How To Use Decal Setting Solution

Decals

with Geoff Coughlin (March 2022)

New products are always coming along and the availability of decal softening and setting solutions is also growing. Here nosotros have three new products from Ultimate Modelling Products designed for applying your decals and the aim is to assist them appear as if your markings have been sprayed on.

Nosotros are talking waterslide decals in this review/demo – the markings that you need to float off their bankroll paper and apply to your models. These solutions are therefore designed to work with these types of decals.

Iii strengths of Ultimate Decal Solution are available:

Normal
Strong
Extra Strong

Why 3 different strengths?

Basically the more models you lot build and the more than decals you work with from the unlike kit manufacturers it becomes clear very quickly that not all decals are the same and not all decals are the same quality. Far from it, although in my experience, the quality of decal sheets beingness provided in new kits these days is much improved and that'southward slap-up to see.

The differences come in many forms and the main thing to await for (after quality etc) is the thickness of the carrier film. Gently run your thumb or finger of the decals and notice how pregnant the ridge or stem is between decals? Waterslide decals are printed onto a carrier film that has glue impregnated into it so that when you float your decal on some warm water the bankroll paper takes up the h2o and when you lot look at the pinnacle of the newspaper, information technology starts to look damp and wet. You can remove the whole matter from the h2o and so slide your decal into position on your model.

The issues unremarkably encountered…

Some manufacturer'southward decals can be quite thick and when yous apply them to your model and permit your decal to dry out, it can sometimes not adhere convincingly to the model surface item – raised or recessed. This is really frustrating and tin ruin the look of your model and leave your markings looking toy-like and unrealistic – not adept! The usual stop consequence is that you lot become a silvering of the carrier film, making it visible and the aim is to make it invisible – this is crucial to successful decal application. This 'silvering' is caused past air getting trapped under the decal and any air at all volition create this silvering that is difficult to eliminate later, so we need to but avoid it happening in the commencement identify and that'south unremarkably very piece of cake to practise – read on…

The purpose of these decal softening-setting solutions…

The purpose of all these decal softening and setting solutions is to soften the decal at the time of application and then, when it dries the solution draws the decal down over any raised detail and into recessed details similar panel lines and hatches etc. The terminate event is a much more than convincing mark that will look similar it's been painted on, simply similar the existent thing on whatever subject you are modelling.

Read on…