to be tempted to touch the decal and you don't want to do that. let it dry out for awhile and if more softener is needed do it again.

hope that helps

jb