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Friday, March 7, 2014

Quest Stiletto Build Part 17, Nose Cone Decal



I could see this coming - the rear of the decal won't lay down where the shoulder straightens out. You can see the two raised areas on the blue area of the decal.
I don't have decal setting solution.
Here's one way to fix and get rid of the wrinkles.

With a new razor blade, cut straight lines through the decal skin a little above the length of the raised wrinkle.
When cutting a decal already on the model you are making light cuts. You don't want to slice into the paint!

Lift the middle (the back of the decal had two slices, cutting the rear of the decal into thirds) and set the outsides down first.
Lay the center piece over the sides you've already set down.
The middle cut will overlap the sides and get rid of the raised wrinkles.

"Mold" the decal to the surface by rolling over it with a damp Q-tip.
You can see the cuts if you look very close, still it's better than the raised folds.

On the back edge there is still some very small raised areas in the clear border.
Making small slices, cut through these too. Wet the decal and roll over he cuts with the damp Q-tip.

NOTE: This slice and overlay idea doesn't always work. It can work with water slide decals - not with stick on decals!

Here's the assembled nose cone with the decal on the upper half.
This is only a dry fit - no glue yet!
I will probably have to add clay weight inside the nose cone with the heavier D12-5 engine in the rear.

Thankfully the decal has a white undercoat and the blue cockpit shows up well. If there were no white background it would disappear into the black paint.

3 comments:

  1. I wonder if that Micro Sol solution would get the decal to set in place, eh?
    (bradycros)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Todd,
    It probably would! I'm too cheap and those bottle are too small for the price they ask.
    I ended up sealing the decal edges with Future applied with a Q-tip.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That should do the trick!

    ReplyDelete