The Little World

I’ve written before about the traumas of trying to get old decals to work – and failing miserably with some of them. But now I can brighten the day – Even 1959 decals can be brought back.

There is a little of the Transylvanian laboratory about it, but you can do it. All you need is the courage to be reckless. And a really good lightning storm on the top of a mountain…

The decals on the Airfix Blackburn Buccaneer were curled, crisp, and covered in dust. They suggested years in a cupboard or worse. They were of a certain standard at the time, but that time had Krushchev and beehive hairdo’s ( Not on Nikita, you understand…). However, they were not torn, nor was the surface fused to the protective paper. With little to lose and not wanting to chop put $ 30 on an aftermarket sheet, I set to work.

First I pinned them to a scrap of foam board. Then I searched out a rattle can with the remains of some clear acrylic varnish – the aqueous type. I think this can was gloss, but I could have used semi-gloss just as well.

A quick spritz from about 20 cm and then left to dry in the open air. Then a repeat two more times as each layer dried. By the time the last coat was cured the sheet came off the pins fairly flat.

The procedure I’ve been learning from John Evans is to dip the decal in water for 8 seconds, then rest it on a wet paper towel for as long as it takes for the transfer to release. Some Czech decals will go in 6 seconds, and some Airfix ones take a minute of rest. In that time I can swipe over the target area with Micro Set or Mr Mark Setter.

These decals were slow – a full minute before they started to move, and I gave them 90 seconds due to what might have been their fragility. No fear – they came off the paper like champions and settled onto the glossed surface as if it was 1960 instead of 2020. They even stood Micro Set and then Micro Sol very well. The clear film between the letters and numbers did not silver at all.

The only caveat with these oldies was the slight translucency of the white in the RAF roundels that showed up when the fuselage insignia went over the grey/white colour demarkation. In the future, if this threatens, I’ll pop a dot of white decal under the roundel.