The Little World

When to pause from your day’s task of cutting, cementing, painting, and cursing to apply your model’s decals? Is there a right time? Is there a wrong time? Don’t just depend on the maker’s instruction sheet – they have their own priorities and one of them might be to sell more sheets of decals.

It’s probably a bit early to apply decals to most kits while the parts are still on the sprues. Or before they get cemented together.

It’s probably too early to put them on when you do get the final coat of colour paint on the model – because some coats of paint are unsuitable to act as a substrate. The matte and semi-matte paints are prone to exhibit silvering and poor adaptation for decals. This did not bother us as kids but the modern adult modeller seals a matt paint surface with some form of gloss coat to receive the decal.

I’ve been experimenting with a number of materials for this sealing and the winner so far is either the Mr Color clear lacquer or the mr Hobby clear acrylic. The latter is slower drying than the former but comes in larger, cheaper bottles. It is unlikely to stir up paint layers below it, either water or solvent-based, and can be thinned with a dedicated product. I suspect the Mr. Hobby acqueous thinner may have a levelling agent as well as their more common solvent thinner.

As it is, I tend to decal after this gloss coat and before any landing gear is on. I know that gear, as well as pitots and antennae will just be brushed off if I am turning the model over and over. Goodness knows I have enough trouble keeping pitots on finished models on the display shelf.

So far the settling agents of choice have been the Micro Set and Micro Sol and they’ve handled everything except the decals from New Zealand that were made of linoleum and the Ukrainian ones that were made of fairy farts. Once the bottles are empty, however, I’ll experiment with the GSI Creos product: Mr. Mark Softer.

When not to decal is another question…one I encounter every time I see a sheet of 1:72 stencils that someone thinks are necessary on a camouflaged airplane. I realise that their accurate placement and perfect finish are one of ways the contest judges separate the prizewinners, but for the average model airplane they are ludicrous. Below a certain size or luminosity, there is only trouble.