A safe way to remove decals?

[The Hitman 2007]

One of my many projects atm is redoing the bad paint job on a Ferrari Mondena that I did a few years ago, and I think the biggest problem I'm going to have is getting all of these decals off, safely. I did a search and the only thing that turned up was using some tape to place on the decal then pealing it off, but I'm not so sure about that, or about trying it to find out. Do any of you know a good safe way to do this? It would be a huge help to me in the long run.

Thanks

[freakray]

If you're thinking about removing the decals for reuse - forget about it, there is no way to do so safely.

[stevenoble]

'Freakray' is correct if you are going to be re painting the model you will need to get new decals.You can't re use the old ones,there's no way of getting them off and putting them back on.

[klutz_100]

Just in case the previous two posts weren't clear enough, you can't re-use decals

[CADguy]

If you're not going to re-use the decals. Transparent or masking tape removes them easily.

[gionc]

TBH I though the same but some supernatural entities, like Robrex, done it. Right?

[jbain]

Originally Posted by The Hitman 2007

One of my many projects atm is redoing the bad paint job on a Ferrari Mondena that I did a few years ago, and I think the biggest problem I'm going to have is getting all of these decals off, safely. I did a search and the only thing that turned up was using some tape to place on the decal then pealing it off, but I'm not so sure about that, or about trying it to find out. Do any of you know a good safe way to do this? It would be a huge help to me in the long run.

Thanks

Why not use an eraser, you know the ones you use for removing pencil lines from paper, this will remove the decal, WITHOUT leaving any marks on the paint AT ALL. You can then redo the paint job and you WILL need NEW decals.

[The Hitman 2007]

It took about an hour of my time, but I carefully got all of the decals off without tearing them or anything like that. I put them all in a cup of water to keep them from drying out. What I did: Took a cloth rag, put some hot water on it, place on the decal and hold firmly for 10 seconds or so. Next Take something with a thin edge and VERY VERY CAREFULLY, put the edge of whatever you were using under one of the edges of the decal untill it lifts then CAREFULLY peel it off.

If it doesn't want to come of or peel all the way from the model, repeat the first step and take your time. Oh, and the tape thing does work, but unfortunately it is impossible to get the decal off of the tape

[Khier]

If you are talking about a ROG model, immerse the whole car in water for and you will see the decales coming off in about 5 min. You can fish them out of the water and you may glue them again by clear paint.

[jbain]

Originally Posted by The Hitman 2007

It took about an hour of my time, but I carefully got all of the decals off without tearing them or anything like that. I put them all in a cup of water to keep them from drying out.

Now got to ask the question of how do you expect them to stick back down onto the model, with this soaking, now ALL the waterslide glue will be gone?

[ChicoBR]

You can remove them from your car with Micro Set (the one with blue lettering that smells like vinager).
You keep applying it on top of decal and it will loose from model.
But be carefull as it will be quite soft anbd fragile.

If you want to reuse them, it´s quite risky, but you can do the following:

- After you remove them with me method described above, place them into one of those papers used for backing of stickers, the one that is waxed;

- Paint your model with the new paint job;

- Get the decals from the waxed paper and apply them into your model with water and a little bit of white glue diluted;

- After they dry, use a damped cloth to remove the glue marks from around the decal;

- Wait another week just to be sure that it´s really dry;

- Clear coat it. This way you can be quite sure that they will stay on model.

It´s not 100% safe, but with carefull handling you can remove and re-use the decals.

Hope this helps.

Francisco

[stevenoble]

I would have thought it false economy to re-use old decals.They can't possibly re-attach as well as they did when they were new.Personally I would have used a brand new set if they were available,if not then that's different.But I don't see the point in re-using old decals if new ones are available,not for the modest price a new sheet would cost.Seems like a lot of hassle removing and re-using them.Just my