What has been people’s experience with Dragon’s decals? I began putting the decals on the Dragon SdKfz. 250/11 I’m currently working on and every one of them crumbled as it came off the paper. Is this a common occurence or an isolated incident? I’m concerned, as I have bought a bunch of their kits lately and I really don’t want to have this problem all the time. Pete
I have not had a problem with Dragon decals. The decal disintigration can occur with any brand though. It is usually caused when the dcals get old and dry out. To avoid it, you can spray the decal sheet with clear gloss or flat before you use them. This creates a new carrier film and will hold them together. The only thing you need to do differently after this is to trim close to the decals since you now have a continous sheet without separate decals, they will not separate by themselves into individual items.
I had a problem when I built their T-34/76. The decals curled up at the edges and it was very difficult getting them to lay on the model. That being said, I think they are an improvement over Dragon’s older, thicker decals which could ruin an otherwise good looking model.
While more expensive, I use dry transfers whenever possible! Have built 5 armor pieces in the last two years and nary a decal used. I forget what ‘solvaset’ is!
Glenn
I’ve built several of their 1/72 offerings and generally found their decals to be quite good, certainly no disintigration.
What about a coat of Future? Would that accomplish the same thing? And would airbrushing another coat over the whole vehicle set the decals that much better? Just a thought.