I was looking through my kit stash the other day, and realized I have a number of second-hand kits. The decals are not in the best of shape…some have yellowed a bit over the years.
Is there a way to revive the quality of the old kit-decals, or should I just toss them and go for aftermarket sets? I’d like to use the kit decals if I can, seeing as money is tight. Any help would be much appriciated.
Thank you
OWL
You can try the “window trick”. Put the decals in a clear plastic bag and tape the bag (with the decal sheet facing outwards) to the inside of a window which receives full sun. This will fade the yellowing. (It may take a little while - a week or more - remember to keep checking so the decals themselves don’t fade)
If you fear the decals may be brittle (as they can sometimes become with age) you can seal them with a product like MicroScale Liquid Decal Film. This provides a thin flexible film which should hold them together. I’ve tried it on 25+ years old decals and it works. [:)]
Or lay them on the package shelf in your vehicle on a bright sunny day. Sealed in a bag of course. They’ll probably get more sun than in a house window. A couple weeks ago I put a sheet that had yellowed to about the tint of Tamiya Dark Yellow and after just a day the whites were almost cream colored. I kept putting them out the rest of the week, brought them in at nite, and think they are about as close to white as they’re gonna get. They’re older Hasegawa decals and they may be the original shade now, kinda off white.
Tony
What about decals that have been liquid damaged? (i say liquid because they have wet spots that wont dry, i dont know what happened to them)
If the decals have been truly water damaged (eg. the decals have been immersed/soaked in water and the decals have “released” from the backing and re-dried), they’re pretty much history. Re-soaking may get them off the backing intact, but the glue will have been used up and they won’t necessarily stick to the model.
I’m not sure what you mean by “wet spots that won’t dry”, but if you mean that you have an unused decal sheet which has shiny patches on it, but hasn’t been anywhere near water, it may simply be an artifact of the packaging process.
Some manufacturers bag their decals in plastic to protect them. Sometimes, the contact between the surface of the decal and the plastic can cause shiny patches which for all the world resemble water marks. This is, in itself, not a problem and these marks can be eliminated once applied on the model and coated with an appropriate clear coat.
Remember to cut real close to the decal after applying the Microscale film, or you will have a lot of carrier showing. If you cover the entire sheet in Microscal film, you will end up with one very large decal…
we all know about the window trick now but a few years ago i used some decals on a monogram skyraider that were yellowed to a nice golden shade because i was impatient and they were fine; in fact they were very good decals then and the model still looks good 6 years on. i’m not saying all decals will behave like this though…!
Thanks for the Tip!!![t$t] My new aquisitions: A old Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire I and a 1/48 Hasegawa Hurricane I had yellow decals, and I tried the Window thing and in 4 hours, the decal whites were white again! [:D]
thanks for all the replies! I’ll have to try that window technique when I return home. I had not heard of that before.
I’ve also heard of people putting them about an 1" under a fluorescent lamp…for those of us like me who don’t have any windows that get some good direct sunlight. Don’t know if it works faster than direct sunlight though.
is the MicroScale Liquid Decal Film found in most hobby shops? if so, about how much does it cost?
It should be easy enough to find, we can even get it over here in Australia… [;)]
IF you can’t find it at your LHS, you can order it direct from the manufacturer http://www.bare-metal.com/Microscale-Model-Finishing-Products.html
Sprue Brothers also have it in stock: http://store.spruebrothers.com/microscale-liquid-decal-film-12-p5039.aspx
IIRC, the MSRP is about $3.00 (It’s $5.00AUD here) - cheap insurance for old decals [:D]
Dunno about Microscale, but Testor’s Decal Bonder works pretty good at keeping old decals from disintegrating as it makes a carrier film over the entire sheet… Just spray the entire sheet (make sure you don’t get any on the back of the paper) and let dry, then cut the decals from the sheet. Costs about 4.00 from Hobby Lobby… I also use it making my own decals on my printer…