Did a beautiful build of the Red River Rocketry Stratus.
A catalog quality build. Check out the pictures at post #23 CLICK HERE
"Now the first thing I was disappointed in with the kit, and admittedly this is entirely a matter of personal preference and could have been mitigated. The decals are really thin and fragile, at least compared to Estes or Quest Decals. I did not realize this in advance, so I went with them as is. If I were to do it again they would have gotten a few coats of something to toughen/thicken them up before applying. As I didn't do this and my skills are not refined with such delicate decals I have many small blemishes in the decals. That being said I am overall happy with how it came out, and there were a lot of those little buggers. I need to pick up some MicroSol and MicroSet on the way home. I hope that softening them will help with some of the wrinkles, and just let them lay down better."
My response:
Beautiful work, catalog quality build! Not a wood grain or tube seam to be found.
I wish the vendors would give you an extra "test" decal.
(I think I'll add an test decal to my Odd'l kits.)
That way you could try the test one first to see if you need an additional clear coat of Micro Scale Decal Film.
I usually try and test with the smallest decal, usually the company logo.
(Why put those on the model, everybody at the club launch knows who made the kit anyway.)
That gives me an idea of the soak time and how it well transfers from the backing onto the model surface.
If the image runs or the decal tears, I don't cut or soak any more decals -
I'll add a coat of the Micro Scale Decal Film. That thickens up the clear film and protects the image.
This 1 oz. bottle is expensive! I wish I knew what they were pouring into these little bottles. (I'll have to do a test one day, maybe it's just Future clear acrylic?)
I like to test decals as well, and will usually shoot the decal sheet with 2-3 coats of GlossCote from Testors to add an additional layer of protection. many of the decals I can just look at the sheet identify that they are printed on laser or ink jet and that the color scrapes easy and then I just shoot without a test. It works really well and then once the decals are set I brush on or spray on Future.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul,
ReplyDeleteSometimes decals need another clear coat. Just be sure not to make the coats too thick!
Lately I've been applying Future to seal just the decal edges, not overall on the model. Some builders have had great success with Future with a brush or spraying the entire model - not me!
I do a 4 to 1 ratio of Future to Simple Green in a standard spray bottle, and it works really well. A liberal coat and then let it drip dry. Make sure that nose cones are removed though, or they will fuse to the tube. Also on white tipped nose cones if dripping upside down if the coat is too liberal it might turn the tip a tad green. (only happened to me once, and I was over zealous with the spraying"
ReplyDelete