Decal solution?

[Lowbrow]

Is there anything out there stronger than Solvaset?

 

And...is it my imagination or is Solvaset not as strong as it used to be?

Edited July 8, 2017 by Lowbrow
Misspelling

[Gorby]

This may sound odd and I've not tried it myself, but I've heard of people using white vinegar, diluted with water.

 

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/20/t/71292.aspx

 

But, please try with scrap decals first.

[Beardie]

I have found that Daco decal setting solutions work well. They come in three strengths so you can go easy or get tough on the decals. They need a good shake before use or results can be too strong or too weak.

[Lowbrow]

Couldn't find a US dealer who carries the Daco solutions so I ordered them directly off their website. I also ordered a bunch of others to try from other sources...Gunze, Tamiya, AK, MIG, Scale Motorsport, etc.

 

I did also get my suspicions confirmed...Walthers did change Solvaset a few years ago. It's not nearly as strong as it used to be. I wish I had my old bottle...

 

I'm thinking if my experiments with the new solutions don't provide the results I want I need to talk to some chemist friends about possible home brews.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Lowbrow

[Beardie]

I find that it is often as much about the decals as it is about the solutions. Some shrivel into melted goo with the weakest solutions and some are invulnerable to the most vicious attack. It is good to have an arsenal of choices for each occasion.

[gavingav1]

On 08/07/2017 at 9:44 AM, Lowbrow said:

Is there anything out there stronger than Solvaset?

 

And...is it my imagination or is Solvaset not as strong as it used to be?

solvaset is just Butyl glycol in a watered down form, buy some butyl glycol and you can control the strength, i bought a 500ml bottle of the stuff for £8.95 and its about 10 times stronger than solvaset, if you apply it neat to a decal it turns it into liquid!!,  i now use 90% distilled water and 10% of the butyl glycol and that is a bit stronger than solvaset but any stronger and it starts instantly attacking dried acrylic paint so you have to be very careful when applying .

[Lowbrow]

On 8/7/2017 at 9:36 PM, gavingav said:

solvaset is just Butyl glycol in a watered down form, buy some butyl glycol and you can control the strength, i bought a 500ml bottle of the stuff for £8.95 and its about 10 times stronger than solvaset, if you apply it neat to a decal it turns it into liquid!!,  i now use 90% distilled water and 10% of the butyl glycol and that is a bit stronger than solvaset but any stronger and it starts instantly attacking dried acrylic paint so you have to be very careful when applying .

Have you tried the Butyl glycol solution on the old ESCI decals? I'm not finding much of anything that works on them...

[gavingav1]

not yet but i have the old esci fiesler storch with decals i dont intend to use, i will dig it out the stash tomorrow and get back to you .

[azureglo]

On 7/8/2017 at 1:31 PM, Beardie said:

I have found that Daco decal setting solutions work well. They come in three strengths so you can go easy or get tough on the decals. They need a good shake before use or results can be too strong or too weak.

Never a truer work spoken:

 

On 8/8/2017 at 2:36 AM, gavingav said:

solvaset is just Butyl glycol in a watered down form, buy some butyl glycol and you can control the strength, i bought a 500ml bottle of the stuff for £8.95 and its about 10 times stronger than solvaset, if you apply it neat to a decal it turns it into liquid!!,  i now use 90% distilled water and 10% of the butyl glycol and that is a bit stronger than solvaset but any stronger and it starts instantly attacking dried acrylic paint so you have to be very careful when applying .

Now this I like the sound of, G. Is this the stuff? I quite fancy melting a few Academy decals for the hell of it...

 

A

[gavingav1]

this is the stuff and a list of alternative names, solvaset being one of them - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Butoxyethanol

    this is where i got mine from  - https://mistralni.co.uk/collections/solvents/products/2-butoxyethanol-ethylene-glycol-butyl-ether-butyl

 and it does work on old esci decals .

[stevehnz]

100 ml of that would last a while at 10%, might look into some locally. Thanks for the info.

Steve.