Hello all - I just finished a Tamiya F-15, 1/48 - a nice build. Much to my horror, I applied the Lakenheath Caracal decals, which were thick and silvered brutally. I applied Future as a base coat - nice gloss finish. To no avail, they silvered almost immediately. I scored the decal numerous times with a fresh Xacto - applied Micro Sol - no dice. I have much experience with our hobby and have applied tons of beautiful decals with zero silvering. So, seeing this nice build with those decals and silvering was fairly upsetting. I see online that some folks have issues with Caracal. I can’t recall if my prior builds had Caracal or not, but I am hesitant to use them again. For the F-15 - I am not going to strip it down and apply new ones - just not worth the agony for me and in the display case, you really can’t see the silvering - but I know it’s there! Any comments here would be appreciated. Also - I have read that some decal sets just are bad apples - perhaps I got one. That has happened to me a few times in the past as well - but rarely. Thanks to all.
I feel your pain.
It’s too late for the model, but you might want to contact Caracal. It’s a one man operation and he does respond to emails. Maybe you have identified a QC problem. So far, I have not seen any other reports of others having problems with the product. I have a bunch of his sheets, but have yet to use them.
BTW, when all else fails, try Mr. Mark Softer, Solvaset, or Testors liquid cement. I have used all of them on stiff decals and stubborn silvering. Just gotta go slow.
Thanks! Any opinion on the following: scoring the decals now - which have a coat of Future and an acrylic flat - and applying Solva-set? Just bought Solva-set online.
Slit decal, apply just a little Solavaset, see it wick under the decal, watch the reaction, let it settle a bit. If the decal starts to shrivel a little, that’s OK. If it shrivels a lot, then that’s too much Solvaset. Remember, go slow.
Different brands of decals react differently - some will take it well and suck down onto the model, others will literally melt, others (I think the thick offset litho ones) won’t react at all. Test-test-test.