Splitting Decals

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Decaling
1

So this is an odd one I haven’t heard of that happened on my current F/A-18 build.

I put down future to create a glossy coat and allowed it to dry. I then applied some older decals (they had been stored in ziploc bags but were definitely older) with no problems. After applying I hit them with Micro Sol and allowed to dry for 2 days before a sealing coat of future. I then washed with oils and applied some light weathering with artist’s pastels. Finally I hit them with an acrylic flat coat. A couple of the decals lifted and tore when I applied the flat coat. It’s nothing I can’t hide, but I’ve never heard of decals coming apart at that stage of a build. I can fortunately hide the tears (the bad one is on a drop tank that will be wing mounted and I’ll put that decal inboard so it can’t really be seen). It only happened to two decals, but one of them seemed to come apart like an old decal does when it gets wet (after it was dry). Has anyone encountered this and found a way to keep it from happening?

I applied some future with a brush and was able to get the pieces to settle back down pretty well and it’ll hide pretty well with some decent weathering. I just can’t figure out why it happened. Any thoughts?

Groot

2

Weird. Shouldn’t happen if your coat of Future completely sealed them and had fully cured. Did the flat coat eat away at the Future in those spots and also then attack the decals? But you said it was an acrylic flat coat, which shouldn’t attack fully dried Future.

3

The future is still fine underneath (just checked, great suggestion). I have to wonder if being old, the decals were fragile and maybe the flat coat contracted as it dried and that’s what did it?

Groot

4

Probably, Future was poorly applied to those areas. If Future had sealed the decals, the flat coat would have not made a contact with the decals.

5

Maybe I should just brush over decals in the future after I give the whole model a coat to shift the color. I wouldn’t think the flat coat should contract that much, but maybe. Thanks!

Groot