The Little World

How many ships have foundered in the Succitan Sea?

There is no better way to find out if an old bomb is a dud than hitting the fuse with a hammer. Or, in the case of home-made decals, soaking them and trying them out.

The 7 candidates were soaked, applied over Mr. Mark Setter, and patted dry. Here’s the results:

a. Mr Hobby Topcoat Semi-Matte

No degradation of pattern, but extremely long soaking time needed and very hard to slide off backing paper. Some tendency to distortion.

b. Supercheap Auto Acrylic Clear

No smudging of pattern. Slid off backing paper in reasonable time with little effort. No distortion.

c. Tamiya LP-9

No deterioration in pattern – slid off paper smoothly.

d. Bondall Monocell Clear Spray

Clean pattern but slight bubbling in overspray. Slid off slowly.

e. Mr Hobby Aqueous Clear

Softened decal and distorted it horribly. Nearly impossible to slide off paper.

f. Mr Color No.46 Clear

No harm to pattern – slid off in good time.

g. White Knight Clear Acrylic

Slight loss of pattern – but thus was due to sticker overlaying the pattern line. Released in reasonable time

My money goes on Tamiya LP-9, SCA Acrylic Clear, and Mr. Color No.46 sprayed through the single-action gun. All thinned with Mr Color Rapid Thinner. Close 4th is the White Knight, and this has the advantage of being in a spray can.

The Mr Hobby Topcoat and Aqueous Clear seem to react with the decal film and soften it – they are off the list.

The SCA and White Knight are available locally in hardware stores at a good price. The Mr Color and Tamiya are hobby shop items at hobby shop prices – and subject to availability.

For the present, I shall shoot the SCA and White Knight cheerfully – I own big pots of them and can now try those aircraft decals again.