The Little World

We’ve all bought an old kit from a garage sale or a swap meet. It may have started out in perfect shape, but then so did Hannibal before he crossed the Alps. Some of the kits I’ve bought still have elephant poop in the crushed old boxes…

And they have sad sheets of decals. Sheets that have dried up and stuck to their protective paper. Decals that have become translucent in the printed portions and solid in the clear surrounds. Yellow decals that started out blue. Decals that make you dive onto the net or into Modelmania to see if you can get a replacement set. The $ 5 kit is about to cost you $ 25 in decorations.

Or need it? I have a selection of decals with geriatric problems that I am going to experiment with. They are like old friends and I am keen to revive them. Human old friends can take their own chances.

What to do?

a. Get the tissue protective paper off the front – and ease off the fragments that have stuck on the printed portions. I’m going to try water, alcohol, thinners, turpentine and soap solution. Some will ruin the decal, but one may do the trick

b. Get the yellow out of the decal. I am told that setting the decal in the sun for some period will remove the yellowing. I’m skeptical, but game.

c. Recovering the clear portions may be impossible – but glycerine or an oil may work. What the heck.

d. Strengthening and repairing cracked surfaces – this may be the province of some of the liquid decal films or spray from clear acrylic varnishes. Completely broken designs are a lost cause but those with minor cracks that can later be Micro-Sol’d onto the model may be savable.

It’s not that I am a complete cheap-john – I’ll browse happily in the decal sheets at the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition and treat myself to sheets that really appeal – but the thought of losing some of the more complex designs to old age is disturbing.

More reports after the wreckage cools.