Airfix provost decals nightmare

[speedbird]

Just finished the Airfix JP and whilst the kit is absolutely lovely I can’t say the same for the dayglo decals, they were an absolute nightmare. The would not conform to anything that resembled a curve and were very brittle and broke if looked at for too long.theyre so bad I’ve actually given up on them and I now have a half finished kit on the work bench. What a mess 🙁

[rayprit]

37 minutes ago, speedbird said:

Just finished the Airfix JP and whilst the kit is absolutely lovely I can’t say the same for the dayglo decals, they were an absolute nightmare. The would not conform to anything that resembled a curve and were very brittle and broke if looked at for too long.theyre so bad I’ve actually given up on them and I now have a half finished kit on the work bench. What a mess 🙁

This is a lovely kit to build, it only has one fault and you have found it.....the wing decals on the leading edge.  I couldnt count the number of times people on this forum have built this kit and encountered the same problem that you have come up against..............in fact, its not just this site that has forums mentioning the frustrating part of the build...........just about every site has a topic running somewhere about these dayglo decals.  I did read one person gave up ion the leading edge and ended up spray painting the dayglo on using Humbrol 209 fluorescent orange.

 

other reviews:

 

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/forum/new-airfix-jet-provost-day-glo-decals/?p=1

 

 

[speedbird]

8 hours ago, rayprit said:

Just finished the Airfix JP and whilst the kit is absolutely lovely I can’t say the same for the dayglo decals, they were an absolute nightmare. The would not conform to anything that resembled a curve and were very brittle and broke if looked at for too long.theyre so bad I’ve actually given up on them and I now have a half finished kit on the work bench. What a mess 🙁

Not sure my brush skills are upto that. What I might try is scanning the dayglo panels then printing them onto the reverse side of a piece of white decal paper that’s been sprayed with Halfords dayglo orange.  I’m hoping that because the decal paper is quite thin it will sit on the curved wing ttanks a bit better.

[Rabbit Leader]

@speedbird, I agree that they are not the easiest things to apply however warm to hot water, some good doses of setting solution and a lot of patience should pay big dividends. I’m no decaling maestro, but managed to get one over the line without throwing it to the wall. I’m sure if you post a wants list for some spares, someone local will come to your aid. Should they not I’ll post you a set from Australia - but it might take a few weeks to get to you. 

 

 Cheers.. Dave

 

 

[stevehnz]

You might try something that I have used with gun port patches & yellow leading edges decals. I bed all my decals in a diluted Klear (or equivalent) solution 30-40% with water. To do leading edge decals I don't dilute so much & slide the decal into place so it is positioned correctly along the top edge, no effort to roll it around the leading edge at this point. In a few minutes, a little trial & error needs trying here, the Klear becomes tacky & using a damp cotton bud I can roll the decal over the edge. I work long ways rolling it a few degrees at a time rather than trying to work from one end & roll the decal around the edge, to my cost I found this put a twist & crease into the decal. If it dries too quick, a bit more Klear under the decal will melt the Klear already there & then you can proceed as above.

Steve.

[Dave Fleming]

The decal artist has said that if he’d known Cartograph were going to print the dayglo so thickly then they would have designed the sheet in a different way. The dayglo is a lot thicker than normal colours to get a decent coverage.

 

Learning experience for all parties

 

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by Dave Fleming

[speedbird]

Stevehnz great minds think alike, that’s exactly what I did and managed to get most of them on but there were some that just wouldn’t play ball. 

[stevehnz]

Crikey, they must be real stinkers, luckily I've no intention of doing one of these from my three of these so if someone closer can't help you, feel free to give me a nudge.

Steve.

[Geoff Arnold]

Hi all 

I'm just about to start decal ling my T 3 after reading all your problems of decal settlement, I'm thinking of cutting the leading edge strip down the centre with a new scalpel blade this might work, have any of you tried this approach I was also thinking of painting a thin strip of matt orange as this would look like a weathered leading edge. 

 

 

Geoff Arnold  

[Truro Model Builder]

Interesting. I had the worst problems with the tip tank stripes and the rear fuselage stripes. The leading edge decals went down with no problems, though with the amount of Microset I threw at it I shouldn't be too surprised.

 

[viscount806x]

Not done this kit version but I do have similar from an old Airfix T3 and T5 crosskit conversion done back in 1979. I do remember that the dayglo strips were very time consuming because of the sheer number of them and the need to cut each one to shape, but they looked fantastic when done so well worth attempting. I used the dayglo sheet from the Matchbox Piston Provost in the absence of anything else approaching suitability at that time. I guess that anyone having probs with the new Airfix dayglo stripes could easily do similar and use them from another source. For e.g., Xtradecal do one for the JP or you could use the Xtradecal dayglo sheet for the Meteor F8 as an alternative.

 

I realise that the main issue appears to be thickness of the dayglo printing but would a coat of varnish perhaps beef up the decal sheet to assist handling ?

[Dimiter]

On 5/4/2018 at 3:41 PM, Truro Model Builder said:

Interesting. I had the worst problems with the tip tank stripes and the rear fuselage stripes. The leading edge decals went down with no problems, though with the amount of Microset I threw at it I shouldn't be too surprised.

 

Same story. No problems whatsoever with the leading edge but the double curvature of the tip tanks proved to be a nightmare... Especially the bottom end. And because the decals are so thick you can not retouch the cracks... 

[Admiral Puff]

If you want to have another crack at it, I have a spare set of kit decals you can have. PM an address if you're interestsed.

[Rabbit Leader]

No need Admiral, I’ve sent Speedbird a set the other day so hopefully they will arrive, he’ll have more luck and a third incarnation of XM413 will be happily displayed within this thread. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[Mr T]

I found the Day-Glo decals to be challenging and as others have suggested hot water and something like Daco red decal solution. I did a bit of cutting on curves to help. The main thing with them is patience. It took me a while to do them as they needed several applications of setting solution and time to bed down. Not the easiest set of decals but when finished the model is a reminder of my early teenage years when I was developing a serious interest in aircraft and models and 2FTS JP3s regularly flew over our house. 

[cardiff guy]

Has anyone used the dayglo stripes in the Xtra decal set? How do they settle down, more importantly what about their colour density?

 

Regards Glenn.

[Spad]

Use a hairdryer gently on them, once placed on the model. It tends to soften the decal and appears to change the response to even the milder softening solutions. I have had good success with the thickest a stiffest of decals. Honestly, it's quite amazing but do proceed with care.

ATB
Rick

[Winnie]

This is what I did to mine, gentle heat forced the decal to play nicely.

[speedbird]

Sorry guys, wasn’t been rude, I’ve been busy these last few days and not really had time to reply to all the posts.. I’ve managed to get hold af a spare set of decals from a BM member so all being well I’ll have another rack at it.. thanks for all the help and advice chaps, much appreciated.. I’ll upload a pic or two if it turns out ok.