Decal Mould

[GazB]

Hi all.

 

Given how I now have an airbrush, and have boosted my techniques, I thought to myself today "Maybe I'll revisit my old 1/48 F/A-18F that I have in a box in the garage and complete it". I recalled I had the box in a cupboard in the house and went to check I had still had the instructions, parts and decals. So far so good.

 

And then...

 

Upon opening the instructions, i found they had stuck to the decals a bit. I thought it was maybe just the ink, but as it turns out, the decal sheet has a sizable amount of what looks like mould on it (brown dusty stuff). Aside from my instant annoyance at this, what has me equally dumbfounded, and kinda makes it worse, is that the decal sheet (which is a rather critical part) is literally the only thing in the entire box affected. The instructions are clean, the box is clean, the parts are clean. 

 

Has anyone else suffered from this before, or even know if there could be a way to clean them off? I have never ever seen this before. What's weirder is that the mould, for the most part, seems to have formed around the actual markings, so they could be salvageable (most at least) but still, I'm kinda at a loss as to how its just the decal sheet. 

 

Gaz

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

It could be a humidity thing affecting the glue itself on the decal sheet. For future reference it would help if you take the Decals and place them in a water/airtight sandwich storage bag and then lay them in some sort of protective file i use several 3 ring binders for all my decals. Some of which are now 30-32 years old and still good. 

[GazB]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

It could be a humidity thing affecting the glue itself on the decal sheet. For future reference it would help if you take the Decals and place them in a water/airtight sandwich storage bag and then lay them in some sort of protective file i use several 3 ring binders for all my decals. Some of which are now 30-32 years old and still good. 

True. The cupboard is in the corner of the room against an outside wall, and above the garage. Have had small issues with damp there before. Peculiar though, as the same cupboard houses other model boxes containing old decal sheets without any issue. 

 

I suppose I'm lucky I've spotted an aftermarket decal sheet that depicts the variant of aircraft I was aiming for. A bit pricey for decals but, assuming the aircraft is salvageable and workable, I guess its my only surefire means of completing.

 

Appreciate the advice all the same, Corsair

 

Gaz

Edited August 20, 2017 by GazB