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Monday, April 17, 2023

Estes Klingon Battle Cruiser, #1274, Step 27, Decals

I thought about scanning the decals but I wouldn't be able to home print a replacement because of the white areas. 

I had built two of these - 
The decals were old so I gave them a coat of decal film. 
The two kits must have been from two different batches. Only one decal sheet was useable, even after the decal film coat.

One sheet transferred after 30 seconds in the soak water.
The second decal sheet did transfer, but wouldn't stick to the model.
Micro-Sol didn't help the bad decals.


Look at the left side of the long windows decal. It is starting to lift. Some Future applied with a brush to hold it down.

Below that is the black "eye". It's a two piece decal that has to go over the raised seam.


The white "TEZ" decal centers over the Mylar sticker.

There are some tiny red decals that go on the rear of the engine pylons.



More small windows between the front dimples,




Windows on the adapter.








It's a big parachute considering length of the lower BT-50 body tube.

I set the parachute beside the body tube allowing for the length of the engine below it. There isn't enough room for wadding and the shoulder of the adapter.

4 comments:

  1. If the Estes model is close to the size of the plastic kit from AMT (as was with the USS Enterprise kit), then decals meant for the old AMT plastic kit might work for the Estes model (not limited to the decal from the plastic kit, but also aftermarket ones).
    Too bad there aren't many models of printers that have the option to print in white. Of the few I'd seen that do have this capability, most folks will would not consider them as being "affordable" (as far as home use or for use in hobby).

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    Replies
    1. Hi Naoto,
      There is a 'Ghost" printer that does white printing. It's a standard office style printer but uses a white cartridge. Good but not a totally opaque white.

      Delete
  2. I recall on a few occasions where I'd used some thinned white glue to get decals to stick (granted, I wasn't using something like Micro-Sol or Micro-Set at the time).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Naoto,
      The decal did continue to lift and I ended up using some Elmer's white glue (dries clear as opposed to wood glue drying yellow) to tack it back down.

      Delete