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Originally Posted by Sixx
I have an especially hard time getting kit decals to lay down right, mostly, I'd say it's due to their thickness.
I've used Microsol, Microset and Solvaset and I just have a hard time with them in general.
I recently had some Slixx decals completely shatter on me while in the water 
That was a pain in the ass trying to get them pieced back together to look halfway decent.
Any decal tricks for using kit decals? |
I've used the Testors Decal Kit before. I've had realtively good luck with it.
What I do is:
Scan my original decals (which is good becuase if you mess them up you've got a back up) and port them to Photoshop. I scan with 800dpi at 8.5 X5.5 inches and a transparent background.
I set my eraser tool to pick up only the bluish bg of kit decal paper and erase all of the blue from the scan. Then if need be, I fix up or modify some mild scan discrepencies and save the image as a PNG. If I want to do a conversion, like say the Lancia Stratos Turbo S kit I had and make it like Wheeljack from the Transformers Gen 1 cartoon / toy I can alter the decals using original and proper colors AND they conform to the pre-fab layout so I dont need to do a bunch of measuring.
If I find that my kit decals aren't going to be good enough I just print new ones out. I have the Epson RX600 printer (a little older) but the high dpi of my scan and my print makes for a really sharp print and the decal spray that comes from the testors decal kit isn't horrible IF you apply it in two to three thin coats. If you do a 'wet coat' you'll get thick decals (but if you're doing a ricer with sponsors, those decals are generally kind of thick anyway). Two thick wet coats of the spray give your decals a vinyl look after application of clear coat.
I've found that with decals by Cartograf, if I get them to lay down flat and use a q-tip to get all the water and air out of them, a mist coat of clear will push them down around a complex curve on its own, but you've got to take notice of how you want it to lay and spray in the direction of the curve (if you spray against the surface the decal will melt and bend the wrong way). Once the decal is laid down properly you can continue to do a wet coat of clear to further thin out the decals.
I did this is my 2003 Calsonic GT-R34. I got flak for the decals being 'too painted on', but I wanted them to look that way becuase I'm not a fan of running my fingers over a model and feeling the decals. With my Calsonic, I was able to use the DM polishing kit (3200 to 12000 grit paper) to plish it up and then the wax it without anything bad happening to the decals (but I used two wet coats of clear as well)
Aoshima kit decals are generally pretty flat and brittle so even a clear coat will only do so much... for this I used two wet coats of clear to make the decals shine and look painted on. However, if you want a little bit of raise to the decals, and still use kit decals without scanning them, just use the Testors decal spray in one thick wet coat. You'll have to cut the decals to the shape you want, but the plus to this is more decal surface area and a better 'stick' because it's grabbing more model than the normal decals.
The down side to scanning decals is that consumer printers do not print day-glo or metallic...so there are limitations to this application.