Tip for decals

[oldcarrestorer72]

Hey guys what do you do when you have old decals that wont come off the paper!! They are old ,is there any way to save them? Tips and tech story on this would be great!!

[Starry Eyes]

I have taped the corners of the sheet down to a flat surface, sprayed them with enamel clear and waited for it to dry ... then cut them out and put them in a shallow container of warm/hot water .. then it's pretty much a waiting game .. 95% of the time they will eventually release the clear overcoat helps keep them in one piece..

[Eggzilla1]

What Starry Eyes said. I have to add that warm water is safer than HOT water in my experience. I have had some of the newer decals roll up and stick together before I could get them off the backing by using hot water. I have since started making sure my water is only warm. It may take a little longer, but you still have a pliable decal to work with!

[Wardster]

Several decal-related tips:

In answer to the questions above: Microscale Industries, Inc. makes a product called "Liquid Decal Film" that's specifically made as a protective layer, over custom or aging decals. I've used it with very pleasing results, both by brushing it over a decal sheet by hand, and also by spraying it on with an airbrush. (Specifically, a Paasche H-model single action; using Tip #5 -- which is made for spraying thicker-than-normal liquids. The standard #3 tip isn't optimal for this use -- but I suppose that where there's a will, there's a way!) It's sold in small plastic bottles of one fluid ounce each, for a few bucks. Well worth the money, in my opinion. I've had the same bottle now for three years, and it still works fine -- so the shelf life's really good, too.


Other assorted decal-related tips:

One thing I've done recently, ought of semi-desperation (a deadline build, using inkjet-printed custom decals) that worked out a lot better than I thought it would, was to flip a decal upside down, when applying it ... (long story; but that particular one would look better that way!) and, since the "glue layer" was on the wrong side of the decal, I used a spare (hopelessly, poorly printed!) decal's glue layer, as if I were rubbing a glue-soaked sponge across the model's surface, first; and then, applying the flipped-over decal on top of the manually-added glue layer. Other than sounding really strange, and having to deal with more bubbles than I'd normally have to, afterwards (I think some dust or debris got under the flipped-over-decal) it worked out fine.

If you're wondering why I'd want to flip a decal over, and apply it wrong-side up, in the first place: I can't print in "gold foil" on my inkjet printer; but I wanted some gold and silver colors to show through; with a black border around everything. (An old-west style Sheriff's badge.) So I printed out the custom decals, using only black ink ... then sprayed a protective coating over it ... then (naturally) let that have plenty of time to dry (overnight, in this case) ... and then, hand-painted some future floor polish that had some yellowish pearl mixed into it, for the gold areas; and used some acrylic paints (the cheap-but-good stuff that Wal-Mart sells: Folk Art I think was the brand) for the silver coloring. After that had dried overnight, I tried the weird trick of hand-applying some decal glue, from other decals; then applying the custom decal, wrong (non-glue) side up. (Making the neatly-printed black borders hide the rough edges of the hand-applied coloring.) Which, as I say, worked out fine -- especially considering it was a series of new-to-me series of tricks that I was trying out. Cool side benefit: the gold is on enough of a slightly-curving surface that it seems to change color or sheen, as the model or the viewer moves in the light. Looks like a white-ish silver (matching the other silver color, fairly closely) from some views ... but suddenly jumps out as a brass-looking metalic color.


But getting back to half-way normal decal tricks:

Some things I do with most any decal, when I'm wetting them initially, which seems to help:

Instead of just tossing a decal into a bowl of water, and waiting, I now dip them into a "deep" bowl or dish or whatever of water, upside-down ... whilst watching the backing paper ... and as soon as the coloring on that side darkens, to show that the whole backing paper's surface has been saturated, I put the decal on a flat food container lid, which has a bit of thin (eighth-inch works fine) layer of water on it ... and just wait for (say) thirty seconds or so. The water that soaked up through the back-side of the decal is enough to un-stick the decal from the backing paper.

Sometimes the decals may curl on me, while they're sitting in the thin layer of water. If they look like they will, I just lay a paper clip on top of the decal, as a (small!) weight, to (mostly) flatten it. I find that bending the outer edge portion of the paper clip -- the part that's "loose"; one branch of a "U" shape, if that makes sense -- at an angle, works very well as a handle.

If you combine the two tips above, you can dispense with the "deep" bowl of water, entirely. (Putting the decal into the thin layer of water, and holding it gently down with a tiny weight, until the backing paper looks to be fully saturated ... then, just waiting until the glue's ready.)

I feel like I have more control over each decal's initial conditions, and am less likely to have them curl up hopelessly, on me ... or to have them break apart when pulled out of a deep dish (maybe something to do with lessening the surface tension of the larger body of water?).

-- Ward Shrake --

[oldcarrestorer72]

Thanks guys!! Will try it!!