Need advise on sticking shark teeth decal on A-10 kit

[CasualModel98]

Hi,

 

I bought an Academy 1/72 A-10 kit with the shark teeth nose motif but I find it almost impossible to apply the decal smoothly. 

 

Firstly the decal does not wrap around the nose properly with half the decal stiffly standing up instead of wrapping underneath the curved nose fuselage.

Secondly I had difficulty to make the front row of teeth to conform to the bottom of the nose cone, above the gun. 

 

I used Humbrol Decalfix to apply the decal and then I have applied microsol to melt the decal. Despite multiple applications, the decal refuses to melt and conform to the nose shape to give the painted on look. The edges of the decal can still be seen protruding out. I thought MicroSol was supposed to melt the edges and produce a painted on look?

 

Anyone has any advise or trick?

 

Thanks. 

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi Microsol doesn't "melt" the decals per say it just softens it. And its effectiveness depends on the decals being used - some are more responsive to it than others. Kit supplied decals are often somewhat thicker than aftermarket ones - and this can cause problems too.

 

I would be tempted to try a couple of things - first you may need to slit your decal to allow it to go round the nose curves- use a new scalpel blade and make cuts where the decal looks like it will need to go round the tightest or sharpest of curves.

 

Secondly - try this trick, which I have to say, has rarely failed me yet. You need a bowl of VERY VERY hot water ( hot enough that it hurts when you put your fingers in, but not boiling - you will need to suffer a bit for your hobby!!!). Apply your decal, you can add a bit of decal fix under it if you want, position it, slit it where you need to, so it vaguely starts to go into place: Then take a cloth or pice of kitchen towel, form it into a small pad and dip in into the bowl of VERY VERY Hot water ( you can swear at this point), squeeze out the excess water ( more swearing!)- so you have, in effect, a moist super-hot cloth. Press this firmly down onto your decal and hold for a few seconds, then remove. You will see the heat and moisture have softened your decals and it's either gone down nicely or it's started to do that. Repeat the wet hot cloth trick as necessary. Sometimes you need to do it a few times and concentrate on different areas. Its DOES work - but a warning - try not to exert any lateral  or turning movement on the cloth when you apply it - just push directly down - the process makes the decals very soft and pliable - so any movement of the cloth can sometimes distort them.

 

if you have a spare decal or two - practice first!!

 

 

Good luck and hope this helps

 

Jonners

 

 

 

 

[Knight_Flyer]

Ah, if the decals are Academy - you're probably better off finding a replacement set of decals.  Unless they're Cartograf that are included in some Academy kits, their own brand are notorious for being next to useless.

[CasualModel98]

Thanks. I will try the hot water method. I have already done a lot of swearing when trying to apply the Academy decals. More swearing does not matter.

I will likely not buy anymore Academy kits. The aircraft parts fit is terrible, lots of molding scars and holes, and the decals are...sigh.

[glatisant]

Academy kit decals are absolutely terrible.Best to get some aftermarket sets.

[marky sparky]

A bit off topic, but as it's only 1/72, maybe painting the shark teeth? It's not as daunting as it sounds.

[Rob G]

Just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, one kit doesn't make a brand. Academy, like every kit maker, have turkeys in their range. They also have a large number of excellent kits. Before you buy your next kit (from ANY source), do a bit of googling and see what others say about the kit you want - real time user reviews are one of the great things about living now.

 

That said, I don't think that there's any A-10 kit that doesn't have fiddly fit issues (maybe the new HobbyBoss release, but I believe that it has other problems) - it's just the way the airframe builds up.

[Beardie]

I have to say that I enjoyed building several academy kits except for the decalling stage. Other than that they fit together neatly and looked pretty good. In all the academy kits I have built the decals have had poor adhesion and a reluctance to conform to the model surface. Having said that the same could be said of some Hasegawa kits I've built (Decals that don't seem to want to come off the backing paper although once separated they went on OK), Roden (brittle, stiff and prone to disintegrating), Older airfix (like leather, very tough and difficult to get into panel lines although pretty sticky).

 

Decals are one of the most tricky bits of most modern models it seems. Too thin and they break up during handling, too thick and they don't conform properly or peel off as they dry and different makes react differently to different softening and setting solutions.