Old, wrinkled decal sheets...

[salsaking]

Hi all. I just bought a few pretty old bandai macross kits from Spiff, namely a 1/72 vf-1s battroid, a 1/100 variable super vf-1, and a metallic coated 1/100 vf-1battroid. Yeah, the overall quality is quite different from the hase vf-0s battroid kit I'm currently finishing up, but I can't build hases all the time, I need to build a few simple kits from time to time Now, the metallic kit I can manage just fine, but the two other ones come with some pretty dry, wrinkled decal sheets. I tried test-removing the bandai logo on the decal sheet, and it's very hard, if not downright impossible to remove the decal properly without tearing it. It's as though the decal is thoroughly stuck. Any tips for that?

[big F]

When it comes to the old decals that have yellowed or dried up, I have never had that greater success with them you eaither ruin them trying to get them off or the darn things wont stick or even attempt to when you put em on the model.

With the exception of white colours you can scan them and then print them out onto clear decal paper. I use the laser compatable decal paper and my printer at work. They are as good as the originals and in some cases with abit of photoshopping better.

If you do that at least you can minimise the ammount of decals you have to try and get to work.

[Skull-1]

I would try soaking them in waer for as long as possible. Use solva-set once they come off to make 'em stick and clear coat to make 'em stay down.

[jardann]

The first thing to do would be to spray them with a clear coat sealer. If the decals are in that bad of shape, they will probably disintegrate if you do manage to get them to come off of the paper. Look around for a top coat sealer for decals. Microscale makes one and Testor's makes some too.

Once you've resealed the decals, then soak them in hot water and see if that will get them to release. I'm not sure how badly they are wrinkled, but that may be a sign that the decals have gotten wet sometime in the past. That would be pretty bad, but I would think you should still be able to get them to release from the paper eventually. If you do get them to come off of the paper, you will probably need something to help them to adhere to the model. You can brush on some Future floor polish in the spot you want each decal to go and then add the decal while the Future is still wet. After it dries, you can spray another layer of Future to help protect the decals.

[Skull-1]

Good point.

If they're wrinkled the film is probably broken and they will come apart without something to hold them together. Try this on a limited basis with one or two carefully cut decals before doing it to the entire sheet.

Edited November 6, 2008 by Skull-1

[MechTech]

What everyone else said and if they are yellowed, hang them out in direct sunlight to bleach them. I use Microscale to coat toner printed decals, just brush it on smoothly, it'll level out. It's great stuff and my bottle is as old as Macross too!

And shame on another MW'er for not caring for their collection - MT

[salsaking]

thanks for all the tips guys, I'll try that decal coat and MechTech's sunlight trick, because one of the decal set is yellowed. Yup, the decals are dried and wrinkled, which is kinda odd considering the kits' parts were all sealed in their original plastic bags with no visible holes or dents on the bags. Those things must've eaten up a lot of humidity then. I'll get back to you guys on this, but I have to finish decaling my vf-0s battroid first, which seems to take forever

What everyone else said and if they are yellowed, hang them out in direct sunlight to bleach them. I use Microscale to coat toner printed decals, just brush it on smoothly, it'll level out. It's great stuff and my bottle is as old as Macross too!

And shame on another MW'er for not caring for their collection - MT