Fun with decals

[Herrick]

I'm learning and relearning all sorts of techniques since restarting the hobby. It's only been a few weeks but it seems like an age.

One of my problems turned out to be decals.

I've read quite a few posts about applying decals and I have promised myself that I'm going to get a bottle of Lakeland Quickshine next time I'm in Norwich to help with the process of application.

Yesterday I applied a US star to the wing of my 1/48 scale P-51D that's on the worktable. It was cut from a Warbirds sheet, so I really wasn't expecting a problem.

The first issue was that it broke apart as I applied it. A quick read of the forum suggested I needed some of this

which I duly obtained from Hannants today.

I applied to the second star, having treated with the above, and which I applied with no problem.

I have not been impressed with the Vallejo Decal Fix and Softner products,  hence my promise to myself about Quickshine.

I also tried to make my own thin decal to apply to canopies. I got some bog standard clear transfer medium from Amazon and painted it Testors 478 Flat Black. I then cut a thin strip and tried applying it to my palette. Result = disaster. It just broke up.

I tried again today after applying a coat of the Liquid Decal Film. Result = impressive, more or less what I wanted.

I wasn't careful how I applied it, hence the couple of small kinks, but it's stuck like glue, so applying it to a my Spitfire canopy looks distinctly possible.

The item next to it is a toothpick. The strip looks to be about 0.7mm wide, so if I can cut it and apply it a ittle thinner, I'll have a result!